What is our R170 Chassis made out of? I've been looking but no luck... I'm trying to figure out where all the car's weight is from, 3,200 pounds of curb weight seems a bit steep... Thanks.

 

The frame is forged from unobtanium by Albanian dwarfs, the wheels are forged in Poland from depleted uranium and the body panels are really solid gold underneath obtained from an old **** cache that MB had access to.

 

I went to Asgard, an picked up some patch peices.

 

I order mine from the Shire in Middle Earth ......


But to digress, Buchacho I have no idea why they are so heavy, but that is a 2 edged sword.
The heavier they are , the better cruisers they are at the expense of improved handling, acceleration and braking.
I'm just happy they decided to use metal, not fiberglass.
I guess the sub frame and body panels all could have been aluminum, but then everyone would be paranoid about corrosion.
You can't have everything, my momma always said.

 

Wow, my opinion was the exact opposite with weight. I own two LX Platform sedans that come in at 4,300-4,400 each. I've always driven a daily driver the comes in at almost 3 tons.

First opinion on this vehicle was, "Cool, finally something that has reduced weight." I've been on the various LX forums for over a decade, and some of the most popular threads... weight reduction, weight reduction, weight reduction. When I bought this SRT, combined with much research on this forum (before joining ), with the modification costs, verses performance, and weight reduction. Couldn't be happier with the purchase! With all the money I've dumped into one of my LX platforms, I could have paid for SL55 swap by now.

 

I think part of the reason they are so heavy is if there is a 3" space they stuffed a 2" part in that hole. The cars may be small but with all the sensors/relays/computer stuff it seems like the components were fit into anywhere there was a space.

 

I can understand why the actually MB SLK on this chassis is heavy, I just blamed the folding hard top. When it came to the XF you'd think it would have lost weight since no folding hard top, but nope. For a car this small it weighs more then alot of 4 door sub compacts.

I guess MB just design there cars to be fat and to overcome that they just give them more power for the ones who need it.

 

For my part I'm happy that the car was designed with the stiffness needed to be a superb platform for the roadster. If that's where some of the weight is, I'm glad it's there.

 

There seems to be some divergence as to thoughts about weight. The Xfire is NOT a heavy car, several hundred lbs lighter than a 'Vette, quite a few below the Viper. Not as light as a MX5 or Alpha Romeo, which has a CF tub. The only way to make an ultra stiff and ultra light frame is with ultra expensive exotic materials. Personally, I think our cars have a very good compromise between the two, it was and still is a pretty good chassis, considering the design intent.

 

Stiffest chassis, least flex in its' class, 3200lbs. Heavy? should have bought jap if you were looking for a Honda...

 

A Crossfire weighs 3200 lbs with a 150 lb driver.
My 2005 Limited 6sp weighs 3050 lbs with 1/2 tank of gas an no driver according to the drive on scale I have used numerous times. It's a farm scale used to weigh trucks before and after loading.
The Crossfire is far from a heavy car.

 

Mine SLK32 AMG R170 weighed 3215 on a truck scale without me of it.

There isn't much in this weight class available with SRT6/32 kompressor power.

 

Your right about the stiff chassis. If you try to go up a steep driveway at an angle it will lift one of the rear wheels off and get stuck. I had this happen to me, and had to back out of that driveway.

 

That is hilarious. Sounds like when you jack up both ends by jacking up the front wheel.

 

From the official specs. It does not say if any fuel is on board, so I imagine the weight is the dry weight.
2005 SRT weight
Coupe 3240 (1469 kg)
Roadster 3328 (1509 kg)

2005 NA weight
3010 lbs. (1365 kg)—Base Coupe;
3061 lbs. (1388 kg)—Coupe Limited, manual;
3084 lbs. (1399 kg)—Coupe Limited, automatic;
3089 lbs. (1401 kg)—Base Roadster;
3140 lbs. (1424 kg)—Roadster Limited, manual;
3174 lbs. (1440 kg)—Roadster Limited, automatic