A little weight problem...
- Thread starter camrycev6
- Start date
Acceleration in any vehicle is mostly a matter of the horsepower to weight ratio. Changes in weight affect lighter vehicles more than heavy ones because the ratio will change more in the lighter one.
As a general rule of thumb for drag racers in cars in the 3000-3500 lb range, each 100 pounds of weight will add one tenth of a second (about one car length) to the quarter mile time.
But add 100 pounds to a 6000 pound full size 4x4 SUV and it will have a much lower effect on performance. Add 100 pounds to a motorcycle and it will absolutely kill its performance.
Put 5 or 6 (say an extra 800 pounds, minimum) people in a MS3 and all of a sudden you are a full eight car lengths slower at WOT in the quarter.
As a general rule of thumb for drag racers in cars in the 3000-3500 lb range, each 100 pounds of weight will add one tenth of a second (about one car length) to the quarter mile time.
But add 100 pounds to a 6000 pound full size 4x4 SUV and it will have a much lower effect on performance. Add 100 pounds to a motorcycle and it will absolutely kill its performance.
Put 5 or 6 (say an extra 800 pounds, minimum) people in a MS3 and all of a sudden you are a full eight car lengths slower at WOT in the quarter.
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also depends on how a car is tuned. SUVs and trucks torque ranges are very low. Even cars with the same engine but in a different type of car such as a g35 and fx35, the fx35 torque comes in sooner to help accelerate with the added weight but dies in the top end. Same 3.5VQ engine, just tuned differently.
Wagonbacker9
Member
- :
- 2004 'Hoe
Just how "the same" those engines are varies. Is an engine the "same" if theres a different cam in it? Similar example is the KA24... used both in the Nissan trucks and 240SX of appropriate years... but if you swapped one for the other... you wouldn't recognize it as being the same engine. Even if you're not changing physical parts, todays ECUs can be retuned to basically shape the power curve however you see fit (within obvious limits of course)...
however, we've now strayed significantly from the OP's point.
same motor platform sounds like a the same motor to me, just changes in cam timing and ecu tuning.
lol .. yea we are straying from the op topic
tiagotiago
Member
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- 2008.5 Mazdaspeed 3
Strange...I've driven both on highways and on mountain roads with 4 passengers in the car and really didn't feel that the car became sluggish. Now, I'm not gonna say it felt the same because that would just be an ugly fanboyish lie, but I shure as hell didn't feel it became sluggish.
Then again, on neither occasions did I really try to push the car, I was just squeezing the throttle just enough to keep me entertained/concentrated while leaving a big margin for error (mmm mountain road..drool). Maybe after almost 10 months of driving the car I still don't get used to all the torque
Then again, on neither occasions did I really try to push the car, I was just squeezing the throttle just enough to keep me entertained/concentrated while leaving a big margin for error (mmm mountain road..drool). Maybe after almost 10 months of driving the car I still don't get used to all the torque
Strange...I've driven both on highways and on mountain roads with 4 passengers in the car and really didn't feel that the car became sluggish. Now, I'm not gonna say it felt the same because that would just be an ugly fanboyish lie, but I shure as hell didn't feel it became sluggish.
Then again, on neither occasions did I really try to push the car, I was just squeezing the throttle just enough to keep me entertained/concentrated while leaving a big margin for error (mmm mountain road..drool). Maybe after almost 10 months of driving the car I still don't get used to all the torque
I was trying to push the car.... perhaps that was the difference. Because I can tell you, she doesn't like to be pushed when full! (And doesn't cooperate.)
