Eric said:
The 07's don't really compare. My GLS only has 16" wheels. I would
imagine that is probably 50 lbs. right there, but admittedly, that is a
guess. I can only guess at the rest too, since none of the car
magazines that I read tested a GLS V6 (all LX's), but you've got a few
other things that could easily add up to 50 lbs. or more.
I'm 95% sure that the 06 figures were similar with the V-6 models coming
in ~200 lbs heavier than the I-4. Unfortunately, I don't see an archive
with the 06 data at the Hyundai web site.
The final drive ratio is so small of a difference it is insignificant,
but like you said, the 5 gear ratios could be different. Although both
being 5 speeds I would suspect they are similar too.
Usually standard transmission cars are geared much lower than the
automatics so I suspect that the 3.77 really should be for the 5 speed
manual and the 3.44 for the 4-speed automatic. Then the 3.33 for the 5
speed automatic would be consistent as it could handle a higher final
drive ratio as it likely has a lower 1st gear given the extra gearset.
If you have ever been into reading the car magazines like I have for the
last 25 years, you would know that the numbers even they come up with
are variable and not always accurate. Car and Driver seems to have the
most consistant numbers and it put the LX at 6.6 seconds to 60 MPH. I'd
be willing to bet that the GL I4 would be in the low 8's for a 0-60 run.
That is a very significant difference. You don't just add 50% more
torque and HP and reduce your times by 50%, even if you could keep the
weight the same. It is far from a linear relationship.
I was using the numbers Hyundai published. I don't see why they would
have any reason to intentionally skew the V-6 vs. the 4 cylinder. I
suspect their profit margin is larger on the V-6 so if anything the
would want to make the V-6 look better against the 4 rather than worse.
Since F=ma, if the torque is 50% greater then the acceleration will be
50% greater also since this is a linear relationship.
However, since x(t) = 1/2*a*t^2, t=sqrt((2*x(t)/a)), the difference in
time will vary as to the square root of the change in acceleration. So
a 50% increase in acceleration will yield only a 22% reduction in time
over a given distance (say 1/4 mile). However, this assumes all else is
equal, which it isn't as the V-6 is a couple of hundred pounds heavier
and has different gear ratios. I believe the performance posted by
Hyundai had the performance difference being only in the 10% range. I
posted the stats a while back, but don't remember them precisely from
memory now.
Matt
I do, and haven't