seating charts
June 30th, 2006the [M coupe] feels like a centerfuge with the rest of the car pivoting around the nose, emphasizing the feel of squat upon acceleration.. The Cayman is like a toy top, rotating on its axis… – Motor Trend, August ‘06
Commentary: The more I drive cars the more my enjoyment of them seems to come down to where the engine and the driver’s seat are placed in relation to the wheels – the closer each is to midway between the front and rear wheels the less you have to try to make up lost ground elsewhere in the chassis and the better the driver can feel what’s happening to the body and at the four contact patches.
Every Z3 and Z4 I’ve driven is plagued by the same feeling of sitting on the rear axle – you point the nose like the barrell of a gun and pull the trigger. The seat’s position is dictated by the length of the BMW inline 6: in their attempt to get as much of the engine behind the front wheels as possible, the packaging forced the passengers rearward.
The Cayman in contrast has a shorter, low lying flat 6 which is compact enough to rest ahead of the rear wheels and just a foot from the driver’s seat. Note how in the Cayman or Boxster the driver’s hip point is about midway between the front and rear axles. Now note how this is the case with any car that is considered a driver’s car.
I’m not making this stuff up – Mazda engineers tried to get the driver’s seat of the 6 near the car’s axis of rotation, about midway between the front and rear wheels, giving a clearer sense of what the tires are doing when you start to zoom zoom. Mazda also employs the rotary engine in their RX models partially because it is small enough to be mounted entirely behind the front wheels without forcing the driver as far rearwards as longitudinally mounted 4 or V6 might.
(To feel the difference in your own car take a few corners with the seat pushed back then again with the seat scooted close. Sitting far away may look cool, but in most front engined cars driving closer simply feels better).