What are the benefits of a front wheel driven car and the negatives and the same for a rear wheel driven car?

All cars used to be rear wheel drive so why are almost all new cars front wheel drive?

 

Drive a mk2 frs hard and you will know why they are fwd
Fantastic

But rwd you got to love a good drift in a big spec cossie or a decent mk2 escort

 

They are FWD now as that makes them lighter, more fuel efficient, more space efficient.

 

There are no benefits to fwd lol other than its cost afective! Rwd is best then 4x4 after all you never see fwd race cars do you!

 

tbh there are LOADS of differences, all the people who think you need rwd to be quick have obviously never been in a decent fwd car.

 

Never seen touring cars then?

 

Exactly this.
Cheaper to produce too.
Although if you can pedal well, there's no reason why you can't get some good ol' lift off oversteer in a FWD car.

 

I was more thinking f1 gt and single seater type race cars

 

99% sure he meant road cars

This day and age, a FWD car can easily keep up with a RWD car.

 

Loads of good fwd out there, loads of good rwd out there.

Modern performance fwd stuff shits on most old rwd stuff tbh, despite what delusional cossie owners say to try and justify spending all their money on a rusty Ford

 

i would imagine in this case its due to distribution of weight ect, old race cars like early f1 front engine rear drive, then when someone tested a MR layout it was much better. but thats racing, every day car i would have any.
Never been in the new FRS but people say there just different class for a fwd car.

 

yeah I no lol but just saying plus compaire your top fwd too a top rwd like a c63 amg or a new v8 turbo m5! Or any supercar!

 

Boring.

 

Fwd is the best option if your a shit driver as understeer is alot easier to counter act than oversteer.

 

Chalk and Cheese.

Pretty pointless comparing say 300bhp of mk2 FRS, to a C63 AMG.

 

I am not sure on this but re super cars ect, is it not best at that stage to "push" the car (rwd) than it is to "Pull" it along (fwd)

 

Rwd is better and more fun unless your a girl and dont like going sideways

 

yeah I guess we will have to wait till merc build a fwd c class amg or is that my point! Lol as they never will nor will any maker of cars like that

 

You get more transmission losses with rwd cars

 

Rwd..= mans toy..!!!!!

Fwd..= boys toy..!!!!

 

FWD is a good package with engine mass over the drive wheels and more predictable driving traits but then you can have problems with drive and steerage being on the same wheel set but with RWD if the traction breaks you still have steerage but most times the package is heavyer and engine mass is over the steering so good load on the steerage wheels but tend to be light on the traction wheel set so can be what I call a "slut car" ie will wiggle her ass at anything anyhow thats my take on it !

 

RWD don't like snow, trust me I know

 

The FWD design we know of all started with the Mini, i.e. F/F (Although it wasn't the first FWD), in essence, Issigonis wanted a car that would give maximum interior space whilst keeping the overall footprint of the car to a minimum.

He achieved this by creating a East-West engine configuration, powering the front wheels and having the gears within the sump, this meant 80% of the cars space could be dedicated to the passengers, the man was a true genius!

The same design followed with the larger models that followed the Mini, i.e. 1100, 1800.

Since then others copied and powered the front wheels as well, to answer your question the main reason 'Modern' cars are FWD is because it is more cost effective to do so,along with the above, you also have no transmission tunnel etc, you also have traction advantages, in icy conditions and less transmission loss as well.

A sports saloons/muscle cars is RWD though (No true one wouldn't be) no BMW'S are FWD either.

Martin

 

Yer Im with you on that had to drive my v8 in a few snow bound winters was like driving a fish , was kind of fun though !

 

Drive wheels make no difference in snow, it's big wide tyres with large tread blocks that make them poor. Try propper snow/winter tyres & they are just as capable.

Anyway, Fwd is purely for packaging & cost savings, it is a compromise. Rear drive is much better if you can drive.

 

Get ready for everyone with a RWD car backing RWD, everyone with a FWD backing FWD

Both have pros and cons imo

 

in real every day situations on the roads driving legally then there is no reason to have a rwd over fwd.
on a track it's better to be rwd or 4wd over fwd, purely as you can push round the track without losing steering the same, if a fwd car is spinning it's wheels, then it's not gripping well for steering. on the other hand it's less likely for a fwd car to have the rear overtake the front on a turning.
i reckon my xr2 is pretty good at keeping up with a scooby, grip is the main factor IMO.

 

I have both lol.

 

I've had FR, FF, front engined 4wd and MR layout cars and the most fun have been the FR. Most modern cars are FF purely for packaging and cost reasons but that doesn't mean they can't be fun, wrestling torque steer in a big powered front driver can put a big grin on your face!

Rear drivers are great fun though, my Volvo even with relatively modest power is a hoot (especially when my mate who can actually drive is at the wheel lol) and as for trouble in the snow it is more to do with tyre selection as my narrow tyred Herald had absolutely no trouble getting about, in fact most modern front drivers were holding me up! Lol

 

I have had lots of rsturbos and cossies rwd an to be honest I've have nothin bad to say bout eather of them. Love them boath

 

i miss my 2wd saff and rwd skyline for out and out hooligan driving the evo wasnt as predictable as people think but massive fun when driving it on the limit my st3 with the esp off is fuckin everywhere but it fit the bill greatly for what i need from a car now

 

Interesting replies. I was thinking that all Ferrari's, Lambo's and other Supercars are all RWD. Also to push a car (RWD) would make more sense than pulling a car (FWD). Lets say you need to move a car by hand, you would push it as it would be a lot easier than pulling it, even if it had some kind of devise you could pull it with it would still be easier to push thus making RWD cars more efficient I would have thought? I am only used to FWD cars like 205 GTI's, R5 GT Turbo's, S1 & S2 RST's etc. Wonder how I would get on driving something like an M3 or a RWD Cossie?!!

 

Why? A well modded 25k focus rs will leave a 70k c63 amg. Nothing wrong with fwd.. Nothing wrong with rwd.

 

RWD cars are meant to be a bit hairy in the wet so I understand?

 

Could say that trying to unload 36psi....

 

Well a fwd car won't get stuck in the snow, but can understeer like the focus tends to do. Too much power into a corner on a rwd car and we all know what happens. So awd ftw.

 

everyone to their own but i do prefer RWD .........when i was growing up most of the faster cars out there were rwd

 

Same here mate totally love Rwd.....

 

RWD, more fun

Awd in the Evo is a good system not as predictable as Jay mentioned, can pull out on cornes very quickly.

FWD, More the Modern stuff out now that do the job well.

 

Learning a fair bit here, you would never believe I have been driving over 22 years!

So FWD cars are better on fuel than a RWD car? So if we had the exact same car, lets say a 2.0 16v Mondeo. So this car is FWD yet if it was RWD the fuel economy would drop?

Also Phil RS said.....You get more transmission losses with rwd cars Sorry for sounding a bit thick here but what does that mean?