Chrysler cars used torsion bars, in place of coil or leaf spring suspension systems, for years. To my knowledge, no other car mafg. used torsion bars-so were they really anything special?
I know that coil springs are used by most of the world’s car mafgs.-so why did Chrysler use their torsion bar design?
I can see that a torsion bar makes the suspension flatter, but a torsion bar doesn’t twist all that much-were these suspensions limited in wheel travel?
One “advantage” was that it was easy to raise or lower the suspension by adjusting the torsion bars anchor point. A friend had a Barracuda and he was easily able to make adjustments.
Here’s a pretty good link: Chrysler Torsion Bar Suspensions (and Leaf Springs) | Allpar Forums
The short answer is that they provided better cornering, but at the cost of a generally rougher and noisier ride.
Also, a lot of compact trucks and truck-based vehicles still use them. The old VW Beetles used them too, as did the full-size FWD El Dorrado/Toronados.
I’m kind of ambivalent towards them. Though they provided pretty good handling back in their hey-day, I think nowadays they’re mostly used because of cost and weight savings over more advanced suspensions.