FWD in Large cars?

[DJM83]

Originally Posted by martinijosh JWM I6

Selective quoting is your friend eh...

Read the whole thing. I was saying that they're low power FWD and the STILL have torque steer issues...

They arent all the same though my XR5 doe a little but not much, quaife will fix that

[Struggo]

Originally Posted by Suvo

Well my brother has a FWD 3.5L V6 Verada and that goes pretty darn hard, yes torque steer is there and that is a downfall but we have had the Verada against my old mans Fairmont on a private driveway and the Verada stayed with it the whole way in 1st and 2nd, when it hit 3rd it really got moving. Not saying that FWD is the better way to go, but the verada does handle extremely well and is hard to break away.

Agree, my other half has a TL Magna and I love drivng it. The 380 is meant to be a even better set up than the last gen Magna's.

[glavas]

Originally Posted by dannyhilton

I'm not even going to grace that comment with an educated answer. By the sounds you have no knoledge of small cars so me offering an educated point of view would be useless

Happy spamming!

i driven evos and wrx's i can see were the "fun is" so i know about small cars but again how can a 4 cylinder na fwd be fun???? i just cant understand it.

slow=no fun
lack of power and torque= no fun
unsupportive seats=no fun


WERE IS THIS FUN?????????????????????

im not having a go im just expressing my thoughts on this fourm im just curious to this so called fun.

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by glavas

i driven evos and wrx's i can see were the "fun is" so i know about small cars but again how can a 4 cylinder na fwd be fun???? i just cant understand it.

Honda, alfa, mini seem to be able to do it quite well. So maybe think about it.

[glavas]

Originally Posted by vztrt

Honda, alfa, mini seem to be able to do it quite well. So maybe think about it.

do what quite well? ive driven a mini and it was so bad. slow and boring. whats with the huge as tacho??

[vztrt]

Go around corners, they can handle. Also I've seen N/A Hondas beat WRX's around the track. I guess that means WRX's are rubbish.....

[ebxr8240]

I'll be keen on a fwd when F1 is using it...
For now it's AWD or RWD...

[DJM83]

Originally Posted by ebxr8240

I'll be keen on a fwd when F1 is using it...
For now it's AWD or RWD...

Because F1 cars driver like road cars.....

[martinijosh]

Originally Posted by DJM83

Because F1 cars driver like road cars.....

And have AWD... and have front mount engines...

[dannyhilton]

Originally Posted by glavas

again how can a 4 cylinder na fwd be fun???? i just cant understand it.

slow=no fun
lack of power and torque= no fun
unsupportive seats=no fun

WERE IS THIS FUN?????????????????????

Winner in its class for the 2006 and 2007 Motor Magazine Bang For Your Buck Award. And third overall in 2007. Pretty much everyone found the fun in this car.

Originally Posted by glavas

im just expressing my thoughts

Might want to do some research into FWD cars and then touch up on your grammar.

[SumoDog68]

Originally Posted by ebxr8240

I'll be keen on a fwd when F1 is using it...
For now it's AWD or RWD...

Rallying is more reflective of our roads than F1 and there are not many RWD rally cars :-)

[glavas]

Originally Posted by dannyhilton

Winner in its class for the 2006 and 2007 Motor Magazine Bang For Your Buck Award. And third overall in 2007. Pretty much everyone found the fun in this car.



Might want to do some research into FWD cars and then touch up on your grammar.

i disagree friend. i cant think of anyone who would find them fun. well the commodore has been number 1 for 15 years so those 3 little awards mean not much compared to that.

yeah hit me were it hurts friend my spelling skills....

[ebxr8240]

Originally Posted by DJM83

Because F1 cars driver like road cars.....

Yea well?? If FWD was so good imagine how much can be gained !!
F1 engineers no nothing...

Rally cars have separate class for RWD...

V8 S/cars would be fun with FWD !!!
Especially in the wet..



Tongue in check BTW...

Drove my brothers Caddy in the States.. Bigest POS on the road.. NOT a drivers car and neither is the G.M G6 which also is FWD...

