<VV> drive wheels

[Bill Elliott]

I agree that for basic transportation, FWD packing, bad weather 
traction, and the forgiving handling  make the most sense... but then 
the Mini proved tha t back in 1959.

The problems arise as weight and power go up. You end up with too much 
weight up front, really dulling handling and severely overworking the 
front tires (which are asked to simply do too much). Anything much 
larger/heavier than a first generation SAAB 900 or an Audi 4000 (two of 
the best handling modern FWD's) and things start going downhill quickly 
once you start pushing the limits of the car.

I was frankly amazed at how well my '66 Toro drove (especially when 
compared to my '66 Rivera)... but I'd not put that into a "great 
handling" category... only better than most of its competition at the time.

I had a very early Allante and as Padgett suggests, servicing it was a 
nightmare... but the car drove and handled well because the engine up 
front was light and the power/torque marginal. Contrast that to my last 
Allante (one of the Northstar cars)... the underhood packaging was MUCH 
better (mainly due to the design of the Northstar engine which had been 
designed with FWD packaging in mind unlike the 4100 which was adapted 
from RWD) but the engine was much heavier and nearly twice as powerful. 
That meant the car was not nearly as tossable (despite a vastly improved 
suspension) and you really, really worked the front tires to death when 
you started pushing it.

But the worst part was trying to hold it in a straight line when 
accelerating. Despite a world class design (and a masterful traction 
control system), the basic problem was too much power going through the 
same wheels you needed to steer with.

Compare this to my BMW M3 with similar weight (3500 versus 3700 in the 
Allante)  and much less power (240 versus 295 in the Allante) and but a 
slightly rear biased weight distribution (48F/52R to roughly 60F/40R)... 
the BMW runs rings around the Allante in every conceivable way.... 
acceleration, handling, etc... I think the BMW even goes better in snow 
and ice... (frankly neither car is very good there...)...

So packaging is good, but proper balance is even better...

Bill

Padgett wrote:

>
>> Yes, but the pendulum is swinging back. See the Cadillac CTS-V, the 
>> Lincoln
>> LS, and many other RWD cars emerging now.
>
>
> It does not make a whole lot of sense to me, for everyday driving FWD 
> puts the weight over the drive wheels and is probably the most compact 
> system possible, the idea was a "power module" that could be easily 
> swapped and used in many different body configurations because 
> wheelbase was easy to change.
>
>


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