1. Size
Choose a size from the list below.

Subcompact 100 cubic feet Jeep 110 cubic feet Sports car 120 to 180 cubic feet Family car 180 to 220 cubic feet Pickup truck 200 cubic feet Station wagon 200 to 250 cubic feet Van 250 to 300 cubic feet

Charged Engines
      If the engine is turbocharged or supercharged, reduce its weight and volume by 15% each. For example, a turbocharged 200KW engine weighs 1,185 lbs and takes up 46 cf. Chargers precompress the air entering the engine, increasing the power output. In game terms, this reduces the weight per KW. See p. V83.

Seats
      Roomy seats weigh 40 lbs and take up 40 cf. Cramped seats weigh 20 lbs and take up 20 cf. See p. V76. If you're not expecting to fill every seat in the normal use of the vehicle, you don't have to count a 200-pound passenger for every seat.

More Accurate Hit Points
      The body's weight and hit points are supposed to be based its surface area, not its volume. But the difference is small. If you want accurate numbers, use the surface area values on page V18 and the rules for hit points on page V20.

Driving Skill
      All of these cars are controlled using the Driving (automobile) skill — unless the car weighs over 10,000 lbs. Then you need Driving (heavy wheeled). Both are physical/average. See pp. B68 and V143 for details.

Acceleration
      Divide the top speed by 16. Then multiply by 0.8. This is the car's acceleration, measured in mph per second. For example, the acceleration for the sports car is 10 mph/second.

Improved Suspension
      If you add an improved suspension, change the 16 in the top speed formula to an 18. It costs $100 x the surface area of the wheels (see chart below) but adds no extra weight or space. See p. V20.

Deceleration
      For TL7 ground vehicles between 100 and 300 cf, the maximum deceleration is 10 mph per second. If you add improved brakes, increase the maximum deceleration to 15 mph.
      (Actually, this is the maximum safe deceleration. If you slow down faster, you have to make a skill roll to control the vehicle.)

Size Modifier
      Every car between 101 and 300 cf has a size modifier of +3 (p. V26). At 100 cf, the modifier is +2.

Volume Area   Volume Area 10 to 11 30   69 to 96 125 12 to 17 40   96 to 125 150 18 to 24 50   126 to 157 175 25 to 31 60   158 to 188 200 32 to 44 75   189 to 268 250 45 to 68 100   269 to 353 300

      Multiply the surface area by 0.4 for standard laminate, 0.25 for expensive, and 0.15 for advanced.
      Example. We'll put expensive laminate on the sports car from last issue. The body has a surface area of 175. The wheels have a surface area of 40. The armor weighs (175 x 0.25) 43.75 lbs per point for the body and (40 x 0.25) 10 per point for the wheels. If we give the body DR 50 and the wheels DR 20, the total weight is (2,187.5 + 200) 2,387.5 lbs.
      Each armored part gets a free Passive Defense score. This is equal to the square root of the DR, rounded down. Maximum PD is 4.

Speed 15 degrees 45 degrees 90 degrees 20 mph 0.25 0.75 1.5 50 mph 0.5 1.75 3.5 100 mph 1.25 3.75 7.5 160 mph 2 6 12

      If the Gs exceed the MR, you have to make a control roll. Penalize the roll by -1 for every 0.25 over the MR. Double this penalty if the MR is less than 1. If the Driving roll fails, take the amount by which you failed the roll and subtract the SR. Use that result to determine the severity of the loss of control:

      Skid. On a 0 or less, the car skids a few yards and loses 10 mph of speed.
      Spinout. On 1 or 2, the car loses 20 mph per second. This deceleration continues until the car stops or the driver makes a control roll at -4. The wheels take 1d damage for every 20 mph at the start of the spin.
      Roll or Vault. On a 3 or 4, the car rolls. It decelerates at 20 mph per second until it stops. During each second of the roll, the car takes 10d damage for every ton of weight. On a 5 or more, the car vaults into the air and slams into the ground. It is totalled. (If you want the actual damage dice, use the equation at the top of p. V158.)
      Whiplash and concussion rules are on p. V160.

Maneuver Example
      A sports car with an improved suspension (MR 1, SR 5) makes a 45-degree turn at 50 mph. The driver's skill level is 14. The maneuver has a g-force of 1.75. This is greater than the MR, so the driver has to roll. The penalty is -3, giving him an effective skill of 11. He rolls a 13, so he failed by 2. But when he subtracts the SR, he gets a failure of less than zero. The car skids.
      Whew! That was close.

KW lbs. cubic feet gph 5 87.5 1.75 0.2 10 120 2.4 0.4 25 217.5 4.35 1