here is a thread where FWD and RWD and AWD battle it out layout below MUST USE!: fwd cons: fwd pros: rwd cons: rwd pros: awd cons: awd pros: ok heres mine: fwd cons: understeer,when tuned sends too much power ro front wheels fwd pros: you can do Scandinavian flick rwd cons: spins out sometimes rwd pros: you can drift awd cons: cant do burnouts awd pros: too much to squeese into one sentence
fwd pros: low weight, cheaper. lower power loss than 4wd/awd fwd cons: front tires often get overloaded. not as much grip on hard launches due to weight shift. Often a kind of bad weight balance like 60/40 front/rear. less grip in general than 4wd/awd rwd pros: mad drifts and other actual strategic advantages to power over. Better weight balance. less power loss than 4wd/awd rwd cons: slightly more weight that fwd. less grip than 4wd/awd awd pros: mo grip awd cons: power loss through drivetrain is higher. weight is higher. more parts to break, also generally more complicated.
ah yes i see... well now time for my secret weapon...a awesome parking maneuver thingy - - - Updated - - - oh and i forgot... DANG YOU AUSSIES BRINGING YOUR HOLDENS AND FORDS AND STUFF my special defense:
OT: Aussie v8s are the best on topic: fwd cons: understeer fwd pros: light, cheap awd cons: heavy, expensive awd pros: good grip, launch and traction rwd cons: oversteer, lose control rwd pros: just badass (see pics)
fwd pros: Less weight Cheaper to produce Increased cabin space Can do burnouts in reverse fwd cons: Increased understeer Poor weight distribution (front heavy) You cannot do mad tyte drifting (though you can "ass drag") All your mates laugh at you when they discover that your car is wrong wheel drive awd pros: Vastly improved grip, especially in unideal conditions (rain, snow ect..) Much safer for inexperienced drivers Great for standstill launches (i.e drag racing) Practically dominant in rallying awd cons: Increased weight Much harder to do burnouts, or any sort of sliding Lots of grip ∴ boring The "easy way out" in motorsport... rwd pros: You can do this RWD is sexy Perfect weight distribution (when FR, and the engine doesn't weigh 1 million tonnes) Getting the back out is hella fun Can easily do burnouts Makes for exiting getaway car chases ?????? profit It's Jeremy Clarkson's favourite drivetrain Perhaps the most fun of the drivetrains rwd cons: None Conclusion: RWD is best.
In my experience: fwd cons: Too front heavy, wheels with alot of torque and alot of weight are difficult to control and steer at times. fwd pros: Subframe makes dropping the engine a breeze. Also cheaper to build too. rwd cons: More susceptible to oversteer. Less weight on wheels. rwd pros: More control and balance when turning. Power slides. awd cons: More weight. awd pros: More grip. More control.
Part of the reason for the first front engine - front wheel drive setups (and also a few rear engine - rear drive setups too) was to do with something perceived at the time to be a major con to front engine - rear drive. Engine at the front yet driving the rear axle, obviously you need to run a shaft from the front of the car to the rear of the car. At the time (this all came around through the 20's and 30's I think) manufacturers built cars with flat floors, the idea of a transmission tunnel was undesirable to passengers. In order to fit the driveshaft you had to raise the entire floor, this meant raising the roof too which also raised the centre of gravity and increased drag making a poorer handling and less fuel efficient vehicle. Citroen's answer to this problem, leave the engine at the front but connect it to the front wheels. Hitler commissioned production of the Volkswagen (now of course known as the VW beetle) and the solution chosen by its design team was to leave it rear drive but move the engine to the back. Both of these solutions meant you no longer had a shaft running under the cabin and so the floor could be lower to the ground allowing the roof to be lower improving drag and centre of gravity. In Europe at the time fuel was very expensive and the increased fuel economy as a result of lower drag was highly desirable. This no longer carries into the modern age. My corsa C is a front drive hatch, yet it has a raised tunnel running front to back, I think fuel lines, brake lines and wiring are run through it as well as it providing a small amount of reinforcement. In a rear drive car, again they just put a transmission tunnel through the car. Nobody cares. Modern cars also have less headroom. So the benefits of old no longer apply, but as I have been told this is where the USA RWD vs Europe FWD dominance began.
