I'm not arguing that changing the position of your cells won't change the way a car feels. The X5 also uses a (asymmetric) saddlepack configuration, so it's not the saddlepack layout that makes it handle differently. I can't say that I've driven an X5, but as I understand the design philosophy, they greatly reduce the polar moment of inertia via mass centralization which results in a completely different feel while maintaining static weight distribution.
What I'm trying to say is that defining chassis handling by a category such as saddlepack and stick pack is pretty arbitrary, especially if you return the balance with ballast. I feel that there are larger factors at play such as the suspension geometry and the position of the battery - regardless of saddlepack or stick pack. Case in point are those of us running lipo stick packs in the XX-4.
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