FWD vs. RWD

Thejoyofdriving

Thejoyofdriving

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I have always heard that FWD cars handle better than RWD cars, because FWD pull the car through the turn rather than push it. But the FWD cars can not accelerate as fast from a stand still, because the weight of the car moves to the back when you press the gas, so the front tires loose traction because there is not so much weight on them. So my question is why dont more sports cars makers use FWD if you can turn better, If you made the front of the car weigh more, like a 70/30 weight distribution, then the car would be able to accelerate faster and brake better. thought?
 
actually, 50/50 distribution works best for cornering and handling which most enthusiasts will take over pure acceleration. some cars like bmws even place batteries in the back to balance the weight better. essentially, front wheel drive can't offer too much power as it will torque steer like crazy. i will tell you, the audi quattro i drive is excellent. push and pull simultaneously and more than enough power. nothing like taking an off-ramp at 75....
 
RWD is a performance platform. All the FWD "performance" cars, are existing cars the manufacturers put turbos on, or the like. You can have RWD's that will hand a FWD it's ass in both the twisties and straight line. Weight is key, but being under powered will also kill.
 
ricka said:
actually, 50/50 distribution works best for cornering and handling which most enthusiasts will take over pure acceleration. some cars like bmws even place batteries in the back to balance the weight better. essentially, front wheel drive can't offer too much power as it will torque steer like crazy. i will tell you, the audi quattro i drive is excellent. push and pull simultaneously and more than enough power. nothing like taking an off-ramp at 75....
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75? what kind of off-ramp is that?The ones around here i cant take faster than 50
 
I've been invovled in road course racing for years, as have family, RWD>FWD I don't care what anybody says.
 
some ramps in texas are somewhat more subtle so you can really accelerate into the turns--much more fun than top end acceleration--at least to me
 
can't say i disagree. used to drive rwd a lot as a younger lad and loved the oversteering into corners. now, i'm more of cruiser unless i catch a great turn somewhere. i'll opt for the quattro these days for the best compromise while still taking some "calculated" chances
 
Here it is for performance

AWD with RWD bias>RWD>AWD>FWD
 
I think AWD is the best of the 3. My 325ci is underpowered (~1hp to 16lbs.), plus it understeers like a bioch, last time i was in the mountains i almost fell of a cliff trying to force my car into a drift(Not sure what happened, i think i didnt couner steer early enough). The car has a almost perfect 50/50 balance (53/ 47 i think) the battery is in the back too. I dont think it makes a good drifter, it has the sports suspention and great tires (EAGLE F1 225/45/17(TRACTION AA), as long as it dont force her she does well, although sometimes it is hard to tell when the tires are at their limit, so it feels like the car could break loose any second. the steering wheel is really great, its nice and stiff and you can feel the road nicely. I have never driven a FWD car so i cant comment on how mine handels compared to a similar FWD car. I was just thinking that the guys a BMW are really smart so i was wondering why they choose to go with a RWD, instead of a FWD.
 
I despise FWD from a performance perspective - torquesteer and understeer. For something like a grocery-getter I'm fine with it. But if I'm looking for a performance drivetrain I'd only look @ RWD or AWD. Just my personal preference.
 
Thejoyofdriving said:
I think AWD is the best of the 3. My 325ci is underpowered (~1hp to 16lbs.), plus it understeers like a bioch, last time i was in the mountains i almost fell of a cliff trying to force my car into a drift(Not sure what happened, i think i didnt couner steer early enough). The car has a almost perfect 50/50 balance (53/ 47 i think) the battery is in the back too. I dont think it makes a good drifter, it has the sports suspention and great tires (EAGLE F1 225/45/17(TRACTION AA), as long as it dont force her she does well, although sometimes it is hard to tell when the tires are at their limit, so it feels like the car could break loose any second. the steering wheel is really great, its nice and stiff and you can feel the road nicely. I have never driven a FWD car so i cant comment on how mine handels compared to a similar FWD car. I was just thinking that the guys a BMW are really smart so i was wondering why they choose to go with a RWD, instead of a FWD.
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Depends, AWD is safer and more "confident" feeling. RWD still dominates for performance, FWD is blahhh. This is comming from somebody who road course races, our Viper has 515 rwhp and is heavily raced (no traction control, save your butt gizmos, or awd help lol) and we have an 80' prepped 911 SC. I've driven plenty of AWD cars on the track including modded STi's/Evo's, rwd is still #1.

