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BMW's front-wheel drive car spied

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FWD and RWD vehicles handle differently, particularly on slippery surfaces. You really need to know what you are driving.
 
PricklyPete said:
What makes you think that? With most people thinking their 1 series is a FWD anyway...I can't image that BMW won't bring the 1 series this way...or are you talking just about the hatch part...not the FWD 1 series. I could see them not offering a hatch variant because of our stupid market.
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The last line in the article linked.

Look out for a release overseas in late 2013, but sadly, the chances of the car being sold in the U.S. are slim.
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LTC8K6 said:
FWD and RWD vehicles handle differently, particularly on slippery surfaces. You really need to know what you are driving.
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I've always known what I'm driving. My car is WWD (Wrong Wheel Drive), my wife's car is RWD (although if you asked her I bet she wouldn't know that), not that it makes any difference to her. It has traction control and it rarely rains here and NEVER snows so it could be AWD, WWD, or 1WD for all she cares.
 
Just sent an e-mail to my wife.

JulesMaximus: Is your car front wheel drive or rear wheel drive? Do you know?

MrsJulesMaximus: I have not a clue. I just got back from taking pictures of my new listing. I hope they come out good.

She drives a 2006 Lexus IS250 (RWD) and she has owned 2 3-Series BMWs before this so I'm sure she had no clue if they were wrong wheel drive or rear wheel drive either. Both were automatics too as is her current car pictured below. 😛

LexusIS.jpg


That's my wrong wheel drive car parked next to hers. 😉
 
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It's a shame that there are many people out there who have no idea how their car will behave and what they should do in response.
 
Once you go down market...

As if there weren't enough 325is and 128is driven by smug teens racing every Camry, Kia, and minivan in sight... Now these will be parked at every trailer park, apartment complex, and McDonalds employee parking spaces...and they will act like its a $100,000 car because it says BMW on it. /sigh
 
LTC8K6 said:
It's a shame that there are many people out there who have no idea how their car will behave and what they should do in response.
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Nearly all cars understeer so they pretty much respond the same unless you are dealing with a car with a lot of power and you mash on the throttle instead of the brakes. Most people just mash on the brakes in an emergency and hope ABS keeps them somewhat in control. FWD or RWD is completely acedemic at that point.
 
JulesMaximus said:
Nearly all cars understeer so they pretty much respond the same unless you are dealing with a car with a lot of power and you mash on the throttle instead of the brakes. Most people just mash on the brakes in an emergency and hope ABS keeps them somewhat in control. FWD or RWD is completely acedemic at that point.
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You don't appreciate the handling of a RWD car?


Hmmm, sounds like you convinced yourself that FWD is "just as good".
 
JulesMaximus said:
Just sent an e-mail to my wife.

JulesMaximus: Is your car front wheel drive or rear wheel drive? Do you know?

MrsJulesMaximus: I have not a clue. I just got back from taking pictures of my new listing. I hope they come out good.
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Yeah I was thinking, replace BMW with Lexus, Mercedes, Infiniti, etc, and I'm sure a majority of the owners still wouldn't know which wheels drive the car.
I'm sure there are also a good amount of FWD A4 owners out there who thought they were getting a car with AWD too.
 
Throckmorton said:
You don't appreciate the handling of a RWD car?


Hmmm, sounds like you convinced yourself that FWD is "just as good".
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I do appreciate the handling of a RWD car. It's just that the dynamics generally aren't appreciable on a daily basis...certainly not on my daily commute and definitely not when my wife is chauffering clients around.

For my daily commute FWD is "just as good". Honestly, fuel efficiency, comfort, and technology/entertainment are way more important than handling dynamics during the 10 hours a week I spend commuting. If I'm going to do a few runs on Palomar Mountain I'll just take my motorcycle and enjoy the dynamics of a very rewarding vehicle.

What good is an M3 or a Corvette when you're stuck in stop and go traffic? When was the last time you did a Clarkson powerslide in your vehicle on public roads?

My neighbor had a Corvette a couple years ago, he turned the traction control off once and oversteered right into a curb.
 
