Quote:
Originally Posted by fatoni
those same people should realize that having double the cylinders means you need bigger brakes, wheels, tires, drivetrain, chassis etc. im not saying that each design philosophy doesnt have an advantage/disadvantage. its just that its always "frs isnt about the numbers, its lighter than the mustang" and then its "oh well the frs is faster than the maita" and now its "oh the frs has less body roll or the test was rigged or whatever it may be"
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It's not so much the extra power and necessary mods that make the other cars heavy. If that was the case, an 4cylinder Turbo Ecoboost Mustang would be within a few hundred lbs of an 86 and not 600-700 lbs heaver.
The Mustang, 370z, Gen coupe, and Camaro are fat because they're built on modified passenger car platforms (some decades old). The Miata and 86 ride on dedicated sports car chassis w/ various degrees of suspension. I get what point you're trying to make, but I don't think your example holds up.
I don't believe the test wasn't "rigged" per se. However there was easily detectable advantage provided to the Miata which ran the track with $6500 worth of brand name factory mods, while the BRZ had stock performance and cosmetic mods. Mazda certainly could have provided a base car for the test and Motor Trend could have held off making the comparo and just did a review of the Miata until they found two that more fairly and directly compared. As far as I can tell Mazda is only loaning out upgraded cars to the press. And it looked like Motor Trend got the story they were trying to spin because of it. The negative response to the performance part of the article is in regards to this.