Bottom mounted pedals vs top mounted

prizrak

prizrak

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I was checking out a late model (08) G35 sport and the gas pedal was attached on the bottom instead of the top as is common. I know that some of the higher performance/exotic stuff have it set up that way as well (I think R8 does as an example). Kind of wondering what is the point?
 
Perhaps packaging. Sports cars tend to have their engines and transmissions mounted lower and space for them and related components is more of a premium.
 
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prizrak said:
I was checking out a late model (08) G35 sport and the gas pedal was attached on the bottom instead of the top as is common. I know that some of the higher performance/exotic stuff have it set up that way as well (I think R8 does as an example). Kind of wondering what is the point?
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Definitely... It doesn't get any more exotic than my Hyundai that has its pedals hinged on the bottom. :lol:

I don't know why they choose top vs bottom, but it's probably packaging as argatoga said.
 
Cable pull vs electronic?
 
I believe most german cars have top hinged clutch and brake, and floor hinged throttle. In my view this configuration makes the most natural motion.

Throttle - it's light and you rest your foot on it for the whole journey, so to not stress the knee, your heel stays on the floor, and you operate it with the foot. You want the pedal to pivot with your foot.
Clutch/Brake - both are much stiffer, and you use them by bending the knee and keeping the foot stiff, so you want the pedal to move instead of pivot. It's easier done with the top hinge.

On the other hand, I think heel-and-toeing is easier when throttle is top-hinged, so it moves in the same plane as the brake.

All of it is less relevant with power-assisted-everything modern cars, I guess. But in the case of my 7 (all pedals top hinged because of packaging), when I operate the throttle, the sole of the shoe basically slides over the pedal. That's evident by how worn the surface looks :) This is the smallest inconvenience about that car though.
 
MXM said:
Throttle - it's light and you rest your foot on it for the whole journey, so to not stress the knee, your heel stays on the floor, and you operate it with the foot. You want the pedal to pivot with your foot.
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Good in theory. In reality the pedal is so steep that I can't do that. Instead my heel rests some centimetres in front of the pedal, otherwise I would go (nearly) full throttle the whole time. :(

The worn-out sole is another effect. But that's the same regardless of how the pedal is mounted.
 
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CraigB said:
The Altima's drive by wire is hinged at the top.
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So is the Z's which is same platform as the G35.

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MXM said:
I believe most german cars have top hinged clutch and brake, and floor hinged throttle. In my view this configuration makes the most natural motion.

Throttle - it's light and you rest your foot on it for the whole journey, so to not stress the knee, your heel stays on the floor, and you operate it with the foot. You want the pedal to pivot with your foot.
Clutch/Brake - both are much stiffer, and you use them by bending the knee and keeping the foot stiff, so you want the pedal to move instead of pivot. It's easier done with the top hinge.

On the other hand, I think heel-and-toeing is easier when throttle is top-hinged, so it moves in the same plane as the brake.

All of it is less relevant with power-assisted-everything modern cars, I guess. But in the case of my 7 (all pedals top hinged because of packaging), when I operate the throttle, the sole of the shoe basically slides over the pedal. That's evident by how worn the surface looks :) This is the smallest inconvenience about that car though.
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That's interesting because my A4 was top hinged despite being both German AND TBW, also I rest my heel on the floor of the car no matter what.

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DanRoM said:
Good in theory. In reality the pedal is so steep that I can't do that. Instead my heel rests some centimetres in front of the pedal, otherwise I would go (nearly) full throttle the whole time. :(

The worn-out sole is another effect. But that's the same regardless of how the pedal is mounted.
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I was thinking that as well, when I used to play racing games with a steering wheel and pedals it was always very natural for me to go full throttle the whole time but any kind of modulation was uncomfortable due to pedals being on the bottom.

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argatoga said:
Perhaps packaging. Sports cars tend to have their engines and transmissions mounted lower and space for them and related components is more of a premium.
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What's weird is that the much smaller Z that's built on the same platform has it on the top but a much larger (because luxury sedan) G35 has it on the bottom.

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LiveToWin said:
Definitely... It doesn't get any more exotic than my Hyundai that has its pedals hinged on the bottom. :lol:

I don't know why they choose top vs bottom, but it's probably packaging as argatoga said.
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Well duh yours is an Elantra Sport
 
MXM said:
Throttle - it's light and you rest your foot on it for the whole journey, so to not stress the knee, your heel stays on the floor, and you operate it with the foot. You want the pedal to pivot with your foot.
Clutch/Brake - both are much stiffer, and you use them by bending the knee and keeping the foot stiff, so you want the pedal to move instead of pivot. It's easier done with the top hinge.
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This. And to support this theory even further - top mounted accelerators have a 2nd hinge in the center of the pedal - it's there so the pedal will move like a bottom-mount even though it's swinging from a top-mount.
 
Being a BMW driver for many many timeunits, I am so used to bottom-mounted throttle.. being forced to endure a silly french car for the past 2 month and 5-digit awutobahnkilometers with a tiny hanging throttle pedal, I just hate the latter.
 
thomas said:
Being a BMW driver for many many timeunits, I am so used to bottom-mounted throttle.. being forced to endure a silly french car for the past 2 month and 5-digit awutobahnkilometers with a tiny hanging throttle pedal, I just hate the latter.
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:rofl:

You perfectly captured the BMW internet driver.
 
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