Comment by jacquesm
3 hours ago
I've had 700 kg cars that rivalled sports cars for grip and ability to accelerate. To say that sub 1 ton cars are going to be unpleasant to drive at highway speeds is a statement that does not jive with my 43 years of driving experience on three continents and in many types of vehicle and road conditions.
What is far more important than total mass is mass distribution, width of the tires (which can be an advantage and a disadvantage depending on the conditions) and traction model. Noise is a function of isolation and shape of the body and road contact and here lighter cars have the advantage: substantially reduced tire noise.
I don't think it's impossible to have a small car that drives great - I drove a CR-X as a starter car and upgraded to a 00's Celica. I think the likelihood of a sub-1-tonne EV being specced outside of it's intended market niche at this price point in this stage of corporate wealth hoarding is extremely low. If it does turn up that the car is well-suited for highway driving, I'm happy to eat crow but that doesn't mean that I won't still think the probability of the inverse is higher until that point.
There are plenty of small cars that drive great. In fact some of the best driving cars are the smaller ones. But you have your mind made up in spite of lots of evidence so I think that maybe there are other reasons or other definitions that make 'driving great' land in a different set of qualities than most people would associate with 'driving'. I normally associate that with handling, ability to accelerate/decelerate and in general that the car does what I want it to. Heavier cars have a very clear disadvantage here.
But if, for instance, you're hauling lumber then most small cars are not going be driving great. Ditto if you have to move a family of five (or more). So without your definition of what 'well suited for highway driving' is specified in terms that I can appreciate that do not include the actual driving characteristics of the car then it is very hard to have a productive conversation, regardless of 'corporate wealth hoarding' or other off-topic bits. FWIW I've had just about every type of Citroen and without exception they handled very well within their respective weight class, and they also held their own in terms of hauling capacity. Reliability, now that is something where we can probably come into agreement, the French car industry for the longest time had serious issues (but not as many as their UK counterparts). Even so that too is a thing that is mostly in the past.