Dimension Motors - Back in Business!

[Deskyx]

I am finally happy with my first brand worthy design after bothering some of our more senior members for help.

Enter Dimension Motors, one of the largest automotive corporations in America. Headquartered at Gary, IN, manufacturing virtually nothing in America while running patriotic advertisements to buy American, Dimension is the epitome of a non-malevolent mega corporation. A company that is capable to produce the finest cars in the world, yet because management listens to their bean-counters, makes nasty sub rental rental spec econoboxes.

[size=150]2007 Dimension Paradox[/size]

The 4th generation Paradox was one of the many cars that ran with resurrected nameplates in the 2000s. Just early in the decade were people mourning over the death of the beloved, bloated, excessively large mullet mobiles of the 90s, claiming cheap performance is gone. Well this car isn’t an example of cheap performance. In fact it is Dimension’s flagship car for the time being. An upmarket sports car that isn’t exactly cheap thrills nor completely unaffordable.

Well we had to make it somehow affordable. The body is made of fiberglass on a steel monocoque, none of that fancy schmancy aluminum or the hilariously expensive carbon fiber. MacPherson struts up front and semi trailing arms up rear because who needs multilink? You’re not going to track this thing are you? You’re going to take this to the country club to meet with other middle aged men in their mid life crisis mobiles. You’re going to buy our souped track versions that are sold with ridiculous mark up if you were going racing.

In its heart is a 5.4 liter flatplane V8 churning out 340 horsepower and 442 newton meters of torque. Not very much for an engine that size, however…

It was good enough to propel the 3200 lbs car to 60 in about 5.3 seconds, 1/4 mile in the low 13s, and a kilometer sprint of 23.6 seconds. Which is plenty fast for a 40k car. Also gets good mileage. We don’t know how we did it. So if you want to save gas, buy a 340 hp sports car. Because a 5 liter low compression V8 is so much more efficient than 4 banger.

MSRP of $45000

So what do you people think?

[Oskiinus]

Nice car! Seems like it’s made to be extremely cheap; my Chimera for example (uses also V8 Flatplane, but in twin turbo spec) costs 450k ;_;

Anyway, nice start!

[utopian201]

What are the manufacturing costs, production units and other stats? (These are all on the first stats page)

[Deskyx]

@utopian201

What are the manufacturing costs, production units and other stats? (These are all on the first stats page)

I forgot to take pictures of the first stat page. And I kinda converted this car into the track monster variant because I wanted a different body kit on it so I can’t recover them. But IIRC the manufacturing cost is about 13-15k.

[Deskyx]

[size=150]2008 Dimension Paradox PER550[/size]

The base model Dimension Paradox was designed as a basic but much more upmarket sports car for not much cost. Which meant that it was mostly a boulevard cruiser most of the time. Not that it was much good for anything else. Sure you can take it to your weekend track day and probably set some fast laps if you knew what you were doing, but the car clearly wasn’t built for cornering. So then here comes the super souped up performance edition for nearly double the price.

The rather reserved looks of the base model was gone and replaced with a garish boy racer style body kit to signify that this is clearly the track edition. A much much harder ride stops it from being another country club cruiser. And to top it all of it is offered exclusively in yellow, orange, and lime green.

The entire car was reworked heavily to shave off many many seconds off the base model’s lap times. An active spoiler was added to increase downforce while maintaining a ludicrous top speed. Significantly larger and higher quality tires as well as modifications to the driveline help bring the 0-60 time to only 4.3 seconds. All in all these modifications help shave nearly 7 seconds off the base model’s time on the airfield.

The engine was bored out significantly to 6700cc. The OHV was retained for tradition’s sake as well as keeping the engine compact, even though dual overheads have proven themselves to be the much better option. The new motor develops 550 horsepower and 628 newton meters of torque, which is sufficient to wrap yourself around a tree just a few minutes after you bought it…

MSRP of 80K.

