On 31/12/2011 16:14, dennis@home wrote:

Extra mass in vehicles is never a good idea.
You need the lowest mass that will provide a safe environment for the
passengers and that is it.

Extra mass doesn't help when going up and down hills unless you think
doing 1 mph on the level and rolling down a hill up to 70(or whatever
the speed limit is) and then slowing down to 1 mph as you go up the
other side is actually useful. Driving at the speed limit means there is
nowhere to store any extra kinetic energy without speeding up which is
probably both illegal and dangerous.

Interesting thought that safety dictates you should _slow_ on the
_downhill_ because the braking distance increases...

Andy