Are rear wheel drive cars faster and do they handle better that front wheel drive cars?
...and why are most sports cars rear wheel drive? Does that make them take corners better or worse? Why do they make cars only rear wheel drive cause they suck to drive in the snow.
2008-03-12T08:10:14Z
I own a mustang and was just curious cause it cant co anywhere if it snows. And traction control does nothing but slow the car down. I am not a speedracer, I drive like a grandma, but once I had a deer jump out in front of me while drivign and I instinctivly moved the car to miss hitting it and the car handled awesome and I was curious if it was luck or that rear wheel drive handles better that front..
sketchyB2008-03-12T08:19:38Z
Favorite Answer
Front wheel drive cars became popular with consumers because of their better adverse weather handing and more tame driving characteristics. That is, since FWD cars are typically majorly front heavy, when pushed too fast in a corner they tend to understeer, the front wheels will start skidding. Minor understeer is corrected by merely slowing down, the natural reaction for the driver. A RWD car in a turn has a much higher chance of undergoing oversteer, where the back wheels start to spin out. If you've ever seen the motorsport of drifting, it's just oversteering with style. Oversteer requires more effort and driver skill to recover from.
From a manufacturing standpoint, FWD is cheaper to make because it uses less materials by packing everything in tighter, and on the assembly line they can install the entire drivetrain in one step.
Like the previous answer said, RWD set-ups can often handle more torque, because FWD cars have to get the power down to the front wheels that are also being steered back and forth. This requires a lot of interesting transmission equipment, which tends to be more fragile. When you get on the gas in any car, the weight shifts to the rear, on a RWD car, this means that there is effectively more traction on the rear tires, the opposite is true for the front tires. This can be seen in drag races where there is often so much weight transfer and resulting traction that the front wheels are able to come off the ground. What it means is that you will be able to put more power down without spinning the wheels, so you would be able to accelerate faster. I mentioned the weight distribution earlier, but RWD cars tend to have the weight more event split between the front and back of the car (instead of mostly up front), which greatly improves handling.
If you look at all of the expensive "drivers" cars like BMW, Porsche, super cars, they are all RWD (or AWD) and for good reason. Don't get me wrong, FWD is great, but the focus is on practicality not performance.
(This may have gone slightly outside the scope of the question, but I hope it's helpful)
edit: on FWD you actually loose a lot of power because the transmission has some irregular geometry to get to the wheels, and the CV joints sap a bit more efficiency. However, in most cases the FWD platform will still have less drivetrain losses than a RWD.
RE: Are rear wheel drive cars faster and do they handle better that front wheel drive cars? ...and why are most sports cars rear wheel drive? Does that make them take corners better or worse? Why do they make cars only rear wheel drive cause they suck to drive in the snow.
FWD's tend to understeer.Understeer happens when the front wheels start to plow straight even if you have the steering wheel turned. Front-wheel-drive cars are susceptible to understeer because power is being sent to the same wheels that steer the car, and when the tires start spinning there’s no grip to steer. If your front tire tread has ever been packed with snow or mud, you know the feeling of understeer because, as you turn the wheel, the car keeps going straight...
RWD's tend to oversteer. Oversteer is the tendency for the rear end to slide out or fishtail. In responsible everyday driving, there’s no reason oversteer should be a concern. In rain, snow or mud, however, the rear end of rear-wheel-drive cars can creep out on you. Traction and stability control can minimize that fishtailing. The exhibition sport of drifting is an activity that revolves around oversteer; drivers pitch their specially-built cars sideways and smoke the tires at high speeds.
but if your not racing you shouldnt have to worry about this
Rear wheel drive is very good for high performance cars with large engines. With rear wheel drive, the car maker can put the engine and transmission further back - and achieve a better distribution of weight in the vehicle. This enables an experienced driver to handle turns very well. (Whereas it can be difficult to make a front-engined car to turn tightly at speed).
Inexperienced drivers can end up going into a spin.
The main difference is as the guy said who stated that FR (front engine rear wheel drive) cars are better because one set of tires pushes, the other steers. That being said, it is easier for unskilled drivers to control ff cars, they are considered safer, and that is why they are being manufactured. If you are skilled (see D1, or Keiichi Tsuchiya) you can be faster with FR. However most people can't perform at this level and honestly shouldn't try outside of a parking lot. Tires and suspension also make a big difference - in snow, slicks or asphalt tires won't keep up. Get an acura or toyota celica for an ff sports car (Civics aren't sports cars, no matter how badly the ricers want it to be) If you can afford it, get an Evo or ST-I for all wheel drive with lots of power and good handling, although they aren't traditional sports car.