1 video is worth 1000 words - SUV rollover

In article >,
pws > wrote:

> Lanny Chambers wrote:
> > In article >,
> > Alan Baker > wrote:
> >
> >
> >>The high centre of *mass* (people make that mistake all the time) played
> >>a roll, of course...
> >
> >
> > Sometimes, homonym booboos can be delicious.
> >
>
> I wondered if that was intentional or not..... :-)
>
> Pat

I wish I could say that it was... <sigh>

Alan Baker wrote:

> True enough. But if SUVs aren't suitable, then there are an awful lot of
> other vehicles you must want removed from the roads as well...

True enough, including those Amish buggies, whether they finally give in
and get tail lights or not. Not that they are a problem where I drive.

I imagine that what you are referring to are big rigs, UPS trucks, etc.
Anything too much bigger than the biggest SUV requires a commercial
drivers license, so that is at least some comfort.
I do stay far away from big U-Haul and other rental trucks.

I think that is one of the problems, we have so many people driving
these SUV's that are used to many years of car handling dynamics.

My first vehicle was a custom cargo van, not exactly a handling machine,
and probably not what should have been in my hands at the age of 16, but
I drove it like a van, gave people extra room, didn't do 90 mph in it,
etc. It also had street tires and did not pretend to be an off-road vehicle.
I have people who are older than I am now try to race me through corners
in their Toyota Sequoias, it is just sad, and dangerous.

> Is it? How do you know that, exactly?

The BMW kicked ass on a German road course, I forgot the name, keeping
up with some pretty fast cars. The Explorer, especially the early ones
that had a really high center of gravity/mass, could keep up with no car
that even gave a thought to handling. I would easily leave one of those
behind in a boring old Camry, Civic or Accord.

I have also driven both vehicles in the same week. If you do this, there
will probably be no question in your mind as to which vehicle is more
role-resistant. (that one was on purpose) ;-)

The sun is coming up and there are vemon in bikinis about 5 minutes away
at the lake for me to go scare off. You won't hear from me again until
tonight at the earliest, I know it breaks your heart. :-)

Have a good one Alan,

Pat

Alan Baker wrote:
> In article >,
> pws > wrote:
>
>> Alan Baker wrote:
>>
>>> SUVs are suited for driving on the road.
>>
>> I disagree and I don't think that either of us is going to come away
>> saying, "yeah, you were correct".
>
> True enough. But if SUVs aren't suitable, then there are an awful lot
> of other vehicles you must want removed from the roads as well...
>
>>
>>> They just have different limits.
>>
>> Here we completely agree, I just don't think that the limits, at
>> least for most SUV's, are suited for road travel. There is, of
>> course, a wide range of SUV's.
>>
>> A 1993 Ford Explorer is generally going to roll over much more easily
>> than a new BMW X5 given the same circumstances.
>
> Is it? How do you know that, exactly?

I'll let you take my Infiniti FX for a drive some time. If you still want
Pat to answer that question, you probably wouldn't deserve the answer.

<snip>

--
tooloud
Remove nothing to reply

tooloud wrote:

> I'll let you take my Infiniti FX for a drive some time. If you still want
> Pat to answer that question, you probably wouldn't deserve the answer.
>
> <snip>


No question that the Infinity FX is a "road SUV". It is big and heavy
and will clear things that would destroy the underside of my miata, but
it is well-designed by a good company, unlike Ford, and was made more
for on-road than off-road use.

I am not even picking on the Explorer in particular. I used a 1993 model
as an example because at some point after that Ford lowered the
Explorers' center of gravity, mass, whatever, by 7 inches, iirc.

This resulted in a vehicle that was less prone to roll than before but I
still wouldn't want to race against your Infinity in a new Explorer,
even if they had equal power to weight and gearing ratios.

I actually wouldn't want to race anything while driving an Explorer
except maybe a tractor......

Pat