AWD RWD FWD
 

Everyone always talks about how much better it is with either AWD or RWD, but is there ever a time or place where FWD is superior to have over the others? Just wondering. dunno.gif

of the 3

fwd is the worst

If you live in an area that gets alot of snow during the winter months...FWD is better than RWD, but AWD still owns all no matter what!

Snow.. maybe... thats about it.

FWD is an accountants choice
RWD is the engineers choice
AWD is for those that can't drive or rally, IMO happy.gif

^ The funny part is, I know an engineer, and he prefers RWD. laugh.gif

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Lone Accent @ Sep 17 2010, 12:06 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Everyone always talks about how much better it is with either AWD or RWD, but is there ever a time or place where FWD is superior to have over the others? Just wondering. dunno.gif</div>

Unfortunately, no. This is why events and series that allow FWD vehicles have to allow a generous weight margin for the people who campaign FWD cars; they would not be competitive otherwise. The inverse applies to 4WD, which is usually disallowed outright, or the vehicles made to carry a large weight penalty along with other restrictions(that normally make them uncompetitive straight away) The long and the short of it is, that FWD is the cheapest to run and build, but the hardest to develop because yer literally pulling sh*t uphill. 4WD is highly expensive to develop, even more expensive to build, and when these two factors come in 4WD is highly devastating to the competition. Especially competition that doesn't have the budget.

Hence, RWD is the favoured platform for sports cars and racing cars because it has performance between the two, but it is less than midway between the two in cost.

Which makes it the best platform to choose for the privateer.

I'm a big fan of FWD (and I am an engineer!!) for the simple reason that I can throw it into a corner, mash the accelerator, and pull through the turn almost no matter what. The 2 other engineers near me (one drives a Genesis Coupe, the other an S2000 - both RWD) always say that if they get in a turn too fast, their only choice is to go for the brakes. I like the idea that even in my less powerful car, I could still pull through a turn faster than them, simply because I can hit the "GOBABYGO" pedal while they're hitting the "STOOOOOP" pedal. Makes me happy inside.

Course, AWD owns all. I love the Top Gear video where Jeremy puts a WRX STI in an almost complete sideways slide and pulls right out of it, none the worse for the wear. That's just cool.

It is simply user preference though, as well as what every person is used to. If I grew up driving RWD, I'm sure I'd like that more.

eh.. so your a better driver than them. Grats on that btw. (no sarcasm) Equal drivers those two would kill a tib. You as an engineer know that design does matter with things like that... the psychics behind what a car is doing as it goes into a corner. Those front tires of yours can only offer so much grip. Putting power down AND turning the car both take a part of that available traction. The RWD guys have two more tires to even the loads out instead of having them follow you around like two dumb idiots.

They need to learn how to turn and throttle control. Like... suddenly lifting off the throttle mid turn to mash the brakes could cause anything (fwd/awd/rwd) to want to rotate around..

i get snow and bad ice during the winter months here in Kansas. when i bought the tib truthfully i didnt know if it was FWD,AWD, or RWD. i wasn't that car savvy until i looked under the hood when i brought it home.

but besides that note i prefer FWD just for the bad weather situations that involve snow. i can keep a constant pace and will usually go 10 to 15 mph slower than speed limit when there is snow on the road.

now i really want AWD for my next project. even with AWD the owners of a car like during winter conditions seem to have a false sense of security and still think the y can go 80 mph on the interstate when you have 6 inches of snow.

I truthfully think in the end that whatever drive combo yo go with as long as you arent a idiot you can drive anywheres as long as you have some common sense. my only problem with RWD in snow is you can break traction really easy or not have any traction at all because of the weight transfers.

FWD is safer to drive than RWD for inexperienced drivers in corners and in low traction conditions (simply because you won't spin out). Other than that, RWD is superior in every way, especially with a good driver (which is why no serious sports car is FWD).

On straight line acceleration RWD is better because the weight of the car transfers to the rear (ever saw those drag cars raise their front completely?) And in turns, FWD cars rely on the front wheels both for direction and acceleration so too much of either and you will just understeer.

AWD of is the best of both worlds. Though not as "fun" as RWD if you do like to break traction every now and then smile.gif

This is very general though, it depends a lot on how well every car is designed. I heard of some AWD cars being worse than RWDs in turns simply because they bias too much torque on the front wheels (leading to understeer), and many FWD cars handle very well.