BTW who told you FWD handles better?....give a quick shot in the cajones to them for me :D

Oh course I'm looking at it more from a performance perspective then most probably. AWD cars have the win on wet tracks.
 
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I will tell you who is superior................................who ever has the deeper pockets.
 
FWD cars are pretty bottom of the bucket as far as performacne is concerned. They can be fast in a straight line, but even then your always working against the front wheel drive, it has no benefit.

RWD is by far the most utilized platform for a perfmance vehicle, whether it be drag or road course. Although as of lately companies have done better and better things with AWD, such as the evo/sti, some porsches, and the audi racecars.

Understeer is generally undesireable, and is the biggest problem with FWD and AWD, oversteer is the problem you run into with high power RWD cars, but a well designed RWD platform and a good driver will laugh in the face of oversteer.
 
I have allways been told by pretty much everybody that AWD and 4WD are the ultimate in performance, they suffer in hp. and ft.-lbs. because the power is going to 4 wheels insted of 2 but they dominate in corners, wether it be, ice, snow, rain or gravel. It makes sense because all the wheels are being powered. BTW the guys that told me that FWD handle better were some gear heads and engineers.
 
Thejoyofdriving said:
I have allways been told by pretty much everybody that AWD and 4WD are the ultimate in performance, they suffer in hp. and ft.-lbs. because the power is going to 4 wheels insted of 2 but they dominate in corners, wether it be, ice, snow, rain or gravel. It makes sense because all the wheels are being powered. BTW the guys that told me that FWD handle better were some gear heads and engineers.
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Tell those gear heads to meet me at Sebring, VIR, Willow, or Road Atlanta for some quick laps:D, I speak from experience, not Mag Racer results lol

AWD is not the ultimate, quick example, Audi S4 is destroyed on track by an e46 M3, RS4 can just barely edge it out even with the hp increase....awd has weight and drag increase, those Audis drive like porkers for their size (still great cars). AWD doesn't have the feel and sharpness of rwd, and this includes even the Evo's/Sti's which still handle excellent. GT3 Porsche is night and day difference from 996/997 TT variants. Hard to explain, drive a well setup rwd car on track compared to others and you'll see what I mean. But as Wystang said it can also come down to deep pockets, a well prepped 500 awhp Evo will basically stomp on pretty much any stock sports car on the track, pry overlap most as well lol.

Well designed rwd chassis is always going to dominate (excluding rally races, wet tracks etc). Take some years ago before the Viper was banned from some classes (blame Porsche and others for complaining they couldn't compete lol). The high powered Audi race back teams were usually in 1st when starting b/c they could launch like a rocket and hold that position for the 1st couple laps, but soon the Vipers, GT3/Cup Cars, Bmw's etc would overtake them and leave them behind in the corners and straights.
 
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Come to Norway in the winter, and take a ride with me in my Audi Quattro, on the snow!! You are going to smile from ear to ear :D
 
It seems all the audi guys swear by their quattro, and for the most part everybody else likes RWd over AWD. After doing some reseach there are more disadvantages to AWD that i did not mention, the main one is the extra diff and other parts add to the unsprung weight(more unsprung weight=bad on rough surfaces). I have also read that some people believe that RWD is better off road, like on gravel.(weird?:confused:) i saw a pole in a old car forum on this subject (which offers better performance*DRY*) and 70 people voted for RWD 50 voted for AWD and 3 voted for FWD
 
Thejoyofdriving said:
It seems all the audi guys swear by their quattro, and for the most part everybody else likes RWd over AWD. After doing some reseach there are more disadvantages to AWD that i did not mention, the main one is the extra diff and other parts add to the unsprung weight(more unsprung weight=bad on rough surfaces). I have also read that some people believe that RWD is better off road, like on gravel.(weird?:confused:) i saw a pole in a old car forum on this subject (which offers better performance*DRY*) and 70 people voted for RWD 50 voted for AWD and 3 voted for FWD
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Wait, how does the extra diff contribute to the unsprung weigh?
 
yeah, awd adds more weight to the ride. given the constant rain here in texas i am more comfortable with the awd traction especially when pushing it a little--heck, anything rides well on dry pavement. guess i'm getting older (50!--omg turning sensible?) so other driving aspects are of interest these days.

engineering is starting to blur the rwd/awd/fwd characteristics. fwd is constantly improving its understeer/torque madness and while rwd is still king in most performance racing, i wouldn't choose if for off road racing or in bad weather locales. there's no bigger whip getting stuck in snow or sliding on a surprising ice patch with rwd--no matter how much hp you have under the hood.
 
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