The GLI's trunk ain't wonderful, but I still think it'd be significant. My GLI certainly feels more stable at speed than the GTI I had before it. Anywho, we could find out pretty easilly. Everyone should go out and time how long it takes to decelerate in neutral from 5000 RPM in 5th down to 3500 RPM (assuming the tachs are more accurate than the speedos and that we all have similar gearing/tires)...but be sure to make two runs in opposite directions (although if we have enough people do it, we'll be OK statistically). Lowered cars will have to be compared separately, of course, as will cars with bigger (taller OR wider) tires. :) I'll try it this weekend in the GLI. In fact, I'll try it several times. :)
Great idea! If feasable, a higher speed test should be run, so that aerodymenic drag is the main factor, not rolling resistance. I'm glad you brought up the issues of tires and suspension; with enough data points (cars) these effects should average out. However, the largest source of error (tire pressure) should be standardized. Who want to crunch the numbers? Excel should be able to do it, although I have Matlab (with the stat toolbox) at my disposal ;).
Data to include: car type tire size and pressure final drive suspension lowering Sounds like fun. W. Lee Hendrick [email protected] http://soliton.ucsd.edu/~hendrick/