[dannyhilton]

Originally Posted by glavas

i disagree friend. i cant think of anyone who would find them fun. well the commodore has been number 1 for 15 years so those 3 little awards mean not much compared to that. yeah hit me were it hurts friend my spelling skills....

.

I can think of five members here who have an XR4 who love them, and think they're fun. Add another 30 active Fiesta owners to that list, our cars aren't powerful, not fast, yes they're small, the boot too is tiny, but heck do they love the corners.

I guess it's different strokes for different blokes. I'm happy you like your cars, I love mine too. A RWD FG XR6 Ute and a small Fiesta, I know which one I reach for on the weekend.

[ebxr8240]

The OP was referring to large FWD...
Even Jay Leno converted an old FWD to RWD when it was slightly modded...
Well maybe not slightly ???

[Maggot]

we've all tried to reverse our rwd cars up a wet incline.. and hated it.

And that's what you guys have to do every day!

[JimNiki]

Originally Posted by glavas

yeah hit me were it hurts friend my spelling skills....

dude, you're the one who is saying he is educated!
hence the correction...

the less crap you talk, the less that will be fling back at you ...

just making an objective observation...

and no, I don't like small FWD cars ...

cheers...

[DJM83]

Lets keep it civil thanks

[Rev28K]

The most compelling reason for powerful, large FWD's is that they are a great base for mid-engined specials. Remember that the X1-9, MGF, MR2 would probably never have existed without 128's (?), Metros and Corolla's. Bolwells and Evoras are dependant on Camrys. Ever since Alfa introduced a 24V transverse V6 I wanted to put one in a Lancia Stratos replica.
here's another one:
http://www.evo.co.uk/news/evonews/24..._supercar.html


On a tight track (Winton) my stock 1.8 FWD Honda would match a Ford Au/Ba V8 XR8 or Holden SS. On sticky treaded tyres it would match the FPV's and HSV's times.
On more open or power circuits (Sandown, Phillip Island) the big V8's would gobble it up as it's better cornering and braking (partly derived from it's light weight) would be knobbled by the V8's with triple the engine capacity and over double the power. Proper LSD's do good things for controlling FWD's.

FWD V8 - the most recent one was probably the Pontiac Grand Prix GXP of 2007/2008. By all accounts they were pretty horrible.

[Franco Cozzo]

Go drive a DC2 or DC5 Integra Type R (Or Type S, more powerful but no LSD), then get back to me on NA FWD 4 cylinder cars, these things can handle.

V8 FWD - Cadillac Seville and Oldsmobile Toronado (455ci FWD V8 )

[bingoTE50]

MG ZT 190 , one of the best front wheel drivers I have driven ,fantastic handling .
My wifes Mazda 3 Max Sport is good fun as well.
I have no real preference , I agree putting a lot of power through a front driver is tricky , but with fancy diffs and electronics it can be a reasonably torque steer free experience .In saying this apparently the Mazda 3 Turbo is a real handfull if you are not careful .

[Mechan1k]

I have driven RWD, FWD and AWD.
All can be fun ... depends on the situation and what mood you are in.
FWDs for small cars pretty much ... I didn't mind the TJ Magna VRXs though ... even in standard form ... they handled pretty well for their size.

But i do prefer a RWD vehicle in large format (what this thread is all about really) ... it just seems more settled on the road ... especially in some of the hilly/windy sections as well.

[mondo_broady]

Originally Posted by glavas

how can a na fwd 4 cylinder be fun? i cant find one posative about it.

slow
small
ugly
bad seats
bad in interior
no leg room
carnt tow
small boot.

weres the fun?

you've obviously never driven an XR4 then mate. i'd back my unmodified XR4 against an XR8 up a mountain pass any day of the week.

if you're idea of fun is laying rubber and driving fast in a straight line, then go for your big heavy powerful RWD monsters. i'll stick to climbing and descending winding hills because that is where the real fun is...

oh, XR4 fits 5 adults, has leather interior with soft touch plastics and looks grouse...

[XR6Runner]

I think somebody may have said this before, that most of the people out there driving everyday aren't exactly what you would call car enthusiasts. They just sit there getting from A to B. They don't care if its FWD, RWD, or 1 wheel drive. As long as it goes.

