German Car Zone

Lotus weight distribution is nowhere near 50-50 and they make some of the best handling cars in the world

Maybe one day but right now we are far far from it. As an example I give this, the other day it snowed a inch or two in london. Anyway my GF's dad in his brand spanking new mercedes c-class, avantgarde fully loaded was having traction difficulties, and he was sliding all about on the roads. Yes he was on summer tyres, but that only helps to show that electronics, will never beat mechanical.

Yeah the fox doesn't need it

It is a stupid argument to take a few apples and oranges comparisons and then draw broad conclusions the way you do in that statement.

In fact a little rear ward weight bias is the ideal, cause that will make weight distribution 50:50 under breaking.

Lotuses have rear ward weight bias, not forward. While a slight rear ward weight bias is the ideal, it is difficult to achieve in front engined cars - so 50:50 or almost 50:50 is the next best thing you can do.

Thank you for saying this. The only reason 50/50 weighting is being dissed here is because this is an Audi thread and we all know that this has been one of Audi's main problems.

Now 50/50 weight distribution isn't the end all of handling because some cars are close to it and still don't handle like a BMW, but to say it is just marketing smacks of just putting one's head in the sand for the sake of being an Audi fan. I can't believe that anyone here could actually think that 50/50 weight balance is just a marketing gimmick and/or that Audi's cars wouldn't benefit from it? That is just absurd.

M

Ideal for what? For the average driver aq slight forward bias is better cause it makes the car easier to drive and more predictable under pressure. Also a car that has 50:50 weight distribution when loaded with people and langage becomes rear biased which can serously affect the handling.
For example the 5 series had trouble passing the moose test when fully loaded:

http://jalopnik.com/cars/news/bmw-fa...est-132762.php

Under heavy breaking the weight of the car shifts forward, so a rear-weight biased car would have more balance in this critical moment.

dont bring that up. it was a swedish carmag doing this and the journalist were invited to BMw after that test and did the same test in germany and it worked perfectly. It later turned out the tires was to blame for the lousy moose test done in Sweden. So this has nothing to do with weight distribution.
so this isnt someting you can use if you want to trash BMW and the slalomtests. You have to find something better Yannis.

Yeah I was just about say how ridiculous that was. Doesn't prove anything.

M

It has to do cause RWD cars tend to be more "nervous" when fully loaded during lane change tests. I 'm not saying that Autobild testers have said it. Without ESP it's very hard for any RWD car to pass the lane change tests (including the moose test).

the test you were reffering to had nothing to with weight distriubtion. the problem were something completly else. thats all Im saying.