Thursday Trivia

Thirsday Trivia
Welcome to Thursday Trivia where we offer up a historical automotive trivia question and you try and solve it before seeing the answer after the jump. It’s like a history test, with cars!
This week’s question: What do the original Mazda Cosmo, 1991-2004 AWD Chrysler Minivans, Mitsubishi i, and the 2016 Renault Twingo all have in common?
If you think you know the answer, make the jump and see if you’re right!
It’s not always the case that something needs to be common to be found to be in-common, and in fact it’s often the odder shared attributes that are the most interesting.
That’s the case with today’s fun factoid, a feature shared by a number of—well, very disparate—cars that itself is pretty unusual. The cars we note – Mazda’s spaceship-like Cosmo, the All-Wheel Drive editions of Chrysler’s class-leading at the time Minivans, a tiny egg that Mitsubishi cheekily offers today, as well as the new Smart-car derived Renault Twingo – all have a unique feature in common.
Ah, but what could that be? Let’s turn to Wikipedia to learn what they, and a number of other cars and trucks, all share that you might not have thought they would.
From Wikipedia:

de Dion tube is an automobile suspension technology. It is a sophisticated form of non-independent suspension and is a considerable improvement over the swing axle, Hotchkiss drive, or live axle. Because it plays no part in transmitting power to the drive wheels, it is sometimes called a “dead axle”.
dedionDe Dion suspension uses universal joints at both the wheel hubs and differential, and uses a solid tubular beam to hold the opposite wheels in parallel. Unlike an anti-roll bar, a de Dion tube is not directly connected to the chassis nor is it intended to flex. In suspension geometry it is close to the trailing beam suspension seen on many front wheel drive cars, but without the torsional flexibility of that suspension.
Alfa Romeo is probably the most famous adopter of this technology, using it on the Alfa Romeo Alfetta, GT, GTV, GTV6, Giulietta, Alfa 6, 90, 75/Milano, SZ/RZ. Other production vehicles using this suspension include the Lancia Aurelia (fourth series onwards) and Flaminia, first and second generation Prince Gloria, the original Mazda Cosmo, Volvo 300-series, Rover P6 and Dodge Caravan & Grand Caravan (all wheel drive version from 1991–2004), DAF 46, DAF 66, all Iso cars (Iso Rivolta IR 300, Iso Grifo, Iso Fidia, Iso Lele) and early Bizzarrini 5300 GT Stradas, some of the largest Opels, such as the Opel Diplomat “B” of 1969, all Aston Martins from 1967 to 1989, Ferrari 375 and 250TR, first generation Maserati Quattroporte, Bugatti Type 251, Mercedes-Benz W125 and W154 as well as Auto Union Type D.
The Smart Fortwo and Smart Roadster micro-compact cars produced by Daimler AG, Mitsubishi i kei car produced by Mitsubishi Motors and the Caterham 7 (a development of the Lotus Seven after Lotus sold the design rights to Caterham Cars), are the only cars currently in production that utilize this arrangement, as well as the products of some kit car companies. A recent vehicle to use this suspension coupled with leaf springs was the Ford Ranger EV. The American built MV-1 van by VPG also uses this suspension in the rear with leaf springs and is just starting production in spring 2010. 4WD variants of the Honda Fit use a De Dion style suspension in lieu of a torsion bar.

In its era the de Dion suspension offered an appealing mix of weight saving and movement control, at the expense of some space and the advantages that fully independent suspension affords. The multi-link suspensions developed in the Nineties by Honda, BMW, Mercedes and others proved more versatile in application, but as you can see above, when simplicity is valued, the de Dion is still a viable choice.
Image: KasKus

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7 responses to “Thursday Trivia”

  1. dukeisduke Avatar
    dukeisduke

    I’ve never understood why a manufacturer would want to use de Dion, instead a true IRS, unless it was because of cost.

    1. nanoop Avatar
      nanoop

      I don’t know for the other cars, but I can tell you about the Smart: it’s a packaging thing. The overall volume consumed may be larger than for other solutions, but by shaping the “axle” like a U, surrounding the engine, you get a rather flat package and, inside the U, empty space, where the entire engine goes.
      In the image, the lower U is the axle, the upper is a piece of the frame.
      http://www.kfz-tech.de/Bilder/Kfz-Technik/Radaufhaengung/SmartHAchse01.jpg
      An IRS would eat up centre space, an probably protrude too high up. Multilink RS might be a (costly) alternative, but I think MRS is changing track width (opposed to DDRS), which makes designing the roadholding of a Smart car even more a challenge.

    2. Rover 1 Avatar
      Rover 1

      Zero camber change with loading like a live axle, but without the unsprung weight of a differential bouncing around.
      If you don’t think controlling changing camber is important go and drive a Corvair or early Beetle or BMW E21or Triumph Spitfire or Renault Dauphin on a wet road.

  2. Fuhrman16 Avatar
    Fuhrman16

    So was the de Dion tube invented by the de Dion Bouton automobile company?

    1. Rover 1 Avatar
      Rover 1

      Yes

  3. Guest Avatar
    Guest

    Interestingly, I was just looking a de Dion car on Kijiji today, a NADA P6.

    Any idea how common these would have been in Canada/North America?

    http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MzYwWDY3MQ==/z/fqoAAOSwzgRWvRrL/$_27.JPG

    http://www.kijiji.ca/v-classic-cars/edmonton/1966-rover-2000-p6-nada/1139666712?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

    1. Rover 1 Avatar
      Rover 1

      Quite rare now. I’m hoping there will still be some left when I come to the USA in a few years on my buying trip. See also http://www.federalrovers.com/
      They had rave reviews when they were released but English build quality and a lack of dealer network did them no favours.
      Road and Track ; ‘ We don’t know of any car costing less that makes you feel like you’ve got more ‘
      http://static.wixstatic.com/media/c7b558_aa0043091958f0f480aa6707df6f1246.jpg/v1/fill/w_940,h_580,al_c,q_75,usm_0.50_1.20_0.00,lg_1/c7b558_aa0043091958f0f480aa6707df6f1246.jpg