But the smaller % of us that actually are car enthusiasts and care about performance, and pushing the limits and having some fun, we care whether its FWD, RWD, or AWD. There are good reasons to get AWD, everybody knows the advantage of AWD, there are also plenty of reasons to get RWD. But why would somebody seeking performance want to get a FWD?

To all those who drive XR5 Turbo's and swear by its awesome handling characteristics, or those who think the Ford Focus RS is a great car... Well no, they are let down by one thing, FWD. Imagine if these cars where transferred to either RWD or AWD. How many times have you thought "Imagine if this thing was RWD/AWD". Because if it was, it would make it a whole lot better. All you FWD guys really need to stop deluding your self that FWD are awesome performance machines. FWD is only made because its cheap to make.


EDIT: I am only talking about performance here. Because FWD does have its ergonomical benefits.

[XR6Runner]

Originally Posted by mondo_broady

you've obviously never driven an XR4 then mate. i'd back my unmodified XR4 against an XR8 up a mountain pass any day of the week.

Mate, how much weight difference is there between XR4 and XR8? How about compare XR4 to Mazda MX5. I know who I would go for through this 'mountain pass'.

But that's illegal anyway. If I was to bet between XR4 and XR8 (both stock) on a proper race track, I would go the XR8 any day and all day. You are just kidding your self mate... Have you ever been in an XR8? I would guess you haven't.

Edit: Spelling

[ebxr8240]

Hmm ?? Small cars no matter what wheels drive them are closer to sports cars than full on family four door cars..
So comparing to race track is not really a level playing field..
Bigger cars are used to tow boats, caravans, trailers golf gear,the wife, kids to soccer etc..
A little pocket rocket is not even considered...Horses for courses...

[XR6Runner]

Originally Posted by ebxr8240

Hmm ?? Small cars no matter what wheels drive them are closer to sports cars than full on family four door cars..
So comparing to race track is not really a level playing field..
Bigger cars are used to tow boats, caravans, trailers golf gear,the wife, kids to soccer etc..
A little pocket rocket is not even considered...Horses for courses...

We aren't talking about small vs big cars here. This is a FWD vs RWD discussion.
But you saying smaller cars are closer to sports cars... What about the Nissan GT-R which weighs over 1700kgs and beats a 911 around the Nurburgring which weighs much less?

EBXR8240, please don't side track the original thread...

EDIT: Why are you saying that small cars 'no matter what wheel drives them' are closer to sports cars then full on family cars when its been shown that the 'full on family car' around a track would be faster? Don't say a racing track is not level playing ground because I am not talking about anything, but performance. Which car goes around a track quicker is the faster car.

Mitsubishi EVO vs Ford Focus RS
FG F6 vs TRD Aurion
Mazda 3 MPS vs Volkswagen R
Ford XR6 vs Toyota Camry V6

The ones in bold are the winning cars when it comes to performance. So what do these cars have in common? None of them are FWD... They are all equally matched, all weigh about the same as the other, only difference being which wheels are powered...

[XR6Runner]

What other small cars do you want me to compare to show RWD is superior to the FWD when it comes to performance? Honda S2000, Porsche Boxster, Mazda RX-8/RX-7, ect...?

[XR6Runner]

Originally Posted by XR6Runner

What other small cars do you want me to compare to show RWD is superior to the FWD when it comes to performance? Honda S2000, Porsche Boxster, Mazda RX-8/RX-7, ect...?

NO HARD FEELINGS

[WILDB]

BUT, what about seat travel for the driver? I know the toyota sedans at work you can't move the seat very far back which makes them uncomortable to drive because my legs are all cramped up in the footwell (I'm 184cm tall).

I'm 208cm and I've driven and have been a passenger in Mondeos and find them to be roomier in terms of head and legroom than my FG Falcon and a BA I used to own.

I've only just traded an XR5 Focus for my XR6T and let me say that in terms of handling and driver involvement the XR5 shats all over the XR6T. The people that rave on about torque steer have clearly never driven a well sorted FWD car. My 5 was putting out approx 30kw/120nm more at the engine than stock and I never had an issue with torque steer, nor have other 5 owners pushing out far more power than mine was.....