Post your highest reported lateral Gs

[Arashi666]

FR IS fun.....but im talking about the stability

On the street for the most part this is true. I've been in front drivers for the last 20 years. At the limit they are very predictable, nothing too surprising and very easy to recover, as long as you don't induce oversteer (without the ebrake) then there's really no way to recover. I've done it twice, the first time I got lucky and ended up facing the wrong way on a freeway onramp. The second time was during auto-x school with an instructor in the car about 10 minutes after I asked how common it was. He said, almost never. We were both surprised when I took a hard right at 60mph and the back end came out.

Ultimately I became bored with the front drivers. There is too many forces on the front wheels to easily achieve a balanced car. It will always understeer at the limit and the rear tires are always under utilized. I would have preffered to go RWD only but no such car was on the market that could touch the STI for performance, money and utility (4doors). I'm having hard time adjusting but its coming along. The center diff is normally rear bias but the computer will make the split 50/50 at the right times. Its definitly odd feeling and not the pure driving experience you get in a BWM. However I'm finding my feet in the car and getting used to telling what I want.

the thing is I can count on my FF to understeer, thers no question so really theyre just as predictable as FRs if you know what youre doing

its all about controling the car the way YOU want it, not what it wants to do....and in that lies the challenge, and its fun to push the limits, and then go back and push harder and see how far you go, thats just life I guess always a challenge

the thing with FRs is that if you get on the throttle too much during a turn you oversteer, and if not enough you potentially understeer, so IMO theyre pretty picky, but in the right hands a FR will take on about anything, FFs do have their limits though as with other cars........its just a matter of how the driver uses and pushes those limits........but yes on the road is my only experience with FRs I never pushed one after I spun out my Dad's old BMW 325e, I ended up doing a 360 in the rain.......not cool at all

[SmaartAasSaabr]

Geez you guys talk about oversteer and funky handling...

Anyone here ever drive say an early (say 1964-74) Porsche 911? Tail wagging the dog... They always kept redesigning the suspension to make it more neutral.

I like my Firebird's handling, surprisingly. Big engine up front. Cast iron. Weight distribution is thusly "pickupesque". So major understeer if you crank the wheel into a turn. But just a quick stab on the throttle, you can hang the tail out a bit and fly through the curve at high speed. If you don't use the throttle you have to slow down a lot or you will start cutting down the trees. In many ways the steering wheel is like something from a yacht, it is big, you can spin it in either direction but nothing really happens

[Arashi666]

Geez you guys talk about oversteer and funky handling...

Anyone here ever drive say an early (say 1964-74) Porsche 911? Tail wagging the dog... They always kept redesigning the suspension to make it more neutral.

I like my Firebird's handling, surprisingly. Big engine up front. Cast iron. Weight distribution is thusly "pickupesque". So major understeer if you crank the wheel into a turn. But just a quick stab on the throttle, you can hang the tail out a bit and fly through the curve at high speed. If you don't use the throttle you have to slow down a lot or you will start cutting down the trees. In many ways the steering wheel is like something from a yacht, it is big, you can spin it in either direction but nothing really happens

Yeah I was just saying that the throttle has to be pretty good for you to pull something like that, as you said too little gas = UNDER, and as is common sesne for FRs too much gas = OVER, over is definately preferable to under though...for me anyways, since all it takes is some countersteering to compensate for that!!

[SmaartAasSaabr]

Ah I forgot to add, the reason why early Porsche 911's are rare, don't lift the gas on a curve... if anything, more gas more gas... cut the gas abruptly and the car will skid and spin spin spin! 8)

Anyway as Saab has said in their ads all the time, most cars are designed for understeering tendencies, because this makes the car very intuitive. If the car is plowing forward, let off the gas, speed goes down and the turning radius decreases. A car that naturally oversteers will have it's turning radius decrease as speed increases, so if the car isn't making the curve you've got to speed up, which is a little hard to grasp for an average driver. Neutral-steering cars are the best, seem to have the same turning circle at any speed, but then they hit their limit and go off into the weeds. An average FWD or even RWD or 4x4 car is designed to understeer, and it will start casually telling you you are reaching the limits of adhesion, then speaking a bit louder, then shouting, then screaming! Whereas mid-engine neutral-handling cars are like those silent Unibomber types...

[Arashi666]

50/50 Midships are the best arent they, sure my dream car the NSX isnt exactly 50/50 but im looking forward to the new release with the V10 8) 8)