Tulak Or Batak?

[Sakristan_Mayor]

Like most of us, I have driven both. The austin 7 and the morris minor revolutionized the industry by introducing front wheel drive and an east-west engine. Most modern compacts and medium sized cars are based on the same lay-out. Most high performance cars have their drive at the rear. Sans driver aides such as BMW's DSC, Porche's PASM, electronic brake distribution and the likes, which layout makes a better driver's car?

[tombone]

I have both type of car , I preffer the rear wheel if i'm the one driving, but if i'm the passenger i preffer the front wheel drive more leg room specially on the middle .

[Google]

imho... Neither front-wheel drive nor rear-wheel drive is really better than the other. Today's sophisticated traction and stability control systems are so good they can mask or enhance the true driving dynamics of a vehicle.

[Sakristan_Mayor]

mayroon kaya niticeable nuances between the 2?

[Google]

mayroon kaya niticeable nuances between the 2?

 

imho.... for older cars, may noticable difference.... although mas powerful ang mga RWD, mas mabibilis naman ang FWD dahil mas maikli ang tinatakbo ng power from the engine to the front differentials.

[Sakristan_Mayor]

imho.... for older cars, may noticable difference.... although mas powerful ang mga RWD, mas mabibilis naman ang FWD dahil mas maikli ang tinatakbo ng power from the engine to the front differentials.

 

Tnx for info man. I never notice any difference myself, but a friend of mine swears that rhd handles better, and fwd has more flex. Perhaps, like you said, there is hardly any difference at all, except perhaps in motorsports

[hitomi]

Tnx for info man. I never notice any difference myself, but a friend of mine swears that rhd handles better, and fwd has more flex. Perhaps, like you said, there is hardly any difference at all, except perhaps in motorsports

 

yeah in motorsports, i think its FWD=tendency to oversteer while RWD=tendency to understeer.

 

that's why bmws - the best handling production cars on two wheel drive - still retain the rear wheel drive layout even when the majority of consumer car makers have switched to FWD which is cheaper to manufacture.

 

on the other hand, people say that once you've gone 4WD or AWD, you'll never go back, but that's OT

Edited January 17, 2007 by hitomi

[Sakristan_Mayor]

yeah in motorsports, i think its FWD=tendency to oversteer while RWD=tendency to understeer.

 

that's why bmws - best handling production cars - still retain the rear wheel drive layout even if the majority of consumer car makers have switched to FWD which is cheaper to manufacture.

 

on the other hand, people say that once you've gone 4WD or AWD, you'll never go back, but that's OT

 

Thanks to Audi, the mother of all AWD...

too bad i havent driven an AWD yet.

[yobag]

i prefer the rear wheel drive layout

[c32]

yeah in motorsports, i think its FWD=tendency to oversteer while RWD=tendency to understeer.

 

that's why bmws - the best handling production cars on two wheel drive - still retain the rear wheel drive layout even when the majority of consumer car makers have switched to FWD which is cheaper to manufacture.

 

on the other hand, people say that once you've gone 4WD or AWD, you'll never go back, but that's OT

 

bro u had it upside down, FWDs tend to understeer while RWD tends to oversteer, but there are some RWD cars that were intentionally set to understeer...

 

in terms of handling, both drive layouts can be tuned to handle properly, a FWD car's suspension can be set to do powerslides without touching the e-brake...

 

the only limitation to FWD is that power is very limited since too much power will make the front tires spin, unlike RWD where it can take a lot more power since the rear end can accept really wide tires...

 

bottom line, given the proper tuning, both cars can be fun to drive...

[Sakristan_Mayor]

bro u had it upside down, FWDs tend to understeer while RWD tends to oversteer, but there are some RWD cars that were intentionally set to understeer...

 

in terms of handling, both drive layouts can be tuned to handle properly, a FWD car's suspension can be set to do powerslides without touching the e-brake...

 

the only limitation to FWD is that power is very limited since too much power will make the front tires spin, unlike RWD where it can take a lot more power since the rear end can accept really wide tires...

 

bottom line, given the proper tuning, both cars can be fun to drive...

 

So tuning pala is the great equalizer between fwd and rhd...

[milhouse83]

So tuning pala is the great equalizer between fwd and rhd...

 

Any regular everyday driver will never discern the difference between the two no matter what, but no amount of tuning will ever make the two indistinguishable to a keen driver . The differences between FWD and RWD are just simply like night and day.

 

Another main disadvantage of FWD is torque steer. That's when the car has bias to veer towards one slide while under heavy acceleration. This is mostly due to the unequal length of the half shafts.

 

It's not only FWD that understeer though. There are few RWD that are famous understeerers like the 350z, Mustang, and the M5.

[Sakristan_Mayor]

I agree that a regular driver cannot discern the difference between the two layouts. I never notice iot myself except on certain occasions such as the twisty, endless ascent to the Edsa Shang Mall all the way to the 7th or 8th level. I feel more comfortable with a rwd, a torquey rwd.

 

 

Pero in a circuit, i wonder which layout is preferred by most racing drivers

[milhouse83]

Race cars tend to be RWD or MR since with FWD there is actually a limit on how much power you can put into the front wheels before the car becomes unwieldy because of too much understeer. That's why you don't see manufacturers put out high-power FWD cars.

 

Take this Vauxhall Vectra VXR for example..255HP, 160mph, FWD

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVfF_dGyimU

Edited January 23, 2007 by milhouse83

[lomex32]

How about the Volkswagen Beetle?

 

imho.... for older cars, may noticable difference.... although mas powerful ang mga RWD, mas mabibilis naman ang FWD dahil mas maikli ang tinatakbo ng power from the engine to the front differentials.