Wait a minute...

If subframe connectors improve our cars so much, why didn't GM put them on the cars in the first place; basically, what is the advantage to a unibody? Why didn't GM just weld in a couple pieces of metal and improve the cars so much??
There are no disadvantages, correct? Weight maybe? They can't weigh that much.

Any thoughts on this?? :lala:

 

im guessing it all had to do w/ cost thats why the unibody is in there cause it cheaper .. i think

 

Probably because it was an added cost to the production. I dunno, I"m not too well versed in the subject. But the minor weight increase is well worth the increase in chassis stiffness.

 

By going to the unibody you got a few things out of it.

lower manufacturering costs
less weight
smoother ride(more flex)

There are some other reasons but I can't remember them.

 

There were several obvious reasons:

• They cost money
• The car cost less to build without them
• They were added expense
• People who really cared could add them later
• People bought the cars anyway whether they had them or not
• No doubt an analysis of customer preferences was done, and it was discovered that sales would not be altered in a statistically significant way if they were added
• The car would have cost more to make

There might be others, including perhaps the cost, but that's all I can think of off the top of my head.

Oh, did I mention that they would have raised the cost of producing the car without adding a dime to the potential sales price, and would therefore have reduced the margin? This sort of decision usually gets made with alot more focus on financial performance (after all, even GM people like their paychecks) than on what we might call "performance".

 

dude, you forgot raised costs. sfcs would probably raise the cost of producing the cars. jeez how could you leave out the cost.

 

Oh and by the way, they add more cost too....

I added them to my Z, and I gotta say, best investment ever. And thats on a 4th gen that is already notably stiffer than a third!

 

'92 Convertibles came with them from the factory, but they really needed them more than the T-Top/Hardtop cars.

 

most likely comes down to "MONEY"

 

Also fuel economy. That little bit of weight would have knocked off a little gas mileage.

They did all kinds of things to save weight to keep the mileage up.