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Performance and speed



   I just got home after driving from Baltimore to Philadelphia. Those of 
you who have driven I-95 know that it's literally a speedway through 
parts of Maryland (and further south in Virginia). I thought it was bad 
up here in Philly, but the speeds are nothing compared to what you'll 
find down there. Of course, the traffic volume (read: # of loonies on the 
road) is much lower too. 

   My mom's little 1985 Toyota Camry was doing about 70-80mph in the right 
lane, with rigs passing me on the left. And cars were flying by them, no 
doubt some had to be doing 95-100mph. It was scary, let me tell you!

   Anyway, what I wanted to say... a car's top speed is (IMHO) a pretty 
useless statistic. I don't know what the top speed is on that Camry 
(certainly not the 170 that the speedometer goes up to :) but it's 
certainly not safe at anything more than 80mph, that's for sure. The car 
is in good shape, but at high speeds it vibrates (especially the steering 
wheel) and the suspension gets kind of wobbly. And you really gotta blast 
the radio to hear it over the engine. It's not meant for fast highway 
speeds like what I had to drive tonight, I don't care what Consumer 
Reports had to say. 

   A few months ago there was this commercial advertising "the 140mph 
Cadilliac Seville". It goes 140mph, woop-dee-doo. What speeds were it 
designed to be driven at? Performance of a car is not something that is 
constant at all speeds, at least not in my judgement. Some cars ride as 
well at 100mph as they do at 55. But on other cars there is a big 
difference between 65 and 75mph. Does anybody know-- does this Cadilliac 
handle well at 140mph? Or was it just advertising hype aimed at the ego?

   My questions, which may be kinda stupid: What's different about making 
a car that performs well at high speeds? Are tires really a big factor? 
What extras go into the suspension? What stops the feel that the car just 
wants to pull apart into 1 million peices? Is the size of the car an 
important factor? and on and on...

Just like there's cost depreciation, there's also performance 
depreciation. I'd love to hear from some designers or people in the know 
about how drivability and safety deteriorate at higher speeds on some of 
the real popular cars. And I'd like to know some cars that don't suffer 
such losses at high speeds.

Comments, or whatever would be appreciated.


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