Well, here at the lovely University of Illinois, classes have ended
and finals have not yet begun. This gives me five solid days of study to
bolster my sagging grades. So I went home and spent some time with Harvey the
Mighty Midget (peep!) whom I had not seen since September. Before I get on to
The Work and The Drive, I am reminded of an article on engine design in Road &
Track sometime in the early mid '70s. After going over improvements in engine
design and many fabulous technological advances, R & T showed photos of a
"traditional" engine and a "modern" engine. The "traditional" engine was a
1275 Midget engine and the "modern" engine was the fuel-injected SOHC 2.0 four
from a BMW 2002tii. As I now own a Midget and a tii, I find this slightly
ironic. But as both cars are '74s, and both are maroon, and both need some
TLC, I think I can make a valid comparison.
The 2002tii is the best car design I have ever driven (IMHO). It
rides well, has excellent steering, always starts, does not leak or burn oil,
has very nice acceleration (Marcus, did I mention the dizzy on the car was
hosed when you rode in it?) and very good handling, and can cruise at 90-100
mph all day without discomfort or mechanical detriment. Not only that, but
BMW, not VW, really invented Fahrvergnugen. Honest. Take it from a two-time
Diesel Rabbit owner.
The Midget is about 1,000X as much fun to drive. It FEELS like it's
going faster than it is by quite a lot, and the steering, though the feel is
not as good as the BMW's, has razor-edge precision to its response. The car
blows a discernible amount of blue smoke at WOT, has a chattering clutch and
two nasty clunks in the rear suspension, rides like a coal cart, is flinging
sizable quantities of oil to the ground from somewhere near the engine, and
has the worst (THE WORST) tires I have ever driven on. All four tires, of
three different sizes, are old, half-bald, and hardened examples of the kind
of tire that a smart person wouldn't buy new. This, at the moment, adds to
the fun factor: I can take corners at speeds where the BMW would hardly even
have any body roll, and get a really nifty four-wheel drift out of it. The
safety factor, however, is lacking, as I discovered when I tried a little hard
braking (mistake). However, the Midget's brakes have a much tighter, more
precise feel to them (shorter lines?). The BMW also has a sound much more
German and less enthusiastic than the Midget's: The BMW's noise is a deep,
bass growl from the intake; there is very little exhaust noise. It's a good
sound, but nothing nearly as fabulous as the Midget's loud, raspy patter,
which actually sounds far more wicked than the car really is.
So after spending about half an hour screaming around in a Midget with
no plates, no insurance, and safety-risk-bad tires, I went to work. I had
decided that the car had too much body roll, to the point that it was hurting
front wheel grip. So on went the somewhat overmuch 7/8" dia., heim-jointed,
nylon-mounted Winner's Circle front swaybar. I was informed by the mechanic
who talked me into a BMW tii that the swaybar (which for those of you who
haven't tried to imagine it is HUGE, especially given the 3.5-4" lever arms)
would cause the car to do nothing but understeer. Hah! Used to be if I
pitched the car into a hard corner, the front end would push out, and the only
way to balance that with the tail (which BTW has the WC Panhard rod and I
can't recommend that highly enough) was to let off the throttle until the tail
started stepping out, then stand on it to keep the rear unhooked. With the
big swaybar, it corners very (VERY) flat, and oversteer happens under power.
I need no bizarre throttle tricks to make it happen. Some would say that I
can't objectively determine the handling of the car with such crap tires on
it, but we'll know pretty soon. On Monday, a set of Yokohama A509 tires
arrives. For those of you that haven't heard of these, the 509's are amazing.
Their dry grip is fantastic, and in the rain, traction is positively surreal.
If you're looking for a set of tires that don't have to be good on snow, then
I don't think you can do better than the A509's. They're relatively
affordable too: $56/tire in a 185/60-13 through Tire Rack.
So now I'm back at U of I, Harvey is still in a warm garage 200 miles
away in Chicagoland, and I have a week of finals to try and concentrate on,
instead of the little Midget that's just begging for some more attention.
Grrr.
Michael T. Chaffee
mchaffee@sumter.cso.uiuc.edu
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