Muffler Flows
During the "Giant
Muffler Test" you had a dyno for load testing but I didn't see any dyno results
in the article. Is there another table somewhere that shows the changes in peak
power as a function of the different mufflers? The reason I ask is to understand
the price/performance trade off.
Bob Wilson
United States
The better the flow, the better the potential
performance.
Rear Wheel Drive 1
With regard to
“Driving Emotion” 19/05/07. I remember reading a column written by Ed Ordinsky
where he commented on driving his Group N Lancer Evo rally car (of the
time). Due to mechanical failures in separate events, he had the opportunity to
drive the same car in both front wheel drive, and rear wheel drive. He
stated that in rear wheel drive ‘mode’ the car was unpredictable, damn near
dangerous, and slow. But in it’s front wheel drive ‘mode’, the car was much more
predictable and was only marginally slower than with it’s normal four wheel
drive. I still prefer a well set up rear wheel drive car, though. Especially
when you have some decent power, it’s just more FUN.
Howard Hartman
Australia
Rear Wheel Drive 2
I felt compelled to offer my opinion based on my
experience re: Driving Emotion - Rear wheel drive can be dangerous.
I have owned a 2003 Mitsu Magna Sports for three
years now, a relatively powerful and as previously reviewed by you, a very
responsively engined car (unfortunately though, the manual trans is
without traction control). I also own a 16 foot trailer boat
which weighs around 800kg. I can categorically say from
personal experience that towing this boat, regardless of the
steepness of ramp, or however thick the sand or caked-on the seaweed might
be, I’ve never once had a problem pulling it up out of the water.
I've also never had any dramas at roundabouts or tight turns
while towing, and any wheelspin I experience is only if I provoke it,
and is always without real drama and is very easy to recover.
Loss of traction does not naturally lead to vehicle instability with
this car.
Upon purchasing the car back in 2004, my colleagues felt
it important to emphasise the tried and tested put-downs relating to
'typical' front wheel drive characteristics. When asked if
they'd driven or had been in one before, the answer was inevitably
always "no". While doing my research, a test drive of the main four 6
cylinder cars at the time showed the Magna to be the
highlight. I therefore believed my decision to be sound. From my
experience, I agree that FWD can in fact be safer in many common
situations. It's not necessarily the fastest way to launch a large
car from a set of lights, but it does make a great package overall that
shouldn't be overlooked simply based on antiquated, typical assumptions and
opinions.
Andrew Fletcher
Australia
Rear
Wheel Drive 3
I agree with your Driving Emotion 'Rear Wheel Drive Can
Be Dangerous'.
Before my current vehicle, I've only ever owned front
wheel drives. A base '86 Corolla, a '86 Twin Cam 16 Corolla, an Alfasud Ti, a
twincarb Alfa Sprint, and a G200 Charade.
So imagine my shock, when,
shortly after picking up my '98 MR2 GT, on a very wet day, the back stepped out
around a large roundabout at about 70 km/h in third geer. In hindsight,
this was too fast, but in the dry the thing just grips and grips at
ridiculous speeds! Thankfully, I managed to ABS to a stop, avoiding a head
on collision or gutter mounting incident.
After that I
treated my MR2 with respect in the wet, let me tell you! It's not even that
powerful, 130 or so kW, but I've had wheelspin in first, second and third gear
very easily. Although, now I've had a bit of a chance to experiment at lower
speeds, I've got the hang of the power oversteer thing, but boy was it
frightening that first time! Definitely not the macho fun it's cracked up to be
...
So now it's up for sale. And will my next car be RWD? Not on your
life, I've got my eye on a beautiful little Alfa 33. *Sigh* I just can’t escape
my love for Alfa flat 4s!
John Williams
Australia
Rear Wheel Drive 4
Going beyond the
very basic (and somewhat indisputable) drawbacks of "cheaper" front wheel drives
(the questionable launch characteristics, torque steer, etc etc) front wheel
drives are cheaper to build and more economical on fuel - with these
benefits, why would even recent sports cars (200sx, 350z, MX-5, etc
etc) persist in making rear wheelers?
