#5123, "spending too much time reading the on line tech manual"
Wow, I had no idea how detailed the manual can get!
Check out page 222-230 on the DSM 2G technical manual. It discusses aspects of suspension design and geometry so detailed you'd almost need a degree to understand what they're talking about!
I'll take one example of the details this goes into, virtual kingpin axis (see page 226-229). Getting the kingpin axis as close to the center of the tire is critical to good handling (we were discussing ways to do this with the solid axle FSAE car I help out with by "staggering" the kingpins on the axle) and the virtual kingpin does this, you can see in the diagrams how the axis passes into the ground almost right where the center of the tire is. This is very good for handling, as it reduces "scrubbing" of the tire as you turn the steering wheel.
The sad thing is, once you go over in detail the advantages of the multilink design to a vehicle's handling (screw cost and saving space, that's for wussies) it makes you wonder why mitsu went to a macpherson strut design (well,I just said why, cost mostly! The new eclipse can't possible handle as well as our cars! but then again, they aren't marketing/selling them to people who care about performance anymore.)