[Deskyx]

[size=150]2010 Dimension Paradox SSP[/size]

The great recession of 2008 caused Dimension to declare bankruptcy and had to sell plenty of its assets. That along with loans from the government gave Dimensions the cash boost it needed to invest in new models. So what did they do? Build a best selling economy model? Nope, they built an even faster Paradox with the best materials they had.

The body is now made from carbon fiber panels on a steel monocoque, and the front bumper has been reworked to have even bigger vents, not out of necessity but because they look kickass. Well not really they look pretty gaudy, but hey each to their own. The rear spoiler has been carefully tweaked to produce twice as much down-force (we added another wing) as the PER500 version. Active aero is kept to retain the Paradox’s famous incredible top speed (for its price).

(Yes it still has the PER500 badge, I forgot to take it off)

The V8 engine has been debored slightly to 6500cc and is the first car by Dimension to have used direct injection. A response tuned twin turbocharger kit is added to boost power all the way up to 770 horsepower and that was with a very conservative turbine size, A/R ratio and boost values. 900 horsepower can be gained by simply ordering the turbocharger upgrade from the SSP parts catalog. Transmission remains the same, this time with an addition of a state-of-the art electric limited slip differential, to help reduce the ever present wheelspin. There is still plenty of burnout action to be seen here, despite the 355 rear semi slicks. To mark the jump in price, interior has been reworked to give a more upperclass feel. Still atrociously bad for its price point however, keeping in Paradox tradition. Massive carbon brakes front and rear help bring the car to quicker stops with minimal distance and drama, and suspension has been reworked to a permanent track setting. You really have no intention of daily driving this monster do you?

[Deskyx]

[size=150]1992 Dimension Warp Turbo[/size]

The 4th generation Paradox got too expensive to manufacture feasibly due to the company’s insistence on “innovating” by utilizing “futuristic” technologies and styling such as traction control, 4 wheel steering, digital gauges that were unreadable in daylight and dual overhead cams. Although none of them were remotely new when the model came out, the factory found it difficult to produce to cheaply and thus the car bloated in price massively. Turns out the customers didn’t give a rat’s ass about such technologies, and they did little to boost sales.

So in the 90s, they decided to built an all new flagship sports car, taking inspiration from the recently released Japanese sports cars, which began gaining in power and performance with their turbocharged engines.

Enter the Warp Turbo

The car could possibly be described as the most 90s car ever made. Pop-up headlamps in curvy shapes, a funky looking rear wing and the gloss red paint clearly shows that the car comes from an era when your internet went tee doo tee doo beeeeewwwwwwwww. Also advertising photos all had desert backdrops and a very orange tint. Oh yes.

Dimension clearly hasn’t learned their lesson with sports cars, and believes that if you throw enough of electronic gadgetry the R&D department churns out, the car will turn into an instant hit and whoop everything else on the road. Well it did achieve the latter, it outran the 2006 Paradox by a good second in the airfield track. When it was first released, few cars in its price range could touch it.

A 3.3 liter turbocharged inline 6 churning out 300 horsepower and 426 nm torque made the car a world class contender. Even with all the luxuries and federally mandated safety equipment on, it weighed only 1300 kilograms, despite the engine itself being entirely cast iron, and the body was a steel monocoque with fiberglass panels. This caused the car to have a power to weight ratio of 230 horsepower per tonne. Power was transferred with an all wheel drive system, which explains the 4.7 0-60 time. 255 sports tires on all 4s, and a viscous differential help keep the car in shape through the corners.

Of course, the car ended up too expensive for what it was, creeping up to the $50000 mark with minimal options after a few years. At this point with minimal improvements across the years, interest dwindled and the public switched to buying ridiculously large SUVs instead of high performance sports cars. As if the public cared about sports cars to begin with. The car however survived 10 years in production, only going out in 2002, because Dimension couldn’t be bothered with developing new models.

