Is Rear Wheel Drive on the way out?

[racer69]

Are the days of RWD becoming numbered.

Over the years family cars have gone towards front wheel drive. Holden and Ford (Australia) have stuck with producing affordable RWD family cars, but in the most cases manufacturers have gone for FWD. But the latest rumours have the likes of Holden Commodore's and Ford Falcon's heading towards a 4WD future (The Commodore has been rumoured a number of times over the years that the next model would be FWD, but thankfully has never happened)

In Performance and luxury cars, It has seen a mix of 4WD and RWD, but nowadays 4WD seems to be more popular. The likes of Mercedes and BMW push on with RWD, but they are hardly affordable to the average family.

Even some Supercars are heading towards 4WD, like the new Lamborghini Gallardo.

I think it is a great shame that RWD seems to be going by the wayside. What do you all think?

[Tristan]

"On the way"?? I think RWD in family cars ceased to any real degree 30 years ago.

[429CJ]

Chrysler just announced new range of RWD family cars for coming years.

[ss_collins]

RWD is obselete i'm afraid. Vorsprung Durch Tachnic

[Alpina]

Well there were 12 Mk2 escorts on the Granite City rally yesterday and you can buy new parts for them from Ford. So there.

[krt917]

I think (and hope) that RWD will continue in performance cars, but I'm afraid I think that it does seem a bit of a lost cause with 'normal' cars as manufacturers continue with the folly that is FWD. Personally, I blame the mini - if only it had been pants!

[Tristan]

"Chrysler just announced new range of RWD family cars for coming years."

Exactly. Chrysler. Their cars were designed in the stone age.

[mac]

FWD is bucketloads cheaper.

This is the simple answer to your query.

[275 GTB-4]

Originally posted by krt917
I think (and hope) that RWD will continue in performance cars, but I'm afraid I think that it does seem a bit of a lost cause with 'normal' cars as manufacturers continue with the folly that is FWD. Personally, I blame the mini - if only it had been pants!

Anyone who opts for a total front wheel drive car population in this country will eventually see the error of there ways. Australia is a large country and people here tend to want to haul everything around with them on vacation including the kitchen sink.

A basic physical shortcoming of the easy to mass produce FWD is that when the rear is loaded the the front wheels become light (sometimes with disastrous consequences). Any one game to put there hand up here who tows a horse float or some such with a FWD (Four Wheel Drive - yes!! Front drive - No!!).

Basic safety requirement.

[bella]

i don't like the way fwd cars handle. if only my golf was rwd i think it'd be a better car (if that's possible).

hopefully bmw won't drop rwd.

[Spudgun]

Road cars are all about economy and it's just more efficient to drive the wheels at the end the engine is. That's one of the main reasons why they do it.

It would be great if more cars were around with engines in the rear. Then you would have an efficient drivetrain AND rear wheel drive. I guess manufacturers shy away from this because of the extra space in the back you can get by folding down the rear seats.

It would be nice to have a better range of mass production cars in this rear-engine configuration without having to go buy a Porsche!

[Tristan]

I think you're all missing the point of FWD - interior space.

[mac]

Originally posted by Tristan
I think you're all missing the point of FWD - interior space.

So the fact that it's massively cheaper to build a FWD car over a RWD car has nothing to do with it?

If car manufacturers had to decide between an expensive car with a stack of interior space, or a cheaper car with less interior space, I can tell you which one 90% of makers would pick.

And it wouldn't be the spacious one.

[KC]

For small displacement autos, FWD is the best option. It minimizes driveline intrusion into the cabin and is simply more effecient use of space in cars that tend to be smaller. While many assume that FWD drive cars cannot handle, don't immediately assume that all RWD sedans are great at this either. Ever driven a Mustang 5.0 GT or a Camaro Z28 in the rain? Lots of fun keeping up with the rear end over a bumpy surface at slow speeds.

