Hyundai RM16 N mid-engine hatchback might be real

[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by why?

no my car is quiet. My last car was a Yaris, and I removed everything behind the front two seats. It had even less insulation than the twins do and I literally could here the gas sloshing in the tank if I turned off the radio. It was wondrous. If you get the venting and ducting done properly heating won't be an issue. The VW Bug was rear engined and never once did anyone complain about the car being too hot.

Okay I just had to check. I've driven a stripped car before where you could hear the fuel pump and everything too, but the MR2 is another step up in loudness because the engine is so close to your head.

Thermal insulation isn't actually that bad as it'll only weigh a few extra pounds, but sound deadening is almost certainly a problem.

[why?]

Originally Posted by serialk11r

Okay I just had to check. I've driven a stripped car before where you could hear the fuel pump and everything too, but the MR2 is another step up in loudness because the engine is so close to your head.

Thermal insulation isn't actually that bad as it'll only weigh a few extra pounds, but sound deadening is almost certainly a problem.

the big deal isn't really any of this, it is the actual size of the vehicles. If you take the BRZ, remove the need for rear seats and that stupid rear trunk, and take some off the front because really why do I need to have the space to shove pretty much any v8 on the market in there?, and you'd get a car about the size of a Yaris.

Even the heaviest current Yaris is 2335 lbs. You take out the back seat and associated useless crap and that's 2200. I still don't know why Toyota doesn't do what they've done with every MR2 and make their econo car into a rwd rear engined sporty car, because a 2300 lb MR2 would be awesome.

A mid engined car does not have to be heavy. A modern car does not have to be heavy. Even with all the bells and whistes a modern sports car does not need to weigh a lot. I swear they designed the BRZ solely with the need to throw in a v8 for pro drifting.

[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by why?

the big deal isn't really any of this, it is the actual size of the vehicles. If you take the BRZ, remove the need for rear seats and that stupid rear trunk, and take some off the front because really why do I need to have the space to shove pretty much any v8 on the market in there?, and you'd get a car about the size of a Yaris.

Even the heaviest current Yaris is 2335 lbs. You take out the back seat and associated useless crap and that's 2200. I still don't know why Toyota doesn't do what they've done with every MR2 and make their econo car into a rwd rear engined sporty car, because a 2300 lb MR2 would be awesome.

A mid engined car does not have to be heavy. A modern car does not have to be heavy. Even with all the bells and whistes a modern sports car does not need to weigh a lot. I swear they designed the BRZ solely with the need to throw in a v8 for pro drifting.

The car you're talking about is the SF-R concept. That thing is tiny and weighs much less.

Wheelbase is a really big factor in weight, since a longer wheelbase requires proportionally more chassis reinforcement to maintain stiffness. The BRZ's front wheels don't have much space to move back.

I get the rear seats on the BRZ, because they are actually decently sized. I've gone a ski trip with my FR-S, and taken 3-4 passengers quite a few times. The BRZ is not a hardcore sports car, it's a sporty coupe that is a great grocery getter. It's so good at getting groceries that if I actually bought groceries more often, I would have kept it :P

Now on the 911, the rear seats are silly. A small child might fit, but not an adult. That's dead weight in my book. Since they already have rear wheel steering on the GT3, I think they should have shrunken the wheelbase.

Yes a midengine car doesn't have to be heavy, but I would rather ditch the hatch for weight reduction. Every car needs front wheels, so a well designed frunk is the optimal solution IMO. Porsche got the size of the frunk right, but they could have moved some stuff around to allow the overhang to be reduced.

You're right, a 2300lb new MR2 would be awesome and is totally doable. The new Miata is 2300lbs and has a convertible top, so a fixed roof MR2 without a torque tube/driveshaft could actually get down near 2200lbs. I would be first in line to buy one, but Toyota doesn't seem to think it would be a good seller, so I bought another old MR2.