Selling Coupe to get Sedan?
#22
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Portland, OR
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#23
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: By the sea, Tx
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G35 sedan w/ too much money in mods
#24
#29
It mostly has to do with the fact that the door is bigger, for 2 reasons. First, the door itself is alot heavier than a Sedan front door, not just because it's bigger, but it has to be stronger to provide the same side impact protection. And because the B pillar is farther back, and is only a half pillar (floor pan to window), more support has to be built into that pillar and the roof to maintain the same structural integrity and rollover protection. Basically, 2 doors plus a centrally located B pillar plus a "normal" roof weigh less than 1 big door plus the extra body panels where the rear door was plus the beefier "half" B pillar and reenforced roof.
It's also likely that extra metal is used on the outer shell on a Coupe because the Sedan has some built in lateral support with the back seat frame. It's probably easier to design the rear crumple zone on a Sedan because of that. Adding a fold-down rear seat to the Sedan would probably increase it's weight a little bit.
I know all of this sounds like a lot of weight would be added, but it's only about 60 pounds.
These same issues are why convertibles are usually quite a bit heavier than their coupe and sedan counterparts. Without the roof providing a significant amount of structural integrity for very little weight, a convertible has to make up for it with reenforcements throughout the rest of the passenger compartment.
It's also likely that extra metal is used on the outer shell on a Coupe because the Sedan has some built in lateral support with the back seat frame. It's probably easier to design the rear crumple zone on a Sedan because of that. Adding a fold-down rear seat to the Sedan would probably increase it's weight a little bit.
I know all of this sounds like a lot of weight would be added, but it's only about 60 pounds.
These same issues are why convertibles are usually quite a bit heavier than their coupe and sedan counterparts. Without the roof providing a significant amount of structural integrity for very little weight, a convertible has to make up for it with reenforcements throughout the rest of the passenger compartment.
#30
No, you're exactly right. There is significantly more chassis reinforcement in the door area so the car can meet side impact standards. The sedan has a center pillar between the doors so it's easier to meet the standard without excessive engineering of the door openings. The sedan is about 60 to 70lbs lighter.