What's Better: RWD or AWD?

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RWD: An exciting on edge experience of raw distributed power, refining the true element of car control and centre of balance with a high level of mastery required, with rewarding and exciting effects.

AWD: A sophisticated yet immense full package of cleverly distributed power to provide a thrilling yet stable experience of car control, yielding insane lap times whilst providing innovation for the masses.

FWD:
 
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None are better. Just like pizza isn't better than a spinach and kale protein shake. Pizza might objectively taste better, and after a 6 pack, I'm getting pizza, but I'll be damned if I pick up a slice after the gym instead of getting something rich in nutrients. Likewise, neither of those two would replace my favorite breakfast. The past 3 cars I've owned have all been "performance" cars and have represented each of the platforms in question. I've also driven everything from AWD Bentley's, RWD Porsche's, and Turbo'd FWD maniacs. And what it really comes down to, is not the driven wheels, but the overall engineering of the car. I've driven RWD pigs, AWD systems that are worthless and FWDs that cock a wheel up kick the rear out and change direction as quick as you can move the wheel.

No, I don't race. But most people don't. If you do, get comfortable behind the wheel of anything and enjoy.
 
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Alright, I recently (thanks to some technicality about the owner of these cars owning the land) drove an Impreza (new shape, diesel) representing 4wd, an Infiniti something or other representing RWD and an original Mini with... FWD.

And it's kinda more about the car, as the Impreza and Infiniti show, a car which drives like crap (not an opinion but yeah) with 4wd or RWD still drives like crap, it's just what you try as the Mini was way more fun. It's kinda preference and car, and also difficult for me to say which I'd take hands down without many cars driven, but I can say if it was a "Out of THIS RWD or THIS AWD" i would have the better car.
 
One way I look at it, in a general sense:
  • RWD may oversteer in situations where FWD/AWD wouldn't.
  • FWD may understeer where RWD/AWD wouldn't.
  • AWD may understeer where RWD wouldn't, and also oversteer where FWD wouldn't.
I think that's about all you can get out of an open-ended version of the question, other than, "it depends."
 
Non-STI Imprezas aren't all that great in terms of handling. The last WRX was actually okay, but a bit wooly around the edges., Really had to take it by the scruff of the neck and throw it around to get any joy out of it.

Imprezas below the WRX are mostly pants, unless you have a base hatch with a manual, where the lighter nose makes it a finely balanced car, though not as keen steering as an equivalent Focus or Mazda3.

You appreciate what good weight balance these cars have, thanks to the AWD system spreading weight around. Even on the XV crossover.

And then you drive a front-wheel drive CX-5, which you can toss around under braking on any corner of any mountain and come out the other side grinning from ear-to-ear...

There's a time and place for everything. And despite what some RWD luddites will tell you, there's also a time and place for FWD.
 
Harry6784
Like going to get groceries and picking the kids up from school ;)
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Sorry to disappoint you, but we're having scrambled eggs for breakfast. Again.

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Yes, Daddy didn't forget your milkshake.
 
Wolfe
One way I look at it, in a general sense:
  • RWD may oversteer in situations where FWD/AWD wouldn't.
  • FWD may understeer where RWD/AWD wouldn't.
  • AWD may understeer where RWD wouldn't, and also oversteer where FWD wouldn't.
I think that's about all you can get out of an open-ended version of the question, other than, "it depends."
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That's a bit simplistic in my opinion. Many RWD cars are just as likely to understeer as any FWD or AWD car, it all comes down how the chassis has been developed and set-up.

Yes, a base-spec 1,000cc 'shopping trolley' will probably push it's nose wide when provoked, where as a TVR Griffith will probably oversteer on the limit. But they're at opposite ends of the spectrum. Virtually all cars, front, rear or all wheel drive, not aimed at the keen driver are tuned to understeer, for reasons of safety.
 
Harry6784
Like going to get groceries and picking the kids up from school ;)
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That's cute, part 2..

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Having owned a couple of RWD cars (a BMW E36 328 and E90 320si) whilst both were undoubtedly very balanced and adjustable on the throttle (and fun) those are certainly not qualities exclusive to RWD cars. My 205 is by far the most exciting car that I've owned, and is at least as quick as either BMW at covering ground on a twisty road.
 
gt3_racer05
I take AWD for more control
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Control really comes down the rubber and the driver.

But as other have stated it really comes down to circumstance when picking the best of the two. I personally think RWD suits me better.
 
TheCracker
That's a bit simplistic in my opinion. Many RWD cars are just as likely to understeer as any FWD or AWD car, it all comes down how the chassis has been developed and set-up.

Yes, a base-spec 1,000cc 'shopping trolley' will probably push it's nose wide when provoked, where as a TVR Griffith will probably oversteer on the limit. But they're at opposite ends of the spectrum. Virtually all cars, front, rear or all wheel drive, not aimed at the keen driver are tuned to understeer, for reasons of safety.
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That's why it reads, "RWD may oversteer..."