FWD Pros: Less gearbox drag than FR, Lighter, good stability, cheaper, mechanically easier (often) Cons: No drift (can slide fine though usually), understeer if you step on it in the wrong situation, slower launches because weight goes on the back in 1st and 2nd gear. worse balance (60-40), lower power limit to where the handling becomes rubbish. This platform is recommended to anyone who doesn't have alot of money but who's still looking for a fun and quick handling hot hatch with potential. RWD Pros: Quick launches, can drift, Less understeer and more oversteer (better for cornering), Sometimes light cars like Miata and AE86, better balance (50-50 or 40-60), higher power limit without tradeoff in handling. Cons: More unstable, more expensive, more drivetrain drag, often more weight. This platform is recommended to anyone with a little bit more money who's looking to have a fast and fun race car or drift car. But who is also prepared to spin the wheel over in unpredicted oversteers as well as constantly keeping the car in balance. AWD Pros: Super quick launches, good stability, good traction in many situations. Cons: Advanced mechanics, heavier, understeers a little bit like FWD, expensive
fwd cons: It's useless in performance applications. Anything over 200FT LBs or so just renders the car unable to put the power down. Requires way too much engineering time to get it to not torque steer Is a bugbear to work on Tends to be very fragile due to space constraints Makes the vehicle nose heavy. Makes vehicles prone to understeer. Is murder on tires. Some FWD cars, especially heavier or high-power ones, can go through two sets of front tires for every one rear set. Is also murder on the brakes. Front brake pads can often do 80 or even 90 percent of the work on some front-drive cars. Makes really light vehicles prone to swapping ends faster than a 70s Porsche 911. Favors underpowered cars that can barely get out of their own way Is really cheap to make. Requires the engine to be mounted sideways for efficient packaging and reasonable hood lengths, a problem with V-type engines. Longitudinally mounted FF setups have been built but they're even worse about packaging and require a long hood. And a really weirdly shaped gearbox. Prone to requiring complicated exhaust routing, most crucially on V-type engines. fwd pros: Is really cheap to make, which means car is cheaper to buy. I guess it's slightly more fuel efficient? Tends to be more forgiving for idiot drivers, since under oversteer conditions flooring it will cause the car to follow the front wheels and it biases most cars towards understeer. rwd cons: Requires more than a pulse to keep under control in adverse conditions. Often ends up being way stronger than necessary in some applications Engine bays can get really empty with inline engines Makes getting a good crash test while using an I6 hard and I8 impossible. rwd pros: More fun to drive. More reliable. More durable. Suitable for pretty much any sort of road-going car. Lends itself very nicely to performance modifications. Requires very little extra engineering to get ridiculous amounts of horsepower to the ground. Is in no way able to produce torquesteer barring worn/broken/damaged parts Way stronger Better distribution of load amongst the four tires, leading to longer tire life. Better weight distribution, can be 50/50 with aft mounted gearbox Doesn't really give a flying -beep- about what sort of suspension you're using. MacPherson, double wishbone, live axle, torsion bar, coilover, swing arm, whatever you care to throw at it is compatible. Easier to work on Engine is mounted in a sensible way, making V-type engines much easier to service. Allows for better exhaust routing Packaging is way better. Easier to fit new transmission tech since the transmission has its own home instead of being roomies with the engine. awd cons: Most complex system. VEEEERY understeer happy without some serious engineering. A 50/50 torque split almost guarantees understeer. Requires some really funky packaging under the hood for the front diff and halfshafts. If you break one driveshaft you're just as boned as you would have been in a 2WD car, since the center diff will just unload. And if it's a limited slip type(Most are) you'll cook that trying to limp it to a shop. Cannot be towed on a two wheel dolly without royally FUBARring the gearbox. Makes maintenance on the engine a bugbear no matter the configuration. Makes servicing the gearbox hard too. Transverse, front mounted engines in AWD cars are some of the most sardined in powerplants in the industry. awd pros: In slippery conditions they perform exceptionally well. which is why WRC cars are AWD and have been for nearly 30 years now. If the center diff is handled correctly they can make a bulky car handle like a gokart. They let you nail the throttle pretty much whenever you want and maintain control of the car. I'm going to add one more type, since the OP forgot it. 4x4 cons: Bulky. As hell. No center diff. Prone to breaking if left in 4WD at high speeds or on dry pavement due to a lack of a center differential. Makes handling interesting. When engaged you have loads of both understeer AND oversteer as the two axles fight each other, with the vehicle unable to make its mind up which and swapping between the two at random. In 2WD you end up with a lot more understeer due to the extra weight in the front end and this sort of drivetrain being fitted to vehicles prone to understeering in the first place. The extra mass can often be felt in the steering wheel, too, and power steering systems have to be beefed up. Can make a vehicle prone to steering wobble. Jeep Wrangler drivers know exactly what I'm talking about here. Smacks fuel economy in the face with a baseball bat. Doubly a problem given it's usually fitted to vehicles that have problems there in the first place. When they do break they can do a LOT of damage. The front diff can often make servicing the engine challenging to say the least. IFS 4WD setups are limited in configuration. You're pretty much only gonna be able to get away with double wishbone or twin traction beam(Ford's usual go-to). And using coil springs is REALLY tricky to pull off, torsion bars are often used as a result. Often complicated exhaust routing, especially on V-type engines where one bank's exhaust has to route itself around the front driveshaft and X-fer case while remaining above the frame rails to avoid being crushed on the trail. 4x4 pros: No center diff. Unmatched traction in slippery conditions. There is no center diff, both axles get a constant feed of power regardless of what the other is up to. Coupled with limited slip/locking front and rear diffs you can get 100% positive drive to all four wheels at all times. More durable. AWD systems tend to be made as lightweight as possible so they're somewhat more prone to breaking. 4x4 systems are fitted to vehicles where light weight isn't a concern, so they're built very sturdily and just don't break unless the driver's doing something wrong. If one axle is unable to power the vehicle along the 4x4 system can be engaged to use the other axle to allow limping home/to a repair shop. Nice and simple. There's no computers to screw with/drown. It's just a bunch of gears in a box hanging off the gearbox. If used with a live axle you get something that's just about bulletproof. Especially if it's a Dana 44 or Dana 60 live axle. Can support mind boggling amounts of power. Overall, I prefer RWD for cars and 4x4 for pickup trucks.
nope, all wrong, 4WD is superior to everything else listed, as it has 0 cons (inb4 people start making up fake cons with fake websites for proof, or fake wikipedia pages and so on)
