WestPlmTL

Just need a little help. I love my TL and everything about it. I feel it handles pretty good for a front wheel car or any car for that matter. My buddy has a 04 330 BMW which has no features compared to the TL. One thing I can say is it corners like it is on rails. What I am confused about is all the car mags rate a higher G rating on the skidpad than the 330. The recent Car and Driver I believe rated best of 12 sports sedans including the G35 and the 330? Close to a .89g rating. what does this mean as it doesnt "feel" as good as the 330.

crazymjb

I believe it means that they can take .89 lateral Gs before they begin to skid. This number greatly varies with the tires, so keep that in mind. I am sure BMW uses better stock tires than the EL42s. I don't think our car could match a bimmer either way, im not talking aspec here, but thats what a skid pad is.

ndx2

C&D october issue had the TL w/ the Potenzas; I think the 3 had the same tires.

BMW is just balanced better, with higher end struts/springs.

So while the TL may produce similar results, it will never feel as stable as the 330i like you said.

hcekc

The 330's also have stiffer seats with better side bolsters that hold you in a turn. In contrast, I'm sliding around in my TL during turns. Heck, even my 91 4-Runner has better side bolsters than the TL.

Actuary

so theoretically our handling capability is same as 330i?

SouthernBoy

The newest issue of Car and Driver reported a .91g on the 300 foot skid pad. This was the best of the eight performance sedans tested. The next best was the BMW 330i at .89g's.

Incidently, the TL tested was a basic sedan.. not an A-Spec version.

nYmALu86

Wow the TL did better on the skidpad than the BMW, with the EL42??? Do you have a link of the article? I would love to see the results!

SouthernBoy

Here's their website version of the article. Unfortunately, it doesn't have the full spec tables.. just the text. Stop by a magazine stand and breeze through the issue.. you'll see then.

http://www.caranddriver.com/article....&page_number=1

SouthernBoy

I would like to add that .91g's from a box stock front drive sedan is the second best skid pad I've ever seen for such a car. The best was a 2000 Ford SVT Contour at .92g's on a 200 foot pad. But then again, the SVT Contour would run rings around just about any sedan at the time.. front or rear wheel drive. Ford does know how to engineer a handling machine.

mr drippington

hey assbags,


the skidpad is a circle of track, the amount of time that it takes the car to complete the circle can be inputed into a formula to determine the lateral acceleration of the car

the higher lateral force, or more speed a car can carry thru the same radius corner would lead to a higher G-force reading

enjoy your torque steer

mr drippington

note there's a distinct difference between skidpad and slalom numbers

any crap ass jap manufacturer can toss a bunch of rubber under their cars and get a big skidpad number, but they can't seem to match BMW on the slalom

03CoupeV6

Oh god I feel a troll coming on. Someone, please, him.

tzakiel

Classy.

999999

I thought that the TL beat the 5-series in the slalom consistently. Am I wrong? That is the better comparison anyway, the 3-series is too small to compare.

dsc888

I'm looking at my copy of C&D now and the TL achieved those numbers with the optional summer tires. They were the Bridgestone Potenza RE030s. I hardly believe you can achieve such numbers with the EL42s. It just comes to show you how handicapped most TLs are with the standard factory tires and how much potential our suspensions are capable of with the right rubber. Throw in the A-Spec suspension and you have one heck of a car with summer tires.

dsc888