Quote:
Originally Posted by Piotrsko
Fwd tends to suck in icy or low tracton conditions. Something about losing steering when you add power perhaps 1/2 of America gets snow sometimes. Then right after that the municipality gets many insurance claims.
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How do you figure? FWD doesn't suck in icy, slick conditions. It does have it's disadvantages, but once in motion its advantages cater more to the novice driver.
FWD tends to understeer.
RWD tends to oversteer.
Accelerate too much in a FWD and nothing bad happens. You just lose a bit of steering until you let off the accelerator.
With RWD, back before traction and stability control accidentally giving it a bit too much accelerator (especially when an ol' 3 speed automatic decides to downshift) can have you instantly sideways. There's still a chance even with modern traction and stability control that quick changes in the accelerator could make a novice driver lose control.
Also going into a corner too fast in a FWD will cause you to keep going a bit too straight. The natural reaction to let off the accelerator is the correct reaction to help gain back that control.
In a RWD vehicle the rear axle will start to lose traction first when going too fast for a corner. Instantly letting off the accelerator can make the weight shift to quickly onto the front wheels and make matters worse.
If you crash in a FWD you tend to crash straight on.
In a RWD you tend to spin out of control and are more likely to crash sideways.
Only if you're a professional driver does RWD kind of make sense on the road. If you know how to make smooth and well calculated changes to the accelerator and steering in admist of losing traction on the rear wheels you can actually go around a corner even faster than in a FWD vehicle. The reason is that your wheels that control the direction of the vehicle are the last to lose traction, so as long as you can keep your rear end from sliding too far out you still have control of the vehicle.
When going too fast with a FWD vehicle your only hope is to wait for the vehicle to slow down enough for you to be able to regain your steering once again.
But at low speeds FWD has an advantage over RWD. If you're stuck or have the possibility to get stuck, FWD gives you more options of getting out since your drive wheels are steerable. Sometimes you need to steer right or left to pull you out off a bad situation.
With RWD your only options are forwards or backwards. If neither of those work to get unstuck, well you're still going to be stuck.
Conclusion
Even though I've had lots of training as a professional driver on how to deal with icy roads in RWD vehicles and feel like I can keep better control at higher speeds in them, I don't really see the advantage for myself since I don't believe in driving fast in icy conditions in the first place.
What I'm more concerned about is that all my other family drivers are not trained professionals, and I don't expect them to be. I'd much rather them go a bit too fast into a corner in a FWD vehicle in which their natural reaction will be the correct reaction. And if they crash I would rather they crash head-on.
I'm also more concerned with getting unstuck in snow. All the above points to a FWD vehicle as being more practical for snowy and icy conditions.
I've been a professional driver for years here in the snowy, icy and steep Colorado Rockies and have driven all sorts of vehicles in FWD, RWD and AWD configurations. My opinion is that FWD is better than RWD for the ice and snow unless your objective is to drive as fast as possible, which shouldn't be your objective in the first place. And yes, AWD has a great advantage over FWD but it's not necessary, has it's own disadvantages and costs too much.