Passenger car payloads

[rationull]

How important is it to adhere to a passenger car's listed payload capacity? Obviously severely overloading a car can be hard on the power train and the suspension. But how much does it take to really overload it? My civic, for example only has an 850 lb payload according to the door sill sticker. Granted it's a coupe and doesn't have a whole lot of back seat room but if I took a long trip with 3 friends it wouldn't take much for passengers to be at about 800 lbs and 50 lbs of luggage seems reasonable.

VW's site lists payloads and theirs seem to be a bit higher (about 970 lbs for the rabbit and almost 1100 lbs for the jetta) but I haven't found another brand's website that lists payloads for passenger cars. Do a lot of cars have capacities this low or is the civic's smaller since it's a coupe?

How much strain would loading up to the payload or a little beyond for a long drive put on a car?

 

[MGregoir]

Any car I have driven in that was loaded up to the max GVWR rating drives like an absolute sled.

By that point generally, you are on the bump stops, it doesn't want to stop, it doesn't want to go, and it will turn but it's not real happy about it.

Generally it's not a powertrain or braking thing safety wise, or the rating of the tires. It seems to be based on the maximum axle load it takes to hit your bump stops, or to limit suspension travel enough that it has adverse effects over bumps.

 

[GMBoy]

There's been a lot of talk about this recently on the news and such. I saw a news piece where a young girl had a Celica and she drove her 3 friends to school everyday along with their books and whatever else girls tend to carry. Bottom line, when each girl and her stuff was weighed their combined weight was 62 pounds over the weight capacity of the car. So just because you have 4 seats doesn't mean you can carry 4 people all the time and be in the weight limits of the vehicle. I see this one girl almost everyday going to work and the back of her car is dragging the ground because she has 3 people in the back and the 2 up front. She is way over the limit I'm sure!

 

[road_rascal]

I see a lot of muffler dragging on 4 door sedans when you have 2 in the front and 3 in the rear (my Taurus for example). Guess I'll have to install some air shocks

.

 

[Tosh]

If you consider it important to be 'legal,' then it's not legal to exceed your car's gross weight limit and max number of passengers. Cops and your insurance company would care after any accident.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: GMBoy
Bottom line, when each girl and her stuff was weighed their combined weight was 62 pounds over the weight capacity of the car.

Childhood obesity is a big problem in America. Automakers are trying to keep up by making their cars bigger and bigger, but even they can't catch up...

 

[Win]

Originally Posted By: rationull
My civic, for example only has an 850 lb payload according to the door sill sticker.


Do you have to subtract the weight of fuel and fluids from that? If so, you don't even have 850 lbs available to you.

 

[GMBoy]

Originally Posted By: Win
Originally Posted By: rationull
My civic, for example only has an 850 lb payload according to the door sill sticker.


Do you have to subtract the weight of fuel and fluids from that? If so, you don't even have 850 lbs available to you.



Yeah, better check the sticker again because most compacts are around 500lbs.

 

[GMBoy]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: GMBoy
Bottom line, when each girl and her stuff was weighed their combined weight was 62 pounds over the weight capacity of the car.

Childhood obesity is a big problem in America. Automakers are trying to keep up by making their cars bigger and bigger, but even they can't catch up...




Shame of it was the girls were not overly large. The car just had a 532lb limit. Even if each girl was 125lbs that already is 500lbs without luggage! 4 passenger car should be able to carry 4 people at an average wt of 200lbs in my opinion.

 

[The_Jeff]

Curb weight of cars is full of fluids. Lose the spare tire and drive with 1/4 tank of gas to gain another 70 lbs.

 

[rationull]

Originally Posted By: GMBoy
Originally Posted By: Win
Originally Posted By: rationull
My civic, for example only has an 850 lb payload according to the door sill sticker.


Do you have to subtract the weight of fuel and fluids from that? If so, you don't even have 850 lbs available to you.



Yeah, better check the sticker again because most compacts are around 500lbs.


All I know is the sticker says that "occupants and cargo" should never exceed 850 lbs. Oddly, Honda advertises the curb weight at just under 2700 lbs while the door sticker says the GVWR is 3671 lbs. Maybe the extra 100 lbs or so is going toward fuel and fluids?

 

[XS650]

GVWRs are for sissies

 

[ikeepmychevytoo]

Getting closer to the weight limit my car handles better from good to sweet. After that point it gradually gets bad and ugly. I'd look at the manual to see the stopping distances when loaded.

Brakeless towing capacity is one of my benchmarks for sedans. Some simply put it as "we don't recommend towing with this car" in the manual, user may discover this only after purchase. This is a rather hidden area that they skip m@rket!ng-about.