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JulesMaximus said:
Nearly all cars understeer so they pretty much respond the same unless you are dealing with a car with a lot of power and you mash on the throttle instead of the brakes. Most people just mash on the brakes in an emergency and hope ABS keeps them somewhat in control. FWD or RWD is completely acedemic at that point.
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If you want to tell yourself that, it's okay with me. :biggrin:
 
JulesMaximus said:
I do appreciate the handling of a RWD car. It's just that the dynamics generally aren't appreciable on a daily basis...certainly not on my daily commute and definitely not when my wife is chauffering clients around.

For my daily commute FWD is "just as good". Honestly, fuel efficiency, comfort, and technology/entertainment are way more important than handling dynamics during the 10 hours a week I spend commuting. If I'm going to do a few runs on Palomar Mountain I'll just take my motorcycle and enjoy the dynamics of a very rewarding vehicle.

What good is an M3 or a Corvette when you're stuck in stop and go traffic? When was the last time you did a Clarkson powerslide in your vehicle on public roads?

My neighbor had a Corvette a couple years ago, he turned the traction control off once and oversteered right into a curb.
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Idiots are idiots, rear, front, or all wheel drive.

The handling of the vehicle, and what the driver should do, might only come up in an emergency situation. A good driver would know what they are driving, and how it handles, and how to get it out of common situations that might occur. This would certainly include knowing which wheels are driven.
 
JulesMaximus said:
Just sent an e-mail to my wife.

JulesMaximus: Is your car front wheel drive or rear wheel drive? Do you know?

MrsJulesMaximus: I have not a clue. I just got back from taking pictures of my new listing. I hope they come out good.

She drives a 2006 Lexus IS250 (RWD) and she has owned 2 3-Series BMWs before this so I'm sure she had no clue if they were wrong wheel drive or rear wheel drive either. Both were automatics too as is her current car pictured below.
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Well I wouldn't expect a Woman to know. 😛
 
krunchykrome said:
I'd consider buying a FWD BMW is the price is reasonable; I'd never buy a RWD car......I want something I can drive in any weather without reservations.
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With all the electronic aids like stability and traction control I really doubt you would have much of a problem with RWD anymore.
 
LTC8K6 said:
Idiots are idiots, rear, front, or all wheel drive.

The handling of the vehicle, and what the driver should do, might only come up in an emergency situation. A good driver would know what they are driving, and how it handles, and how to get it out of common situations that might occur. This would certainly include knowing which wheels are driven.
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I'm sure he knew which wheels were being driven. He simply made a mistake and over corrected or under corrected. It's easy to do with a powerful RWD vehicle and you switch the TC off. The internet is full of videos of people doing it. Are all of them idiots? Or bad drivers? They certainly used poor judgement, no doubt prompted by those controlled power slides they see professional drivers do on a closed course on TV.
 
mb said:
Yeah I was thinking, replace BMW with Lexus, Mercedes, Infiniti, etc, and I'm sure a majority of the owners still wouldn't know which wheels drive the car.
I'm sure there are also a good amount of FWD A4 owners out there who thought they were getting a car with AWD too.
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What...how do you know if your A4 is AWD?




😉
 
LTC8K6 said:
If you want to tell yourself that, it's okay with me. :biggrin:
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I've driven cars that handle like a go cart so I know about vehicle dynamics and how rewarding it is to drive a car like that on the edge.

However, in day to day driving, barring power induced oversteer, most stock production cars will understeer when pushed to the limits of traction. It is more predictable than snap oversteer which is why manufacturers set their cars up to understeer from the factory.

The point I am laboring to make is that it is not that important for most drivers to know which wheels are being driven to get from point a to point b. On slick roads this comes more into play but otherwise it just doesn't matter that much.
 
ElFenix said:
what, you've never seen an old lady in an M5 who is only driving one because it was the most expensive one on the lot?
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I see them all the time. It's the entire reason the Porsche Cayenne exists. It is the quintessential Orange County Mommy Vagon.
 
dpodblood said:
That's was the whole point of my "FWD BMW is pointless argument." Way to read.
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What? I quoted your post that was responding to this:

Originally Posted by Monster_Munch
The most popular BMWs in the UK (and probably the rest of Europe) are all 4 cylinder engines. The 1 and 3 series sell loads of 1.8 litre turbodiesels, hardly the most exciting engines in the world, but people like the fuel

You were saying that there's no point in buying a BMW with a 1.8L diesel engine and you might as well buy a Fiesta. What I'm saying is that the 1.8L BMW is still RWD and fun to drive.
 
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