FWD vs RWD vs AWD cars. Which do you prefer & why?

[HyBrideVo]

Symmetrical AWD!

FTW! :bwahaha:

[GerardTagayty]

havent driven a FWD for a long time now... dunno how it feels na to drive an fwd...

AWD for me please and make that symmetrical! :D

[juntzo]

Dami pala subie fans dito! Ngayon ko lang nalaman.....:cool01:

[Karding]

full time AWD

[yuichi]

hint, see my signature
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[ptk675]

here's my preference AWD>RWD>FWD

+1

although it really depends how you're gonna use it. each has its own pros and cons depending on the situation.

i remember reading a similar debate in car and driver waaay back. to prove a point, a salesman of mostly FWD cars pitted an FWD against an RWD car. He put both cars on a snowy, uphill climb. Naturally he was betting on the FWD cars he was selling, and a video even showed that the FWD car was pulling slowly but surely uphill while the RWD car was swinging its tail whenever traction broke loose and couldnt catch up.

but if say you change the situation and pit an FWD car against an RWD car on dry pavement, then the outcome might be a little different (given that both cars power/gearing/weight are matched).

[pup2]

Kaya yata AWD ang panalo kasi mapaakyat o mapapatag, walang problema. Pero an AWD going uphill is something else ha!

[dbuzz]

My take on this subject is that there isn't a whole lot of real world difference between the various systems for everyday on-road or light off-road driving.

Put another way, the differences are rather marginal, while the tradeoffs between AWD/4WD, RWD and FWD are more significant. Every AWD/4WD system requires negative tradeoffs in terms of initial cost, fuel economy, handling (except at or near the limits), and complexity. It seems to me that for the vast majority of driving situations, in most of the country, FWD, with winter tires like in the states, when required, is a better compromise than AWD/4WD. For those willing to trade traction in slippery conditions for better weight distribution, RWD, and winter tires for the months when it's helpful, may be the best compromise. In a minority of cases, AWD/4WD offers the best solution. In extreme cases, it's the only solution.

It seems to me that AWD systems that employ braking are wasteful, in terms of fuel and brake wear. I'm just not sure how significant these losses are.

In my opinion, clever marketing has oversold the real world benefits of AWD/4WD, and conveniently neglected to mention the tradeoffs, for most driving requirements. It's what politicians tend to do when they try to sell a program.

[empy]

i agree that most AWD equipped vehicles rarely go offroad, and perhaps because of this their advantages may be somewhat overhyped, in typical driving situations. actually, it appears that for most users the main advantage of an SUV (for example) is not its AWD, but its ground clearance - to ford floods and to give the driver a better driving/viewing position.

however, for performance driving, AWD is a very forgiving and easy-to-drive-fast platform. it does add weight, and purists will still prefer RWD, but it is a viable and competitive platform to use in motorsports.

i guess it's not completely clear if we are talking about real world or for racing, but there's my 2c regarding AWD.

:fyi: i own an AWD SUV that almost never goes offroad

[pup2]

AWD and INefficiency don't necessarily go hand in hand. My Fozzie gets better gas mileage than our non-CRDi Starex Turbo Diesel ... and the Starex is only RWD and cannot go 0-100 in 6 secs nor go over 200 kph.