So what do you folks think so far? Should I continue writing or is my writing terrible and annoying and should never do it again?

[maffc]

I like it when people put thought into some back story of their cars and companies. I say, if you enjoy doing it then don’t stop.

Nice BTW

[Deskyx]

Dimension is restructuring after the financial crisis, and we’ll have plenty of new exciting yet blandly designed models ready to presented to the world in the coming days. Stay Tuned!

Damn I love government bailouts.

[squidhead]

@Deskyx

blandly designed models

You’ve just gone through a bailout, I’d say some exciting design could go a long way It’s not like it’s adding much to the build cost.

[Deskyx]

[size=150]2010 Dimension Boson GT[/size]

Dimension’s restructuring in 2008 post financial crisis gave it new management. Instead of worshiping the words of the bean counters as if they were they company’s oracle, he set out to rebuild Dimension’s name in way of making ultra high performance cars, and stresses the importance on having multiple halo cars. In all honesty, he probably should have listened to the accountants, because I don’t think the public will be too happy with a company building two supercars instead of high volume economy cars that are cheap to buy and mass produced. But for us engineers we’re thankful we don’t have to design another cheapo rental grade shitbox and instead make stuff we want. So we shut up for the time being.

The Boson GT is a modern resurrection of the legendary Boson supercar of the 70s (will be introduced in next post), which shares none of the uniqueness or quirks or world beating performance that the old one had, but to be fair the old one was only such a legendary car because its competition were quite unremarkable. It does however retain the old car’s infamous savagery and difficulty to drive and of course it is still and extremely quick car.

The Boson GT was built on all aluminum chassis with carbon fiber panels to save weight, and everyone knows that carbon makes your go faster. Not to mention more expensive. Which is why it had carbon panels only. This allows it superior chassis rigidity along with low weight, which is more crucial on this car than other supercars, due to its old school mentality. The body was to be an exhibit of Dimension’s new styling language, and released alongside the Paradox SSP to show the contrast and increasing modernization of our company. The back end, true to Dimension tradition had the familiar two circular tail-lamp units. A small active wing is mounted on the rear to give the car downforce in high speeds. Due to “ingenious” engineering (we added two spoilers instead of one), such a small ducktail can provide immense amounts of downforce, up to 270 kilograms at 250 km/h.

Straying away from the traditional Dimension flat plane V8, this car runs a HA40DITT 4 liter V6 Twin Turbo engine, which is an extremely modified HA30 V6 found in our upmarket production cars. It has been bored up, twin turbo charged, and most importantly, Dimension’s first use of direct injection in an engine, alongside the SSP Paradox. The engine produces a hefty 800hp and 800nm of torque with a maximum redline of 8000RPM. The turbocharger units are tuned mainly for response, and as the result is the relatively even boost build up in the engine. DI allows the car signifcantly better fuel economy and power, however knowing what sort of car this is, the former is likely not to be a main concern. And it shows, the engine despite our best efforts, gets 15 mpg at the very best.

The engine is mated to a bespoke 6 speed manual gearbox, delivering power to the rear wheels. The car is available in manual transmission only, as we at Dimension believe a dual clutch does not offer much increase in performance(we’re spending too much and can’t afford some fancy schmancy gearbox), and it helps weed out those unworthy of driving this machine. The interior is outfitted with a sports based interior, and for once interior quality is not worse than their rental models. It has only the bear essentials for driving aids, such as power steering and ABS, and that’s about it. Those in need of more electronic nannies are unworthy of driving this beast. Fat 345 sport compounds on the rear helps put all 800 horses down, while the weight distribution properties of the car necessitates a massive stagger, with only 245s in front. The suspension has standard springs, fitted with a active dampers and semi active sway bars. Handling of this car can be described as odd, as the car grips very well through most corners, however due to the its extremely rear heavy weight distribution, a slide will send it spinning uncontrollably.

