One disturbing trend for those concerned with both performance and fuel economy is that cars have gotten more and more heavier over the years. Compare the original Mk1 Golf GTI to the latest Mk5 version, the original was only 810kg in stock form, while the latest TFSI Mk5 weighs in at 1,340kg – thats more than 500kg heavier!
Rather than see 2,000kg hot hatches sometime in the future, someone has decided to do something about this and hopefully force everyone to follow suit – Thomas Weber, board member in charge of R&D over at DaimlerChrysler.
Weber admits that the weight of cars have been growing alarmingly over the past few years. DaimlerChrysler has moved weight reduction into the middle term concerns, together with improving drivetrain efficiency and energy management. Special project teams devoted to lightweight construction were formed in late 2006. DaimlerChrysler is now using ultra high performance steels in highly stressed structural parts and aluminum at chassis locations that are under less strain. Every parts designer is given goals for weight reduction in his area.
According to surveys, vehicle weight increases every year from about 1% to 1.5%, plus vehicle length grows about 5 to 10cm from one model generation to another. Weight increases because of increase in vehicle size as well as increase safety, amongst many reasons. In this age of fuel efficiency concerns, will we see this trend reversed?
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is it that ppl nowadays are growing in size so cars tend to grow as well? every single model had been growing in size from one generation to next. or maybe grow bigger so can fit in all the extra safety equiptments? wonder if new engine with bigger power fitted into older models..
Satria Neo is a lot shorter than previous right :) This is not new, Lotus has been weight reduction for a long time now
Human greed never ends !
If it is a continuous series (example Honda Civic, Accord, Toyota Camry, Corolla..etc) it has to grow bigger and longer in size (and therefore gain in weight and engine capacity)
This is to gain sales and project "improvement" over the previous model.
Well, it is true that every car owner wants more space in their car, even those who are looking for small runabouts like the Kancil, so naturally the cars get bigger and heavier over time, we humans just have more and more stuff to ferry around. Also i think the weight increase is proportional to human weight, we have more heavy people around nowadays, so we have more heavy cars around too :P
toyota did a good effort actually ….new camry 2.0 is 1450kg (190Nm) 4 a car tat big & just around 70kg more than 1.6 waja
I noticed this alarming trend a few years back, then thinking when will superminis (1.0 – 1.3ltr) cars grow larger than those of 1.8-2.0ltr …. then this stupid so-called MPV came out and i burst into huge laughter when my friend told me my prophecies are true.
BRAVO TOYOTA AVANZA. ahhahah~
if go light, would the ride preserved the usual solid and firm like the usual continentals,
perhaps it requires a very complex design suspensions + active, (this contributed to weight actually) to compansate the lightness stimulating the ride,
or nothig compared to the law of gravity ,heavy body on firm suspension
=superior solid ride. so no lightweight.
at the moment i dont belive the top brand will go light, …but marginally yes as a mean to save material, simplify the design and manufacturing, like electric motor assisted steering, compact gear box, drive by wire, plastic body paneling, and high performance steel and aluminum as said,,, well will it make the car cheaper?..sorry no
well its a good move though, but there is compromise between philosophy
and cost cutting. for example mercedes like to retain RWD, this drivetrain itself is 'heavy' part which mercedes people would say no to FWD, for eg,
the bottom line is they never finish 'making car', thats what make them good,
lighten flywheel for continental car is not advisable. COmfort and solidness is gone. Especially sound proofing material.
Heavy cars…Light cars…but something always bothers me…are light cars all dangerous in terms of safety? Does this apply equally to heavy cars..? There has to be some pros and cons for both…But SAFETY wise speaking..,which one do we Malaysians can afford to have (with all our "magnificent" forms of taxes and levies imposed on every cars produced or imported)…aaiyaaa…seems to me SAFETY in our cars IS SOMETHING to talk about here in Malaysia…then the term " weight" will solve itself out naturally…
Colin Chapman would be sticking out one particular finger at the world right now and said 'I bloody told you so' while driving his caterham 7s.
Meself being in the safety business for 7 years, knows very much that nobody in Malaysia wants to pay for good safety equipment. Nothing cheap is good. Good things don't come cheap. Why peeps want Toyota and not Volvo? Coz bloody safety is not top priority for us. Probably no.15 in that list of must haves. Some more complain why Proton dont have airbags on all cars but expecting no change in price. Cakap pun sakit hati. People with money also don't want to pay for safety. Better put money in tangible assets lah…
You need extra mass for passenger and driver protection, long A pillars with the engine as far away as possible or able to slide under your feet when you hit something at 110km/h. You think those side bars are carbon fibre hah? Then pay lah! Have you seen a titanium bucket for a Farichild A-10 Warthog? Why peeps don't think before they type huh?