What's Better: RWD or AWD?

[Vegard]

...it's what you might call understeering while on the throttle (simply overloading the front tires).

It's usually referred to as push under.
Technically you are unloading the front tyres due to weight transfer, reducing the friction between the front tyres and the surface.

 

[Wolfe]

It's usually referred to as push under.
Technically you are unloading the front tyres due to weight transfer, reducing the friction between the front tyres and the surface.

Thanks. I figured there had to be a better term for it. I wouldn't call it power understeer but I knew someone would be on my case if I didn't clarify that a RWD is perfectly capable of understeering even while flooring it. And then it happened anyway.

There are many FWD cars on the market today that can out maneuver many RWD and AWD cars alike...

Don't forget the commonly-repeated tale of the Mini proving itself against RWD cars in Monte Carlo. And how in the 1980s, some people in the industry were convinced FWD was the future of performance cars:

...for a given vehicle weight, power and tyre size, a front wheel drive car was always faster over a given section of road. There were definite advantages in traction and controllability, and drawbacks such as torque steer, bump steer and steering kickback were not insurmountable.

For my own purposes and driving style, I would never opt for a FWD over a comparably desirable RWD/AWD/4WD vehicle, but there are numerous FWD vehicles I would enjoy driving, including the M100 Elan.