Originally Posted by
coolieman1220
So today I shall rant about a topic that I became aware of over the weekend. Many of you probably know this and are aware of this already but hey why not rant about it.
What would you consider light for a car these days? I'd say between 3200 and 3500lbs.
Cars are just too heavy and for what reason? with newer technologies we should be making them lighter. Lighter = better fuel economy and performance.
Why do I bring this up? I was on the highway Saturday night driving the G35 calmy. A G37S coupe turned in front of me entering the onramp of the highway so i sped up to play. It was 1:30 AM. I'm expecting the G35 to whoop my ass like no other. My car is 6 years old. I have a full tank of gas and just me, my car weighs 3300lbs give or take and puts out 260 horsepower. The G37 puts out 330 horsepower and its newer and stick. So we get on the highway, on the onramp i hear his exhuast howl, he kicks it into third. so i throw it into manual mode yank the shifter, put my car into third. then he takes off and i take off after him. pedal to the metal. he doesn't pull away much from me at all, i'm keeping up with him. So we do it again, we never managed to line up but i did try to overtake him and he didn't notice but when he did it took him a little while to pull away. i was so surprised, i was proud of my girl. we were doin 120MPH easily at some points. Now i raced an E46 M3 before, he pulled away from me like i was dust. That puts out 330 horsepower but it is a hidden powered BMW.
I got home and looked up specs. A 2009 G37S weighs 3700lbs. He may have had more then 1 person in his car. so all that extra power, goes to weight. an E46 M3 weighs 3300lbs as well, no wonder it pulled away from me like that. Imagine if i had the VQ37HR motor instead of my VQ35DE.
Does weight make that big of a difference in acceleration like that?
I looked up more cars, a new M3 weights 3700lbs too. luxury cars espeically are very heavy. why? they're supposed to be sporty. shouldn't they be light? im not talking sub 3000lbs but not close to 4000lbs.
What is becoming of the auto industry?....
Not to be nit-picky, but their are a few strange comments in the above quote.
Luxury cars are luxury cars. They have more gadgets than a jet fighter (Obviously not, but I was going for exaggeration )
Not all luxury cars are 'supposed' to be sporty. A luxury cars main objective is to be a luxury car, then performance comes second. Unless your Bentley etc. Who do both at the same time. But for them luxury is more important, so they'll be heavy in the first place with the GPS, electric seats, windows, mirrors etc. Imagine all the weight those electric motors add!!!!
Obviously weight makes a difference in acceleration. That is common sense.
Now your fuel economy for this subject doesn't make sense, since your RACING!. Obviously your not going to get good mileage when your pushing your engine to go faster than someone else who is speeding already.
Now your concerns about weight and fuel economy should be the last of your worries since your street racing on public roads. To me that is a bigger issue. (Although I could care less about people racing on streets. It's just for your comment you complain about fuel economy etc. While at the same time say you were racing on a highway going 120 MPH. Ummm... Kinda conflicts does it not!!)
Personally I am happy with the way 'most' cars are now. I really hate the new hatchback look etc. (I don't necessarily mean hatchback per say, more like the shrinking size of our cars) Like the new 370Z. Now don't get me wrong I like the car, but I like to 350Z better. I don't like the round look of some newer cars.
Now am not saying I like 'large' cars, I'm just saying I don't want all of our cars to look like Smart Cars. I mean what's the point of making a car that small? Really, what is the point? Is it not possible to make a car that is just as efficient as the Smart Car, but in a big bigger vehicle. I hate these small cars.. Personally I see no point to them other than making those that drive them look rediculous.
The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they're okay, then it's you.
-Rita Mae Brown-