If a car is stiffer (suspension, frame), does it take more abuse over rougher roads?

[Ws6]

I thought our van had a nice tight unibody, till we moved to our new house. You can hear it flex as it comes into and out of the driveway But the 300 never did and it doesn’t sound or feel like the truck is

So far the stiffest vehicles I have owned are a 370z and my 2019 cx5. The cx5 feels a tad more rigid. The floppiest were my 1988 mustang gt and 2011 c6 z06. The latter, was quite a shock. I could almost watch the chassis twist when I angled up or down slanted drives, and you could hear the interior shifting. Wild.

Looked up numbers

Cx5: 31,185 nm/deg
2003 mustang (stiffer than my 88, factory, but I had welded in sfc,so...): 16,000
Chrysler 300: 17,897
Corvette c5: 9,100, corvette C7: 14,500. I presume my c6 z06 was in between.
Porsche 991, 911 Coupe: 30,359

My cx5 feels like its carved from billet. Seems it is indeed comparatively very rigid.

 

[Skippy722]

The site I think you used shows the 5th Gen Town and Country, same as the Grand Caravan, having 12,000, no wonder it feels twisty! The LX the site shows and LD that mine was are similar but not technically the same, I can’t find any info on the LD’s.

 

[Ws6]

The site I think you used shows the 5th Gen Town and Country, same as the Grand Caravan, having 12,000, no wonder it feels twisty! The LX the site shows and LD that mine was are similar but not technically the same, I can’t find any info on the LD’s.

Yeah, what's surprising are the floppy vehicles, the corvettes, the vipers, etc that perform amazingly on the track. That said, having owned floppy cars vs rigid cars, the rigid ones just drip quality and inspire confidence because of how they never creak or squeak and you can just feel the lack of flex.