Car loosing weight

[Frank Lee]

I'd drive this... but not on a fast freeway.

Yes, these were mass produced in the U.S.A.

[evolutionmovement]

I don't think this would apply to the CRX in question, but a concern with really light weight cars is suspension. The lighter you go, the more you'd want to restrict the cargo/passenger capacity as every pound of variability between full load and just a driver is a greater percentage of the total weight than it is with a heavy car. In order to safely haul the maximum anticipated cargo, you have to spec the suspension for the max weight, but the lighter you go below that max with only a driver present, the stiffer the suspension will feel. Makes for a lousy riding car on the one end, but more importantly, can be unsafe at higher speed on broken pavement if the loaded/unloaded weight difference is a great percentage of the car's total weight. Contrary to what many a ricer believes, a stiff suspension is not always fast or safe on real world roads.

[Christ]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

I'd drive this... but not on a fast freeway.

Yes, these were mass produced in the U.S.A.

Heck yeah! Reminds me of a RADIO FLYER wagon... LOL.

Re: Suspension/Ricers - I love a good stiff suspension, regardless of what ricers/everyone else thinks, but it has to be balanced. I've never liked cars that "ride like a Cadillac on a cloud"... They're too muted. I like to feel the tar strips in the road. Positive feel under quick maneuvering. Know when I've hit one of the middle of the road reflectors. For this same reason, I also like mild LP tires. (No more than like 3-4 inches of sidewall height, no less than 2.5 ish.)

[evolutionmovement]

I'm not talking old Cadillac floating, I'm talking the over-stiff setups people put on street cars that bounce them all over the place or spins or slides them off the road when they can't absorb a bump mid-turn. The purpose of the suspension is to maintain the contact patch and when it's too stiff to do that, it fails. I've laughed at many a ricer idiot showing off in the straights when my fairly comfy, only slightly stiffer than stock, Subaru passed them on the inside of the turn at the end. On a track, the stiff set up would probably win, but not on America's crumbling infrastructure. Even hardcore sports cars that have to spend time on the street aren't sprung as stiff as racecars.

Unsprung weight is also a bigger deal with lighter cars as well, for the same reasons of the wheels being a larger percentage of total weight. A light car can be made to handle well and ride well, but only if the potential load difference is kept small (or it runs with a full load all the time, I suppose). I'm not against light cars, quite the opposite, but there are some concerns when designing them that many people don't consider.

[Christ]

For clarification - I find "ricer bounce" abhorrent.