Comments on: Are car designers losing the plot? http://blog.autospeed.com/2005/02/27/are-car-designers-losing-the-plot/ AutoSpeed's Blog. Opinion and Auto News Comment Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:07:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Ben http://blog.autospeed.com/2005/02/27/are-car-designers-losing-the-plot/comment-page-1/#comment-2201 Ben Tue, 18 Sep 2007 11:20:39 +0000 http://blog.autospeed.com/2005/02/27/are-car-designers-losing-the-plot/#comment-2201 Speaking of suspension taking up room... What happened to torsion bars? Combined with a pushrod operated damper, suspension height could be as low as the height of the upper control arm. The suspension unit would then be longer, but it is easy enough to hide a straight bar an inch across. Speaking of suspension taking up room… What happened to torsion bars? Combined with a pushrod operated damper, suspension height could be as low as the height of the upper control arm. The suspension unit would then be longer, but it is easy enough to hide a straight bar an inch across.

]]> By: Paul http://blog.autospeed.com/2005/02/27/are-car-designers-losing-the-plot/comment-page-1/#comment-2167 Paul Tue, 18 Sep 2007 03:52:12 +0000 http://blog.autospeed.com/2005/02/27/are-car-designers-losing-the-plot/#comment-2167 Design and interior space of a Volvo V50 wagon vs a (smaller) 20 year old Camira wagon??? True enough observation but your conclusion is flawed. Cars have grown (esp weight, side crumple zones and pillar girth) at the expense of interior space with the increased focus on side impact protection. Lets face it, there was little in any direction with the Camira (nor may of the other design classics mentioned). You do generally need a bigger car to get the same interior space than you did 20 years ago for a good design. Progress?? I think yes. The Volvo design is not perfect, but ended up going this way. In this size class, if you really want to see cramped, try a BMW 330i!!! A C Series has more interior space than the V50 but is underpowered for the $. No need for CD's floating around in the car with a factory MP3 6 disk CD player and Aux input for the ipod!!! And as you know, theres never enough storage pockets for kids. Now if only it came with a speed alarm..... PS Volvo seats seem also to move rearward much more than the norm (nordic heritage??), the carseat test should be done with a typical driver to be valid. No worse than others in normal use. Design and interior space of a Volvo V50 wagon vs a (smaller) 20 year old Camira wagon??? True enough observation but your conclusion is flawed. Cars have grown (esp weight, side crumple zones and pillar girth) at the expense of interior space with the increased focus on side impact protection. Lets face it, there was little in any direction with the Camira (nor may of the other design classics mentioned). You do generally need a bigger car to get the same interior space than you did 20 years ago for a good design. Progress?? I think yes.

The Volvo design is not perfect, but ended up going this way. In this size class, if you really want to see cramped, try a BMW 330i!!! A C Series has more interior space than the V50 but is underpowered for the $.

No need for CD’s floating around in the car with a factory MP3 6 disk CD player and Aux input for the ipod!!! And as you know, theres never enough storage pockets for kids. Now if only it came with a speed alarm…..

PS Volvo seats seem also to move rearward much more than the norm (nordic heritage??), the carseat test should be done with a typical driver to be valid. No worse than others in normal use.

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