Login Form
Rear wheel drive vs. front wheel drive. Which is better?
- Details
- Category: Cars and Automotive
- Published on Friday, 16 March 2012 23:44
- Written by Montasser Wahid
- Hits: 132
Do you drive a front wheel drive car?
Do you know what you should do if you encounter a front-end skid or under-steer?
Let's make a little comparison between both drive types.
Front Wheel Drive
For better fuel efficiency the best way of course was to reduce the size and weight. As automakers aimed to make cars smaller, they needed a more efficient layout that would yield more interior room in a smaller package.
Front wheel drive was the solution. By placing the engine and trans-axle in the front, there is no large transmission housing or driveshaft tunnel running through the passenger compartment. In addition, engines were positioned transversely to reduce the size of the engine bay. And there was another advantage as well. With 60% of its weight at the front, 40% at the back, FWD holds an advantage in slippery conditions such as ice or snow or sandy roads as more weight is over the drive wheels reducing slip during acceleration if you know how to drive it (I will discuss this later).
As most of the weight in up front, a FWD car is not well balanced therefore it doesn't handle quite as good as RWD. Also, as vehicles continue to become more powerful, front wheel drive becomes more of a liability. Torque steer (when the steering wheel pulls to one side during acceleration) is a serious issue with many front wheel drive cars that exceed 250hp. As such, we've seen a resurgence in the popularity of rear wheel drive in more powerful vehicles.
Rear Wheel Drive
In the past, rear wheel drive was king. Just about every car, from economy to luxury, came with rear wheel drive. Luxury marks such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz continued on with rear wheel drive and that must have a reason.
As cars become more powerful it is difficult to have one set of wheels doing the steering and the accelerating. By having the front wheels do the steering, and the rear wheels driving the car, you get a better-balanced vehicle. This eliminates torque steer and improves acceleration. Rear wheel drive offers better weight distribution, which in turn offers more predictable handling. Finally, with traction control and stability management systems, the front wheel drive advantage in slippery conditions has been significantly reduced.
Today cars are more powerful yet yield better fuel economy so we can look at FWD and RWD more objectively. Is one better than the other? Fwd still holds an advantage in terms of packaging efficiency, offering greater interior room in a smaller package, but RWD provides better handling and acceleration and with the addition of traction control, virtually eliminates the fwd advantage in the slippery roads.
so simply, if you want performance, you're looking looking for rear wheel drive. If you're looking for a small car with greater interior volume, it's front wheel drive for you.
Now the differences between driving a front wheel drive, and a rear wheel drive
The major difference between FWD and RWD is cornering, we have 2 problems that can arise in a slippery road, over-steer or rear-end skid, and under-steer or front-end skid.
Skids In Rear Wheel Drive
When the driver backs off on the throttle, engine braking takes effect. This braking on the rear wheels, providing the car is already beginning to turn, will have the effect of making the rear end slew outward. In less extreme cases, this alone will then get the car pointing in the appropriate direction, in which case the driver then applies a little throttle, and all goes as planned. In the more extreme cases, this rear-end slewing requires correction by steering the front wheels outward as well, and the car goes around the corner a bit sideways.
But in all events, the advice to take your foot off the gas when encountering a skid, in a Rear Wheel Drive Car.
Skids in Front Wheel Drive
The car enters a corner or curve. This time, the rear end doesn't slew around, pointing the car into the curve, instead, engine braking having just been applied to the front, steering wheels, they lock up, and steering is gone. The car continues to go in a straight line. So that is the wrong action in a FWD car, instead Point the front wheels where you want to go, and apply some gas and some breaks with your other foot. the drive wheels will try to get enough traction to pull the front end to where they're pointed.
Off course, this needs practice, a lot of practice, so try to practice with the help of a qualified professional trainer.