Quote:
Originally Posted by scorcherjf
While the M3 and many porches handle very well, you could also say the same about other non-wishbone suspensions. Newer corvettes and even the mustang with its live axle have been praised recently. Any suspension configuration can be tuned but I'm willing to bet that given the same amount of effort into suspension tuning, the double-wishbone configuration will out-handle struts/leafs/live axles/torsion beams, etc. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) we live in a world with a free market economy and double-wishbone setups are just more expensive and less practical (less leg room for the front passenger). Thus, the number of cars with a double-wishbone setup that cost less than $100k today is something like... 5? Miata, RX-8, S2k, 350/370z, maybe some lotuses? Oh and the GTR (if you count that as less than 100k).
So imo if cost weren't a factor, double-wishbone would be king (Formula 1/2, ALMS, etc). In a consumer oriented car, the costs may not be worth it over a very well-tuned Macpherson setup. Practically all super- and hyper-cars today employ a double-wishbone or multi-link setup.
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that all else being equal and unlimited money thing makes sense when all else is equal and we have unlimited money. i dont so im forced to buy the cars that sell in the world i live in. as long as we keep measuring means to an end instead of an end, were going to miss the point
Quote:
Originally Posted by switchlanez
Double-wishbones up front would ruin the handling characteristics of this car. The engine would have to be raised and/or pushed forward to make clearance for the suspension. This would shift the polar moment forward and/or raise the otherwise stellar CoG.
To fix that, we could mount the engine in the trunk/rear seats. Then it'd be a completely different car (looks/price/etc.).
They engineered the suspension to strengthen this car's key attribute - low CoG (thanks to the boxer engine). They did it right IMO.
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i personally would rather have double wishbone up front over a boxer motor. i would like the camber curves in the front to be as useable as the ones in the rear. on top of that, i wouldnt even call the cog stellar. the miata has a lower cog and it does it with an iniline 4 and double wishbone. the cog isnt that important. it seems more like a marketing thing than anything