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I wish more people on the road realized the extent to which weight reduction improves all aspects of the driving experience... it really does compound unlike an
by lunias 1y ago
I wish more people on the road realized the extent to which weight reduction improves all aspects of the driving experience... it really does compound unlike any other change that you can make to a vehicle. IMO heavy vehicles are a scam and the antithesis of the direction we should be moving.
- rounce 1y agoAbsolutely and on top of that far lower pollution from tyre and brake dust, and less damaging to the road top surface.
- NetMageSCW 1y agoThe weight difference would make an unmeasurable difference in those things.
- rounce 1y agoThe weight savings for similar power output to current PMSM motors is roughly the weight of a passenger per motor. As others have pointed out the savings become cumulative and beget more savings in other vehicle systems. So yes the difference would indeed positively affect those things.
- rpozarickij 1y agoDriving Volkswagen e-up for the first time was a very unique experience to me. My brain needed to adjust that a car can be that nimble and responsive due to its small size/weight and instant torque from the electric motor.
- ehnto 1y agoI agree with you however I believe weight and safety are in a complex relationship right now, which has nothing to do with performance and handling. Unfortunately I feel much less safe in a Fiat 500 when a significant portion of cars in the road weigh nearly 3 tonnes and perhaps can't even see me. I suspect most people are in SUVs because they're the pragmatic trade off between safety and convenience, not because they were hoping for excellent performance.
- ajuc 1y agoTax SUVs out of existence.
- gambiting 1y agoA basic BMW 5 series is over 2 tonnes, with the top spec model tipping the scales at 2.5 tonnes. I mean I agree with the general sentiment but it's not just SUVs that need to go on a diet. Everything is getting heavier and heavier and heavier.
- ajuc 1y agoyeah, the tax should be based on car weight per passanger
- gambiting 1y agoThat will just make the gigantic SUVs with 7 or more seats dominate even more.
- ajuc 1y agocar weight / min(number of seats, number of people in the family)
- gameman144 1y agoThis metric disincentivizes carpooling -- everyone should drive a light single-seater to minimize their tax. (I agree with the spirit, just calling out that there are going to be edge cases galore with a scenario like this)
- paulryanrogers 1y agoDo people car pool anymore?
- 1y ago
- rockostrich 1y agoWeight is not the only thing that matters though. You also need to consider center of gravity and wheel base. A YJ Jeep Wrangler and a Honda Fit both weigh around 2700 lbs and they even have similar wheel bases but the driving experience between those 2 is night and day. A Honda Fit can take a turn at speed without feeling like you're going to go flying. You'll feel like you're able to flip making a turn going 20 mph in a YJ. This is why the first performance mod that most people put on their cars is an adjustable coil over suspension. Dropping the car down by an inch or 2 changes has just as much of an impact as shedding some weight. Ironically, most people put lift kits on Jeeps but that also usually comes with widening the wheel base and putting on larger wheels/tires.
- jakogut 1y agoLifting an off road vehicle isn't ironic at all, nearly every characteristic that makes a vehicle good on road makes it bad off road and vise versa. Increased height makes for increased ground clearance and improved break over angle. Sway bars are another suspension component that's great for reducing body roll on road at speed, but reduces articulation and ground contact off road. Differential lockers also negatively impact turning radius, and cause tire chirp, wear, and oversteer under throttle on road, while increasing traction off road. What's silly is daily driving an off road vehicle on road, especially if you never take it off road.
- hvb2 1y ago> Ironically, most people put lift kits on Jeeps but that also usually comes with widening the wheel base and putting on larger wheels/tires. That's not ironic. That's just caring more about the looks and you like that look. And looks > handling for that person
- jakogut 1y agoIt's not at all about looks, it's about a different kind of handling, for off road, that's mutually exclusive with on road handling. Yes, some people choose to emulate off road appearances, such as with fake bead locks and then only ever drive their vehicle on road. That doesn't discount the fact that there are a great many explicit choices you can make in designing and building a vehicle that sacrifice on road performance for off road performance.
- neya 1y ago> I wish more people on the road realized the extent to which weight reduction improves all aspects of the driving experience This is a blanket statement and completely untrue. Good driving experience is directly correlated to TRACTION, not just weight. And traction isn't just a function of weight - it also is affected by center of gravity, friction between the wheels and the road. Traction is what gives you the perception of being in control of the car. I used to own two cars of the exact same model - one petrol and one diesel. The petrol is lighter in weight, about 100+ kgs lighter than the diesel variant. And the driving experience on that is slightly scary especially on roads with strong winds. In fact, it is so light that if you drive over tiny puddles or rumbles strips, the car will sway sideways. The diesel always feels more planted because it is front-heavy, thus adding more traction to the front wheels (both are FWDs). I always prefer the diesel for longer drives because of the heft and confidence it provides.
- lunias 1y agoI get what you're saying, but tire technology has improved traction so greatly in the last decade that we can definitely take the slight loss in maximum theoretical traction for the massive benefits in other areas. There is also the question of what "maximum traction" is... what scenario are we talking about? Straight line acceleration from a dig or skidpad turning at a high speed? If we're turning at all then the momentum (which increases w/ mass) of the vehicle is what pulls it off course and causes the tires to break traction. I also drive a FWD (a quite spicy one) and I break traction all the time, not because of weight, but because of torque. You can modulate torque, not weight. The biggest traction increases that I made on my FWD were when I put on sticky summer tires, the second was subtly changing front control arm geometry and bushings, and the third was adding stiffer engine mounts. Agreed on getting tossed around in a light car though, not much can be done about that... other than making the roads better and lowering the center of gravity.
- gogusrl 1y agoI went from a 2021 Opel Mokka (4.2m long, 1350kg) to a 2024 Volvo EX30 (4.2m long, 2000kg). It was an absolute shock the first time I braked in the Volvo, not to mention trying to take a corner.
- loeg 1y agoIt's ~all battery weight, though. This doesn't really move the needle.