<VV> Novas and Vairs

[Bill Elliott]

To anyone who thinks FWD is dangerous or not fun to drive, may I remind 
you of the tremendous success of the Mini Cooper S in numerous outright 
rally wins against much more powerful (and more "sporting") competition?

FWD, like all other forms of driveline, has advantages and 
disadvantages. It is the best configuration for low traction surfaces 
(proven in any number of tests), it makes for forgiving handling 
(natural tendancy to understeer, drop throttle corrections, etc),  and 
makes for a convenient power unit for design and engineering purposes 
(as does a similar power unit in rear engine RWD designs) with little 
encroachment into the passenger space.

For all of its benefits, rear engine, RWD fails the "forgiving handling" 
test. Even though the handling  limits may be higher (handling limits in 
FWD are necessarily limited by the conditions already discussed) the 
behavior at and after that limit is more suitable for a larger number of 
drivers. Plus FWD gives you much more early information to slow down... 
Only the advent of traction control and stability control (as well as 
modern tire design which make the handling limits harder to reach in 
normal driving) makes the return of RWD practical for the general 
market. ABS also makes a significant improvement in the safety of FWD 
handling...

So for the masses, I think FWD is the best solution, but outside of my 
Minis, I try to avoid it for my own cars...

Bill

mhicks130 at cox.net wrote:

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><snip>
>And when you do break 
>the drive wheels loose, it's going to slide off wherever it wants. With 
>rear drive, you will still have some semblence of steering control, 
>which may make the difference between hitting a bridge abuttment or 
>missing it. I say no thank you to FWD. To each his own..... 
> 
>-Mark 
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>I've driven FWD cars since I started driving (1976) and I've driven near bridges and I've NEVER run into a bridge abuttment or anything else for that matter.  How's that for anectdotal evidence for ya?  
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>FWD is forgiving and typically has lots of understeer but I don't think that equates to not being fun to drive.  I loved driving my '85 Golf on windy roads.  Just because I didn't have to worry about the rear end coming around on me doesn't mean I wasn't having fun.  I absolutely love driving my Corvair but I also loved driving that Golf.  I like 'em both I guess.  But to say FWD is bad or dangerous is just wrong in my book.
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>mikeH
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