random fact, the honda civic and toyota corolla use solid rear axles yet the focus has an independent.

 

Huh . . I thought the 2008 Civic had IRS . . .

 

oh, well, i hadn't heard they updated it, i thought they still used the torsion bar rear. I will have to look into that to see if 08 finaly upgraded.

 

It's time for me to throw a little fuel on the fire.

http://videos.streetfire.net/video/H...-Vs_188578.htm

725HP Super Snake with SRA beats 725HP Challenger with IRS on a road course!
And the stang had weaker brakes and less torque. Challenger weighed only 100 lbs more

 

Thats not really fuel on the fire, everyone knows SRA works fine on a smooth road. Grand Am the mustangs did pretty awesome.

 

Heck, a go-cart's suspension works great on very smooth roads. It's only when conditions get a bit more challenging, i.e., roads that aren't billiard-table smooth, that a suspension design truly becomes important. If you define down the criteria enough as to what makes for a good suspension, then yes, an SRA will eventually rise above that low threshold such that even the aforementioned 16 year-old fat chick would be pleased as taste-tester at a chocolate factory. But I would hope that this perennial discussion isn't based on the meeting of low, insular and limited expectations but rather, striving for and achieving higher, world-class expectations.

But perhaps to turn this argument on its head a bit: in this day and age, what's the BFD with a live axle rear suspension on a 21st century performance car?

 

i had the new civic si before i got my GT and it had an IRS. there are bumpy roads here big potholes and i can't see huge differences. maybe i just don't care or maybe i'm not pushing the car hard enough on the roads, either way i never got the whole debackle

 

Actually, you are half right. The US market Civic uses IRS, but the Euro market hatchbacks use a torsion beam rear suspension. Surprising considering the typical "Europe gets all the good stuff' arguments you see isn't it?

 

yep. the old euro type r has a better suspension than the new one

 

Yes, I understand that. Ford conceeded the 40% and others capitalized.

 

heck my car now has irs and i still feel bumps in road.

 

I did take a stand and the data proves it. Ford's out of touch with reality. This whole IRS debate is a good example of this. Want to compare Ford's market share to Toyota.? The data doesn't lie. While we are at, lets look at stock price! I a rooting for Ford because they are a staple of our economy, but they need to wake up. From what I've read recently, Alan M. is making good decisions, but is it too late?

 

Waht are you talking about Ford is clearly paving the way! Their stock closed at $2.66 a share today! Ouch

 

I've met plenty of people that wouldn't notice the difference unless you pointed it out (then again these same folks will run a flat tire to explosive destruction until they notice its flat)

For me its the the rugged simplicty of the Mac strut/live axle layout. I'm actually one of those guys the marketing hacks at Ford invented to foist the live axle on the public.

If I wanted a truly modern vehicle as you put it, I'd have purchased something else, the lack of IRS simply isn't a big enough issue for me to look elsewhere.

Lol, I'm still looking for somebody to throw the "you'll wish you had an IRS when I whip your tail in a race" comment.

 

Ford sales down 34% in September, Toyota down 32%. If Toyota is so well diversified then why did their sales drop too? Why did Focus sales continue to rise?
I just got back from a three day vacation driving a 2008 GT convertible over 700 miles and not once did I say to myself, gee, I wish I had IRS! It handled great, responded terrificly, smoothed over Michigan's horrible roads and didnt ride any worse than my daily driver IRS equipped car. Whole heck of a lot faster though!

 

People who have older Mustangs think the current one is the same SRA.....it isn't. Ford did a really good job of fine tuning it.
The buff magazines harp on it because SRA is so old tech. I had another car with IRS (Miata) and some of the same bumps damned near swallowed it up LOL. They are both great cars. I don't care either....but as I've said before...if it makes a few more sales having IRS, then it's probably due time.

 

I Hope Ford offers a high end Mustang clone from Lincoln or Mercury. I'm sure one of those would sport an IRS and maybe even more cool trickle down content. Look at how much the Camaro has benefited from the Corvette or even Ford's own GT500 from the Ford GT. My feelings are becoming more mixed on this issue. I think the safe bet is to at least offer it in the GT500 and Boss/Mach1 SEs.

 

Here we go again...

 

Yes, nothing like a SRA/IRS civil war in the Mustang community. Admittedly they are fun though, each side squares off loading the hyperbole cannons for kill and wait till they see the whites of the other sides eyes and boom.

Almost nearly as fun is the great GT500/Terminator debate.

 

So not gonna happen right now. Ford has a a long way to go before they squander that kind of cash. Although I wish Ford had the beans to make a proper sports car. Something with two seats weighing around 3000 pounds offering Z06 performance for about 50-60k