The car has proven itself to be no slouch, and these lap times show. 1:17:78 on the airfield track and 7:35 on Green Hell proves that this can run with the best of them, save for those TA crazies. With the optional semi slicks, the ring time gets cut down to 7:30. 0-60 in 3.5 seconds, and a top speed of 344 km/h. This car can either prove Dimension’s capability in taking on the best of the world, or end up a glorious failure because the current fragile world economy isn’t exactly the best time to release a supercar, much less from a not so reputable name.

Soo what do you guys think about it?

[squidhead]

It looks, good, has the power and is a performer. I’d say it’s a success.

[Deskyx]

@squidhead

It looks, good, has the power and is a performer. I’d say it’s a success.

Thank you! I was unsure about the styling for a good while, especially the back end.

I really want to see this butt heads against a similar competitor in the same price bracket, but one that took a different approach to speed, using technologies and gadgets to achieve the times and performance it has now. Anyone know a car anything like the description above?

[squidhead]

I’d say 2005 Centauri Banshee is still pretty competetive. Also you’re running racing slicks on a street car?

[Deskyx]

@squidhead

I’d say 2005 Centauri Banshee is still pretty competetive. Also you’re running racing slicks on a street car?

Nope, sport compounds all around.

The slicks come on a track package which is 50k more expensive for harder shocks and wider tires.

[nialloftara]

@squidhead

I’d say 2005 Centauri Banshee is still pretty competetive. Also you’re running racing slicks on a street car?

Neither or my super cars, the Banshee or the Warpwind, could keep up with this car on the track, those are some very impressive times. My cars are far cheaper and would probably be better street drivers but I’ve got to hand it to you, that is one nice looking car, I like the R8 style carbon side scoops. And that’s good power from only a 4 liter v6. Nicely done.

[squidhead]

@nialloftara

Neither or my super cars, the Banshee or the Warpwind, could keep up with this car on the track

I could have sworn the Warpwind were much faster, but searched for stats, you are correct.

Anyways, OP, you could check these threads out to see what’s on the market.
automationgame.com/phpBB3/viewto … =35&t=5177
automationgame.com/phpBB3/viewto … =35&t=5175
automationgame.com/phpBB3/viewto … =35&t=5187

[nialloftara]

The warpwind could out drag race him, has a higher top speed, gets better economy and is easier to drive, but his handles far far better, has way more downfoce and pulls nearly 30% more g force in the 250m test.

[Deskyx]

I have utterly given up on building the 6th generation Paradox.

I cannot build FR cars in the game to go anywhere fast in the track.

If someone is willing to take the challenge, the car will be named after said company, and full credits in engineering goes to said company.

You will be building the base model of the Paradox. As this is a C7 Corvette expy, do not go overboard with quality. I’d rather you also not touch the design, unless to add wings or downforce, and I’d really like it if you kept the engine as it is, unless you can massively improve the engine.

What I want:
-Must be RWD
-Transmission must be manual
-Tires cannot be wider than 305
-Base Price under 50k (most important)
-Ring time under 8 minutes (2nd most important)

If you want to help me, kindly PM me and I shall send you the car.

[squidhead]

[quote=“Deskyx”]I have utterly given up on building the 6th generation Paradox.

I cannot build FR cars in the game to go anywhere fast in the track.

If someone is willing to take the challenge, the car will be named after said company, and full credits in engineering goes to said company.

You will be building the base model of the Paradox. As this is a C7 Corvette expy, do not go overboard with quality. I’d rather you also not touch the design, unless to add wings or downforce, and I’d really like it if you kept the engine as it is, unless you can massively improve the engine.

What I want:
-Must be RWD
-Transmission must be manual
-Tires cannot be wider than 305
-Base Price under 50k (most important)
-Ring time under 8 minutes (2nd most important)

If you want to help me, kindly PM me and I shall send you the car.[/quote]

That does seem right up my alley. My company can finalize the setup of any aspect of your car, be it finished or still in development. I’ll PM you