Leaving sports cars aside, I think
the reason many refuse to consider front wheelers is because a generation of us
has grown up with rear wheelers. Making the transition requires learning a
whole different set of skills - do I brake before the corner, or into the
corner? Do I use throttle or brake at the exit of the corner? Will the
throttle induce understeer or oversteer? And how does one achieve desired
results in modifying the suspension? All of which may seem basic to a
motoring journo, but questions which everyday drivers would struggle
with. In the end, it may boil down to people sticking with what they're
used to.
Andrew
Australia
Rear Wheel Drive 5
I totally agree with the view that you have
published about rear wheel drive being not as good as it's perceived to be. This
I think can in no small part be attributed to the likes of people like Mark
Skaife shown in the various Holden/HSV advertisements talking about his belief
that RWD is safer than FWD.
I also think that the wheelspin you refer to
in the article and it's perceived 'benefits for real drivers' that the forums
advocate is a crock of #$%&. During the process of finding go fast bits for
the Sports Magna (Used to be a Sedan now a wagon) I contacted an
Australian Magna club website asking about what would be a good place to
start.
He replied by telling me that they are a great car
as long as you get the manual and not the auto. His reasoning was that the
manual is able to bag the wheels up very easily thereby showing it
obviously had more power. Whilst there is no doubt that generally most
manuals are more powerful than autos (less PWR train losses) I don't
understand the bit about wheelspin. Whenever I was driving through the
hills of Adelaide and turned the traction control off, as
soon as I floored the throttle the car would head straight towards the
outside of the turn requiring me to back off the gas. You couldn’t steer
properly or pick a good line through the corner. This happened on high and
low speed corners. With the traction control turned on I had no worries, wet,
dry, fast or slow the best technique was to brake hard b4 the corner,
turn in and stand on the throttle, easy effortless and very neat. I have
surprised quite a few 'Real Cars' when passing on the outside of some corners
because the power gets to the road and I can still steer the thing.
I
don't confess to be a fabulous driver but it always seemed to be the best way
for the car to get around the bend - with the traction control ON.
Also brings to mind a conversation I had with
a Pommie bloke I used to work with. He was talking about the Australian
obsession with wheelspin, in The UK he told me they were obsessed with getting
the power to the ground where as in Oz they want tyre smoke? He
couldn't understand it and neither can I, I'll take FWD and traction
controlled autos with no wheelspin that you can steer over RWD no traction
control and big slow slides, unless it's Drifting which a whole new kettle of
fish.
Darren Roles
Australia
Rear Wheel Drive 6
I'm not sure you
can tar all RWDs with the same brush used for EF Falcons and VT Commodores.
Having owned a V6 VP Commodore (with IRS & ABS) and a R32 Skyline GTST, I'm
certainly no rally driver but after having "moments" in both, I can tell you the
former is far more dangerous. This is despite the later having no ABS, a LSD,
and far from a linear power delivery. One has a balanced chassis and suspension
package that when the car lets go it does so in a progressive fashion and is
easily recoverable, the other is a lead-tipped dart ready to pendulum swing down
(or off) the road at the slightest provocation and with little warning. RWD,
FWD, or AWD, those particular locally produced cars were never going to handle
well under anything but the most benign situations.
Ashley
Rogers
Australia
Water Spray
Re: Intelligent water spray - I love the
article on the intelligent water spray and it seems to be the best controller on
the market. I have a Celica GT-FOUR with the water to air intercooler setup
installed. My question is how do you think the water spray would go on a
WTA setup? With the stored energy I imagine the spray would turn on and
off at longer intervals to an air to air setup. Would this be bad, shouldn't it
just even itself out over time to be equivalent? Have you tried the water spray
on a WTA setup? If not would you like to know the results if I do install
it?
Ben Haines
Australia
The thermal mass of a water/air system makes it
less responsive to short term changes like a water spray.
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