15 Aug 2010

Car handling terms - what they mean?

Sharp handling - the car goes exactly where you points steering and intend to go. It should not lose grip either. If you try to drive a family car over 60 km/h in a twisted road, you may find that the car may drift towards wrong side of central line marker! This means the handling is not sharp. Sometimes this can be taken care by traction control.

Sharp handling also means steering has to be precise ie car will go exactly where intend it to go. It will neigher understeer (mostly FWD) and not oversteer (mostly RWD). Vague steering also indicates driver is having difficulty judging how much exactly the car will turn if he moves steering a precise angle.

Body roll - it means when you take a sharp turn, the inside suspension pushes the car down and outside suspension pushes it up - resulting a feeling in body as if it is rolling on one side. A softer suspension will contribute to more body roll and vice versa for firm suspension. That is why most sports car has a firm suspension. On other hand, too much firm suspension means unfortable ride over not so smooth road surfaces.

Punchy/nippy/rev happy engine - means if you plot a graph of time vs RPM, it is quite steep. This also ensures car will have rapid acceleration. If this curve is flatter, then the engine is often termed as agricultural :)

Wallowy ride - more applicable to American cars with soft suspension. This is similar to ride you get in boats.

Engine running out of puff - it means engine has reached its max power output and unable to speed up the car any more.

A sports car will have - sharp handling, precise steering, firm suspension, good acceleration and good grip. Sometimes tyres are designed to sacrifice wet grip in favor of dry grip.

Handling of cars also depends on engine layout like FWD, RWD or mid-engined cars.

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