Quote:
Originally Posted by drakensoul
Talk about a digression about destiny.
Wooooooosh.
Again, making things weigh less doesn't necessarily have to do with density. It can, but not in your examples.
Again, decreasing heft (weight) increases performance and is a good thing. I was simply stating that attributing that to a decrease in footprint density is fallacious. Since density is a squared inverse function of footprint or volume, and linear in relation to mass.
And also, dense (smaller) cars have better centers of mass as opposed to a theoretically less dense (larger volume) version of themselves. I.e.: a less voluminous, more dense version of your E92 would likely handle better while at the same time performing exactly the same in a straight line.
Again, weight loss is not the same as a decrease in footprint density.
Again, equilibrating the footprint density of the 235 and a Camaro SS doesn't equilibrate their performance (by any stretch).
And also: 
But okay.  |
When we're talking about cars of a particular size, in which case reducing the weight would reduce the density. So there's that. Otherwise, you've just built yourself a nice list of strawmen. I'm not making any of those arguments. I never have.
You're really hung up on the density thing. The footprint density measurement was simply a tool for illustrating a point: that the M240i is not particularly "light for its size". I'd love to hear your thoughts on how to relate that in an objective fashion. You've obviously got the toolset (reason & logic) for it.
Outside of that, I don't really care about the car's density. That is to say, I don't care if the car is larger or smaller, give or take a couple of inches. I never said I did. I only said that the M240i is not particularly light for its size, then presented some math to back that up. Your criticisms of the math are fair (footprint increases as a square, but weight does not).
I'd really love to see BMW produce a car about the size of the M240i, but 200 lbs less. I think I get your point, that in an ideal world, the car would be no larger than a bubble around the passengers, and weigh only what's necessary, but that's a little too far on the side of naval gazing for my interests.