What makes the Boxer engine so special

[whaap]

All these boxer vehicles being mentioned, don't forget the Corvair.

[Dimman]

Originally Posted by whaap

All these boxer vehicles being mentioned, don't forget the Corvair.

VW Beetle, too.

[jmaryt]

Originally Posted by Dimman

The balance example was to demonstrate how flowery the marketing guys get about this car. They say they chose the boxer so they could move it back to optimally balance the car. But it ends up with the same balance as the Supra. Look at the shock/strut towers relative to the front of the motor of both cars. Also the 53:47 on the FT86 is with 2 passengers (as seen in the above specs), whereas the Supra's is with 1.

The other thing is all these noobs throwing around COG like it's the Holy Grail of handling never thought twice about it until they encountered the hype machine.

The reality is the Subaru cooperation allowed the access to a north-south engine without having to spend a fortune on a new motor. That's it.

If the boxer was so great and COGs the be all and end all of handling , the cost is no object LFA would have had a flat 8.

this is essentially correct,as the engine was already available in their other cars,and is just a modified design to fit this car,thus saving a ''ton" of money,
and allowing the car to exist in the first place. all the "basics" of a sports car design were in place "in house" with the "boxer"

[jmaryt]

Originally Posted by Cade01

Don't forget Volkswagen has been making them (flat 4 engines) since the late 30s (1938 I believe)

very true!,hence the "german" equation! original
concept was theirs,i believe! ferry porsche got a hold
of it,and adapted it to the 356,which,of course,was the forerunner
of the 911...japanese version IS inherently the "same" design!

[DEnd]

Originally Posted by Dimman

VW Beetle, too.

And don't forget Volkswagen!

[jmaryt]

Originally Posted by Draco-REX

Packaging. You can mount one longitudinally in the space of a transverse 4.

The lower CG is a benefit as well, which is why you see them a lot in motorcycles.

thats correct and the "main" reason why they became so popular in
(b.m.w.) bikes,and also because it's an extremely "durable" design! it's
not uncommon for "beemers" to roll some incredible miles over time!.

[DEnd]

M.

*Edit. WTF... I have no idea where that even came from... Pocket posting maybe?

[jmaryt]

Originally Posted by Draco-REX

Packaging. You can mount one longitudinally in the space of a transverse 4.

The lower CG is a benefit as well, which is why you see them a lot in motorcycles.

Originally Posted by DEnd

And don't forget Volkswagen!

yeah! ferry porsche was appointed originally to "run"
volkswagen,by none other than the "maniac" himself,
adolf hitler.

[SuperDave]

Originally Posted by fatoni

and that car with an inline engine has a lower cog than the frs.

that has nothing to do with it being a boxer motor as far as i know. im pretty sure thats a function of the engine being up front and the drive wheels out back

link for proof of lower cog than 86 plz

[RedLeader]

Originally Posted by Cade01

Don't forget Volkswagen has been making them (flat 4 engines) since the late 30s (1938 I believe)

BMW put an airhead boxer in a motorcycle in 1923, which was the first production use of a boxer motor (albeit in a motorcycle, so car people don't like to choose that benchmark) and have had a boxer motor in their production line ever since.

Porsche and VW got a hold of the idea years later (1936ish).

To stay on topic: Generally boxer motors have a lower COG, at the expense of added width, and tend to create more torque than an inline engine with similar dimensions (bore and stroke/displacement). They also tend to be naturally counterbalanced better, which leads to less engine torquing on the chassis (more important in motorcycles than cars since the BMW boxer motor is what the rest of the bike is bolted to).

[ToxicSneakers]

Google Dyna Panhard for shocking images of fwd opposed power - like, from another planet.

[fatoni]

Originally Posted by SuperDave

link for proof of lower cog than 86 plz

i dont have a link. you could probably google it or ask flyin miata or fatcat mororsports or look up the nhtsa data. the cog of the frs is impressive but its no where near groundbreaking. im pretty sure the c4 vette had a cog of about 14 inches. to this day im still pretty sure its lower than the frs.

[SuperDave]

Originally Posted by fatoni

i dont have a link. you could probably google it or ask flyin miata or fatcat mororsports or look up the nhtsa data. the cog of the frs is impressive but its no where near groundbreaking. im pretty sure the c4 vette had a cog of about 14 inches. to this day im still pretty sure its lower than the frs.

sorry man, you can't just pull random proclaimations out of your anus without facts or links. it's simple really, you brought it up so you have to have proof to show for it, i'm not gonna waste my time to look up baseless claims
also, no one said the cog of the 86 was ground breaking or anything like that, the marketers just said it's low...

[Jesse]

pistons dont fight gravity