Quote:
Originally Posted by Yoshoobaroo
Engineer here (mechanical product development), failing to see how you can't make a RWD sports car out of this:
Basic structure looks very similar, biggest difference is the more pronounced triangulation in way the firewall sides tie into the fender and side rail, likely to increase torsional stiffness: |
Really? I can make a "sports car" out of a truck frame, but it won't be a really good sports car. That's the issue. The front is designed to hold AWD differentials and thus the proportions are not amenable to a good, light, RWD sports car design. In addition, the ratios of width to height, which are a part of the platform, would not be good for a low car. Rather than looking at what is there, look at what components of that design would be good for a sports car. The assumption you obviously make that the platform could be "cut down" with a reworked front end degrades the idea that this is THE platform for all of the cars. If the assumption you make is true, then there is no real platform at all, just a bottom frame.
This is the difference between an automotive engineer and a mechanical engineer. My background was in product development and design in a number of industries. So I'd like you look again at the design, taking into account that the platform will be designed for AWD (and not RWD) and tell me how you could make a good sports car from it. If you have a CAD program, take the ratios of width and height and place a car body on it and you'll see it will be far too tall to be a low sports car. What you'll get, at a minimum, are the proportions of an Impreza or WRX which are about 58" tall. Our BRZ's are about 51" tall. Think about it....