A Testimony To The FR-S's Handling

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by YukiHachiRoku

When I'm at work I drive big trucks, and I'm trained to hit the throttle and run things over, not dodge and go into the ditch... just some food for thought. (just got back from Hillsdale, WY, and a bunch of rabbits scattered, I did not want to hit them, so I let off the throttle, and they all skidattled, zero casualties! <3

But deer are a different story, out trucks have deer guards on them. I get nervous when I see deer, because I cannot tell which way they are gonna jump, (they are scared too), but thankfully no incidents since I was 4 yrs old (my dad hit a deer with me my mom and dad in and old skool Caprice traversing through Yellowstone)

=)

Obviously each situation differs based on the surroundings (traffic, room to evade, etc) but I normally follow the same rule for cars and motorcycles:

If I could eat it in one sitting, run it over. 99.9% of the time you'll miss it anyway. Family size, evade if you KNOW its safe. July 4th BBQ size, evade first, sacrifice the car if you have to.

[AshWilliams]

I was riding my bike on the country roads around Ocala and was nearly killed by some idiot swerving to avoid a squirrel when he lost control of his car.

While it's perfectly reasonable to avoid a deer (they can kill you), risking your life and those of the other people on the road for small critters seems pretty reckless.

Drive straight, it'll wash off.

[skoodge]

Originally Posted by Bristecom

He'll thank you later for that Skoodge.

On a side note, I just had to avoid some deer in my Eclipse a few minutes ago. They always seem to come out at night around here now...

AHAHAHAHAHAH always loved that commercial.

[muffinman]

have deer caused drivers' deaths from their impact alone? i saw a doe jump into the path of an old ford escort at about 65mph and it completely busted the windshield and dented the hood a little. driver kept his cool and slowly came to a stop. i think more serious accidents would be from A) drivers swerving to avoid an animal B)panicking after uve hit an animal and then swerving

[Bristecom]

Originally Posted by muffinman

have deer caused drivers' deaths from their impact alone? i saw a doe jump into the path of an old ford escort at about 65mph and it completely busted the windshield and dented the hood a little. driver kept his cool and slowly came to a stop. i think more serious accidents would be from A) drivers swerving to avoid an animal B)panicking after uve hit an animal and then swerving

The problem is that the deer come through the windshield and often decapitate the driver. So yes, it's better to try to avoid them at all costs. Fact: Deer are the #1 killer animal of humans.

[muffinman]

i guess cause it was a smallish doe it didnt come all the way through the windshield. thank god there's no moose in my neck of the woods

[vividracing]

I've had plenty of family who've just about died from hitting a deer. Then again, I know a guy who hit a deer on his motorcycle and was completely unscathed.

[AzFranz]

Speaking of the handling aspects...At 90 miles on the odo I was coming home and took a corner at 35mph and the back end swung out a bit. I was accelerating at the same time, but once I sensed it I turned into it just a tick and the car regained its composure. 2 things I noticed. These Michelins don't like the hot Phoenix streets and the car handles so well that the traction control lights never came on. It seems they designed to know a slight kickout is not "loss" of control. True driver's car. I love it!

[AlanLGuy]

I had a bit of a scare myself tonight. coming home on backroads int he middle of nowhere around 11pm and a deer bursts out of the woods and runs right out into the road in front of me. I slammed on the brakes for all I was worth and went from 50-0 MPH in no time at all! Thing ran out of the road and then right back into it again and stops in the middle of the road just looking at me :/ I guess it just wanted a better look at the FR-S :P. It ran off as soon as I revved my engine at it. Bout gave me a heart attack!

[Partial Stall]

Sorry, but I have to nerd off a bit here:

When I think of hitting something, I usually evaluate a few things very quickly. My current velocity, the mass of my car, the mass of the incoming object.

Lets say your going 65 MPH (29 meters/sec). You see full grown deer with a mass of 250 lbs (113 kg). Your car wieghs 2700 lbs (1225 kg).

Your current energy while in the car is: E = 1/2(mass)(velocity)^2 = 515,112 joules of energy. Or the same amount of energy in 123 grams of TNT explosive!

When you hit the deer all that energy needs to go somewhere. Depending on the hardness of the object you hit verses the hardness of your car, the energy will find the quickest way to disperse itself into the molecular mesh of the object. Since a deer is pretty soft compared to the metal body of your car, your bumpers will get badly damaged and perhaps some things inside, but the bulk of the energy will be transfered to the deer. This energy will violently disrupt the chemical bonds inside the deer and cause massive damage untill all the energy is dispersed as heat or kinetic movement.

So a deer most of the time is not a huge deal. The problem is if the force of the impact sends the damn thing into your windshield. Thats a problem

Once you get up to 500 kg of mass, like a moose, the resulting impact forces your car to decelerate too quickly and major damage to car and life is possible.

It's not like I think of all this when i'm about to hit something (happends alot in maine), but I keep it at the bottom of my mind. If I HAVE to hit the deer, I would angle the car so the impact is on the passenger side (if no one is in it) so if the deer does go through the windshield, I'll be ok.

[Moto-P]

Originally Posted by skoodge

Gonna keep this short and sweet.

It's attributed to low center of mass, pretty refined and balanced suspension, mounted to a rock sold uni-body, the VSC system, and your good driving skills obtained from being used to taming a shaky, loose muscle car...

Good Job!

[Shagaliscious]

I assume you are still running the stock tires? If so, that is good to hear! I'm going from FWD to RWD, so I was also somewhat worried about how it is in the rain.

Crazy story, my buddy recently had a deer hit him! Jumped into the passenger door/rear 1/4 panel area, I think it did around $3k worth of damage to his new Camaro...ridiculous!