Although the sales of the original French car in China have been mediocre in recent years, whenever Peugeot or Citroën is mentioned, many people will praise its handling and comfort. This also shows that even if the French car scenery is no longer glamorous, their achievements in the chassis have been passed on by word of mouth among consumers. So today we took a more "material" model of the French car - Peugeot 508L to do a chassis analysis, to see what the French have different designs in terms of chassis hardware.
Model description: Unique French design
The design of the Peugeot 508L is inspired by the Peugeot Instinct concept car, and the overall shape has a powerful aura and great visual impact. Compared with the original European model, the domestic version of the 508L has increased the wheelbase by 60mm in order to obtain more spacious rear space. But the elimination of frameless doors and hatchback tailgates has also made it lose some of the unique charm it should have had.
The i-Cockpit cabin design is highly sci-fi, with large carbon fiber patterned panels and red leather seats. Although the raised full LCD instrument and the exquisite and compact double-width direction are somewhat different, they provide a good view for the owner, and the arm unfolding angle is smaller than other cars when playing wheels, which is easier to control.
In terms of power, the vehicle is a 400THP version, which is equipped with a 1.8T turbocharged engine with a maximum power of 155 kW and a maximum torque of 300 N·m. The matching transmission is the Aisin 8AT automatic transmission, which supports neutral taxiing in energy-saving mode, which can help with fuel economy.
Chassis construction
The 508L is based on PSA Group's EMP2 platform. Like the Volkswagen MQB platform, EMP2 also adopts a modular design concept. The platform has a high degree of design flexibility, such as wheelbase, front and rear suspension and car height, suspension can be changed according to demand. Moreover, the platform also uses a number of lightweight technologies and uses a large number of ultra-high-strength steels, aluminum alloys and composite materials. Compared with the previous PF2 platform, the body skeleton is not only lighter and stronger, but also the body structure has good torsional rigidity, which is more conducive to improving the handling of the vehicle while reducing the quality of the maintenance and reducing the carbon emissions.
From the overall view of the chassis, the overall workmanship of the Peugeot 508L chassis is relatively neat, maintaining the level that the joint venture brand should have. Although the chassis is not equipped with a large number of protective plate protection, the overall anti-scratch coating is sprayed in a large area, and the pipelines are also arranged in the depression, which can avoid most of the corrosion and bumps, but the optimization of aerodynamics will be inferior to the models wrapped with the protective plate.
Due to the transverse layout of the powertrain, the half shaft of the front wheel will have the problem of unequal length. For this problem, the 508L adopts an additional transmission shaft between the gearbox and the right front wheel, and is connected with a gimbal and the right half shaft, so that it can be the same length as the left half shaft, so that it can suppress torque steering to a greater extent, and has a certain improvement in handling and safety.
The front subframe is a half-frame structure, but the 508 again adds two longitudinal reinforcement beams to the structure, and when encountering a frontal collision accident, the longitudinal reinforcement beam and the subframe can jointly absorb the frontal collision impact with the body longitudinal beam, which plays a certain role in the dispersion and guidance of the force.
The rear frame is made of a rare aluminum alloy material, welded from a stout vials and cast aluminum parts connected to the suspension at both ends, forming a compact, lightweight and very strong one-piece subframe in structure.
Front McPherson-style independent suspension
The Peugeot 508L front suspension features a traditional McPherson-style independent suspension. The lower control arm is stamped steel, and a ball head for increasing structural strength and connecting to the steering knuckle is welded to a steel plate, which can reduce future maintenance costs.
The high-end 508L is equipped with AMVAR variable damping damping shock absorbers. The set of shock absorbers is foundry by KYB, its working principle is to install a solenoid valve at the bottom of the shock absorber to control the flow rate of damping oil, through the information given by the suspension position sensor on the four wheels, the solenoid valve will change the damping oil flow rate inside the shock absorber in real time, so as to achieve adaptive changes in damping soft and hard.
Rear multi-link independent suspension
There are many highlights of the rear suspension of the 508L, first of all, unlike most PSA Group models, he did not use a torque beam, but equipped with a set of multi-link independent suspension. This multi-link suspension consists of two lower control arms, an upper control arm and a bundle angle control arm, of which the upper control arm and the front and lower control arms, as well as the bearing housing are made of aluminum alloy, this design to reduce the under-spring mass is of great help to the comfort and handling of the model.
The 508L's upper control arm is fitted with a limit buffer between the upper control arm and the body rail, which is used to absorb the impact on the body when the suspension is greatly compressed, as well as to prevent possible damage to the suspension and shock absorbers. The length of the beam angle control arm is adjustable, that is to say, in the original state, the rear wheel beam angle can have a certain adjustment range.
The 508L's rear shock absorber layout is rather rare, and it adopts the form of a cylinder spring integrated, which has a faster response speed than the cylinder spring split shock absorber. What's more distinctive is that the shock absorber is installed a bit like a pushrod type of vibration damping, which is connected to the subframe at an angle of nearly 45°, which can suppress the roll of the vehicle to a certain extent. In addition, the shock absorber is connected to the subframe to transmit the road vibration transmitted by the shock absorber, and the secondary frame is secondarily filtered and then transmitted to the body, thereby improving the riding comfort.
Driving experience: AMVAR variable damping shock absorbers can be sweet or savory
With a maximum torque of 300 N·m and a wide torque platform, as well as a responsive throttle response, the 1.8T engine accelerates rapidly in the initial stage. After starting, with the deepening of the throttle, the overall acceleration performance still maintains a lasting push back experience, and the power output can basically meet the various driving needs of most car owners.
The 8AT transmission is positively upshifting, but the reduced response is obviously a bit "reluctant", but fortunately, the smoothness is still quite good most of the time it does not feel its presence, as long as it is not often fierce driving, this gearbox can not be faulted.
In terms of steering, when the steering wheel was first hit, the steering center was very light, and the front of the car responded quickly. The steering damping changes significantly as the steering wheel angle increases, allowing the driver to maintain a good sense of communication with the vehicle. And the need to return to the right direction, or even without moving, as long as a release, the front wheel can be quickly "corrected" by the steering machine and the inclination angle setting, feeling like the vehicle has self-awareness, understanding the driver's intention at this moment.
The suspension tuning continues Peugeot's consistent Q-bullet and firmness. During the driving process, the AMVAR variable damping damping damper can play a certain degree of inhibition on the pitch and roll of the vehicle, and the treatment of fine bumps on the road surface is also in place, the suspension bounce action is very soft, and the vibration transmitted to the carriage is also minimal.
Even when the vehicle has a significant roll during a rapid turn, the driver can clearly perceive that the shift in center of gravity is based on the central axis of the vehicle, and does not produce the feeling of one side of the wheel "collapsing" when rolling down like other models that focus on home comfort. This is done very well, and the suspension performance allows the driver to feel the pleasure of driving while at the same time being able to handle the vehicle calmly and calmly.
Editor's comments: Although the domestic Peugeot 508L has been complained about and reduced with frameless doors and windows and hatchback tail doors, but in terms of chassis, this car is still very solid and brilliant, especially the rear suspension part uses a large number of aluminum parts and a different suspension layout, which is unique at the same price at the same level. Through the actual driving experience, you can also feel the effect of Peugeot's "bloody" approach is also very significant.