Mid-Engine Placement Ideal

Everybody is wondering why the Crossfire flopped. After much pondering and
dickering, I have the obviously correct answer and will share it to my
loving audience.

The engine is in the front and differential in the rear. The polar moment
of inertia has been maximized. Thus, it is no wonder this bomb handles
like a barge. It is essential a one-dimensional vehicle.

You can test the science yourself at your next shopping trip to Wal-Mart.
First load up a shopping trolley with a hundred pounds of dog food. Then
push and steer it. You will note the ease of control in two dimensions:
foward, backward, left, and right. Now take out the dog food and get a 10
year old boy to stand on the front of the cart and hold on tight. Now try
the same maneuvres and you will the upmost difficulty in getting it to turn
to and fro. It will be almost impossible and you will be frustrated out of
your goard. Reason: polar moment of inertia. You cannot overturn the Laws
of the Universe as established by Isaac Newton and expect to get away with
it.

You want as much of the vehicle's weight concentrated towards the mass
center. Any heavy components will benefit by this central placement.
Especially the engine and differential since those are the single most
heaviest and most massive components.

Remember the illustrious Pontiac Fierro? That beaut had its engine located
directly behind the two passenger seats. Perfect. It handled great. And
was safe too, for in a major head-on, there was no chance for the engine to
be pushed back into the driver or passenger. That is exactly how ZsaZsa
Gabor was seriously hurt - the engine impacted her. Indianapolis 500 cars
also have mid-engines for the same reason: handling and safety.

Chrysler, get with the program. You made your Crossfire in the mold of a
'53 Corvette when you should have been thinking of a winner like the
Fierro.

 

It's been for sale a month!

And it bombed.

LOL!

 

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?

 

Did you ever stop to think that perhaps mfgrs. build cars with high
polar moments on purpose? What do you think would happen if you put
the average John Q. Driver behind the wheel of a darty car like a
Porsche 914 or Fiat X1/9? I'm not saying mid engine is *bad* but it
certainly helps to have good recovery skills, because once they spin,
they *spin.* I personally like 'em, but I wouldn't recommend one as a
mid-life-crisis mobile, which I believe is a larger market than the
true sports car.

nate

 

Like the (mini-based kit-car) Unipower I used to have, the Fiat X1/9 (which
I have driven) and the Toyota MR-2, the Fiero was certainly mid-engined
from a technical perspective, but I think all of these use a transverse
configuration, so the weight was not central and the load was not 50/50
front to back. They were "light" at the front end and this affected steering
in water, snow and slush. There was also not much to protect you in a front
end collision, though (at least the Unipower and Fiat) were extremely nimble
and may have been able to avoid some accidents that may catch other
vehicles. They certainly didn't have an engine up front that may encroach on
the passenger compartment, but many vehicles are designed with the intent
that the passenger compartment rides up over the engine. It may not always
work.

 

Porche's 928. 924 and 944 all had rear transaxles. They were very popular
cars and handled quite well. Alfa Romeo also used a similar setup with
their Milano/75 and GTV. The drivetrain layout alone is not responsible
for the car not selling well. There is more involved. For the crossfire,
I'm sure the price kept the numbers down.

 

It has to do with weight distribution. That's why a Corvette can outhandle a
Camaro even if they have the same LS1 engine.

 

So, Student Mechanic's got another new email address? Get a stake!

 

[snip]

Lloyd, Lloyd, Lloyd....

It has generally been accepted that, Norman Nabisco is not to be
taken any more seriously than, well, you!

 

Are you saying Lloyd is the troll living under our bridge??
Barry A. Lee

 

Nope. Two entirely separate individuals.

Definitely a parallel stupidity though....

 

That should read "the same LS1 engine in the same configuration."

 

A car doesn't have the turning force applied from the rear. Try experiment
but pull and turn from the front of the cart.

 

But Lloyd seems to have taken up permanent residency hear! We need an
exterminator!
Barry A. Lee

 

Read them occasionally, they serve as a reminder of how fucked up
you could be. ;-)

I say occasionally because he's just like a soap opera, you can
tune out for 6 months, and when you check back, he's right at the
same place, i.e., Consumer Reports sez this, Car & Driver sez
that. (eveidently he believes that thinking for ones self will
cause their dick to fall of or something)

(same goes for Norton Numbnuts.)