> Turns out the momentum from higher mass and the increased friction from higher mass balance exactly.
yes, in the spherical cow sense, but this isn't at all true for real life vehicles and tires. the weight of the vehicle does have a significant impact on traction, here's a quick video explaining tire load sensitivity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNa2gZNqmT8
related to the above issue (and as GP mentioned), the high CoG of an SUV also poses challenges for braking performance. you want all four wheels of the vehicle to have roughly similar braking force. obviously the front wheels are going to contribute more to braking than the rear, but you don't want a huge disparity. this doesn't matter so much for the abstract question of "how quickly can a vehicle stop?", but it matters a lot for the practical question of "which direction is the vehicle facing?" if the rear wheels are contributing much less of the total braking force, the car is likely to end up sideways. this is bad if you want to do something like "remain in control of the vehicle" while braking.
yes, in the spherical cow sense, but this isn't at all true for real life vehicles and tires. the weight of the vehicle does have a significant impact on traction, here's a quick video explaining tire load sensitivity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNa2gZNqmT8
related to the above issue (and as GP mentioned), the high CoG of an SUV also poses challenges for braking performance. you want all four wheels of the vehicle to have roughly similar braking force. obviously the front wheels are going to contribute more to braking than the rear, but you don't want a huge disparity. this doesn't matter so much for the abstract question of "how quickly can a vehicle stop?", but it matters a lot for the practical question of "which direction is the vehicle facing?" if the rear wheels are contributing much less of the total braking force, the car is likely to end up sideways. this is bad if you want to do something like "remain in control of the vehicle" while braking.