The number one selling vehicle in North America is the Ford F150 truck and will continue to be one of the top 5 sellers for the forseeable future. There is no way any truck maker in North America is going to ever be able to sell enough FWD trucks to make it viable to even attempt to build one. In fact, spurred on by the sales sucesses of the Toyota T100 full size truck, Nissan will introduce the Titan and Honda is looking at producing a medium sized truck for the US market.

[429CJ]

Originally posted by Tristan
"Chrysler just announced new range of RWD family cars for coming years."

Exactly. Chrysler. Their cars were designed in the stone age.

Actually, their RWD is Mercedes derived.

[Tristan]

"For small displacement autos, FWD is the best option. It minimizes driveline intrusion into the cabin and is simply more effecient use of space in cars that tend to be smaller."

Bing.

"Actually, their RWD is Mercedes derived."

Quite. This new coupé... *thing* is based on the OLD SLK platform which was, let's face it, dated upon arrival and is now really rather old!!

[Alan Jones]

Tristan, have you ever driven a rear wheel drive vehicle ?
Did you notice the difference between the two ?

Need I go on ?

[Crash Test]

I heard F1 is going FWD in 2007 as another cost cutting exercise

I must say, I prefer a bit of power down oversteer than the plough understeer the poor old Mondeo gets in the wet...

[Alan Jones]

Originally posted by Crash Test
I heard F1 is going FWD in 2007 as another cost cutting exercise

I must say, I prefer a bit of power down oversteer than the plough understeer the poor old Mondeo gets in the wet...

[Alpina]

F1 going FWD? Just proves you can't believe everything you read.
One thing that has not been mntioned is the fact that modern RWDs are fairly upmarket marques and people seem to have forgotten that budget RWDs eg Viva, starlet, Escort etc did not handle any better than their FWD counterparts. With a bit of tuning they could be excellent but out of the factory they were pretty uninspiring just like todays budget boxes.

[Dani Filth]

with the new electronics even the RWD seems to be very stable even in the rain .... and i don't think RWD will disappear so soon .. who knows in 20 years we could have NWD(no wheel drive )

[garcon]

For your normal practical family car - at least in Europe and Japan - front wheel drive has indeed been king for quite some time. Even some of the bigger US sedans are now FWD, which is more than a little freaky .

The popular alternative now seems to be Four Wheel Drive, in the form of SUVs, soft roaders, off roaders, and a fair few standard saloon/hatch/estate variants. It's practical, but it's heavy and still quite expensive.

But what we're really interested in (well I am) is the motorsport and performance road car arena. Here, you see the clearest lineage of evolution from track to road. All the pure race car formulae (i.e. NOT those derived from road cars) have stuck with RWD, because on tarmac, at the limit, driven by an expert, RWD is quicker than any other configuration. It will take a revolution in FWD/4WD technology to change that.

If ultimate performance at the limit was the sole consideration for performance road cars, I'm sure they'd all still be RWD. But road car manufacturers are obliged to consider the safety of their products in the hands of Joe Public, Mr Average Driver. So to handle all that power in a safe and predictable manner, they choose either 4WD - like Audi and Lamborghini - or extensive traction control trickery - like BMW and Mercedes. Porsche have perfected both (and the no compromise racer) and I think they do the best of the lot at offering a set up to please almost any type of driver.

RWD is still king of the track. But because I know I'm not Damon Hill, I'll go for power and 4WD on the road.

[Tristan]

"Tristan, have you ever driven a rear wheel drive vehicle ?
Did you notice the difference between the two ?

Need I go on ?"

Oh of course RWD is superior in every way for what *I* want in a car (and many other people). It's never going to DIE. However, for mass-production, mainstream cars, the RWD philosophy died out years ago.

[429CJ]

Originally posted by Crash Test
I I must say, I prefer a bit of power down oversteer than the plough understeer the poor old Mondeo gets in the wet...

Try ANY front driven car on the icy roundabout, and you'll surely know, what understeer really means.

[Neil C]

Just as soon as convertables were pronounced "dead", they came back. RWD may be in decline, but Tristan declaring them gone and forgoten is the surest sign so far they are coming back.