Given the range of differences between cars with the same drivewheels, what fundamentally defines RWD/AWD/FWD is what can possibly happen at the wheels when traction is lost. A FWD car may be a family sedan, an agile subcompact, or a racecar -- you can't really generalize what they're like to drive. But you can be certain each of those FWD cars will never ever power oversteer, simply because there's no power going to the rear wheels. On the flipside, they could probably power understeer, while a RWD car never ever would (depending on how you define understeering on the throttle with one).

In day-to-day circumstances, this all matters most when the roads are snow-covered. All cars -- even those not aimed at the keen driver -- will spin their drivewheels of choice on slick stuff. ;) For this whole question, when I think about what I would prefer to drive, I tend to think of winter.
 
Wolfe
On the flipside, they could probably power understeer, while a RWD car never ever would
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You've not driven one of BMW's lower-powered models, have you... ;) As @TheCracker said, most non-sporty models are tuned to understeer when the driver does something silly like plant his or her foot without regards to the consequences.

As for FWD cars not power oversteering, that's a given, though I've driven a few with LSDs that tighten their line out of a corner the harder you accelerate. It's a very weird feeling when your mind is telling you that you should be understeering instead.
 
Some FWD drive cars like the Focus ST use clever use of brakes to induce oversteer. As electronic body control gets better and better we can expect the drivetrain layout to become less definitive of a car's handling.
 
homeforsummer
You've not driven one of BMW's lower-powered models, have you... ;) As @TheCracker said, most non-sporty models are tuned to understeer when the driver does something silly like plant his or her foot without regards to the consequences.
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You missed the part where I said, "depending on how you define understeering on the throttle with one". Spinning the front wheels versus simply overloading them.

Also, my first car was a 318i...

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homeforsummer
As for FWD cars not power oversteering, that's a given...
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And my point is, that sort of thing (my quick list TheCracker responded to) is pretty much all you can get out of "RWD vs AWD vs FWD" without getting into specifics. You can't tell how a car will drive based solely on its drivetrain. You can only tell what will happen when or if you produce wheelspin.

And yes, there are those new electronic LSD/ABS techniques being applied to change the paradigm.
 
Wolfe
You missed the part where I said, "depending on how you define understeering on the throttle with one". Spinning the front wheels versus simply overloading them.
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Do you mean the rear wheels, there?

And I define "understeering on the throttle" as err... understeering... on the throttle. I'm not sure your fairly light, not-so-sophisticated E30 is as definitive an example as something like my friend's old E46 318i, which was a rear-drive car that would only ever oversteer on the throttle on loose or very slippery surfaces. A 1.5-tonne car with 120 bhp, no LSD and a chassis set up on the very safe side is not a recipe for power oversteer. Plant your foot on a dry road and the driven wheels were irrelevant - it would understeer.
 
homeforsummer
Do you mean the rear wheels, there?
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We were talking about power understeer. With a FWD, that generally means spinning the front wheels. With a RWD, either it's something they would never do (spin the front wheels), or it's what you might call understeering while on the throttle (simply overloading the front tires). You brought up how modern entry-level RWD cars are generally tuned to understeer. I had intended to preemptively cover that with the parenthetical you missed in quoting me:
Wolfe
On the flipside, [the FWD cars] could probably power understeer, while a RWD car never ever would (depending on how you define understeering on the throttle with one).
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I don't know how I'm being so unclear in this thread. :ouch:
homeforsummer
I'm not sure your fairly light, not-so-sophisticated E30 is as definitive an example as something like my friend's old E46 318i, which was a rear-drive car that would only ever oversteer on the throttle on loose or very slippery surfaces. A 1.5-tonne car with 120 bhp, no LSD and a chassis set up on the very safe side is not a recipe for power oversteer. Plant your foot on a dry road and the driven wheels were irrelevant - it would understeer.
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My 318i's limiting factors were the open differential and its lack of a rear sway bar (looking it up, the M10 318i is apparently the only US spec E30 without one). Like any RWD car with less than ~150hp, it would have to rely more upon weight transfer and other techniques to slide around on dry pavement.

But in the chunk of the year where we have snow, it was drift-on-demand with a tip of the toe. And that's one situation in which RWD may oversteer where FWD wouldn't.
 
It depends on the power/weight ratio more than anything; a lower ratio means RWD would be better while a higher ratio would require AWD for the best performance.

Also, a climate with no snow and good roads would be better for RWD (Florida), while a climate with lots of snow would be better for AWD (Wisconsin).
 
Joey D
I always like how people dismiss FWD like it's awful for whatever reason. Typically when people start slagging on FWD, it pretty much instantly shows they don't know anything about cars.
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+1

There are many FWD cars on the market today that can out maneuver many RWD and AWD cars alike. I own 2 RWD cars, and that's my preferred layout so without bias I can objectively say that dismissing a FWD car is for the automotive ignorant. The argument is as dumb as the whole "domestics are better than import" non-sense.
 

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