Why FWD isn't as bad as you think #blogpost

For as long as cars have existed, people have considered the greatest drivetrain platform to be the rear wheel drive method. All wheel drive platforms have also become very popular in forms such as the Nissan GTR and so on. But, there is one drive train that a majority of petrolheads strongly disagree with in terms of fun and handling, the front wheel drive platform.

This method of transferring the movement of the pistons in the engine to the road is the most popular platform as of the 21st century and is only growing in sales. Instead of a long and complicated driveshaft, the engine is quite close to the differential and so is the transmission. Automotive manufacturers have acknowledged this convenience and have adopted this in many of the more budget-friendly vehicles that they sell. Honda rose to success with front wheel drive in the form of the Civic. So far, this seems like an astonishing concept that should be used everywhere, but there is an inherent flaw.

When one attempts to add more power than the tyres can handle mid corner in a rear wheel drive car, the loss of grip makes the rear end swing around the front tyres in a form known as oversteer. This is not going to hamper the angle of your turn as long as the front wheels can maintain traction. It has been stated that this is enjoyable and has taken flight in a form of sport called ‘drifting’.

Unlike the trusty rear wheel drive platform, when excess power is applied in front wheel drive vehicle, the angle of steering is reduced and an undesirable form of traction loss called understeer is achieved. This can be dangerous as well as annoying as it is, apparently, not as entertaining as oversteer. Understeer is created when the steering wheels cannot grip properly, losing their steering ability. Found in certain rear wheel drive cars but is common place amongst the front wheel drive crowd due to its design. Other nuisances include torque steer, when a certain FWD car with an open differential begins to turn without driver input due to the open differential sending power to the wheel with least resistance, initiating a turn. This is absent in rear wheel drive cars as the rear wheels have a fixed toe angle.

With all of the clearly annoying and dangerous factors above, one might be led to believe that this platform should be reserved for the cheap econoboxes as a simple and easy way for a manufacturer to make a quick profit, but you couldn’t be more wrong.

Torque steer is a product which is usually found in vehicles with more than 200 horsepower being managed by the front wheels (newer cars have magical electronics which can allow astronomical amounts of power to be handled by the front wheels). A well-balanced car with lower horsepower can become and an absolute delight to drive. Yes, you will understeer with excess power input during a turn but that is much safer than oversteer. Not all of us are Jenson Button, able to correct oversteer and prevent ourselves from being demolished, and the FWD platform allows on the limit driving that can be handled by the most inexperienced of drivers. For those keen on showing off with smaller drifts, you can do it with FWD (albeit it’s much more difficult to initiate and harder to maintain, but hey, that’s a skill.)

Some of the greatest handling FWD cars can be just as fun as their RWD counterparts but with the added bonus of being safer when you become lead-footed in the middle of a corner.

These reasons are why there are so many sporty FWD cars on the road. They are light, easy to handle around a track, simple (mechanically), more stable in wet conditions and easier to manufacture than any rear wheel drive car. Sure, this is not a platform for drag racing, but for the pure joy of driving, you don’t need more than a small FWD machine with a tad over 150 horsepower propelling a 900-kilo happiness box on wheels. How were you going to use all 800 of those horses from your Tesla on the road anyway?

(P.S Did not mean to trigger Tesla fans.)