FWD sucks on the gravel...in fact it sucks generally...

[dug777]

Srsly, every FWD car i've driven on the gravel has been a twitchy bitch...small or large, a big RWD car/ute is so much easier to drive at any decent speed on gravel...

Big RWD vehicles ftw AWD is even better, but less predictable in my experience as to when it's gunna let go...

Same to some extent on the bitumen, i'd much rather have predictable oversteer than twitchy understeer. That said, my 323 hatch is very predictable on the bitumen, it's just gravel driving at speed that makes it a freaky little bitch

 

[Amused]

FWD beats RWD any day when it snows. Other than that, you'd be correct.

 

[preslove]

People, who let dug our of his cage???!!!!

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: Amused
FWD beats RWD any day when it snows. Other than that, you'd be correct.

true

no snow here tho.

It's good on sand too, just the fact that 99.9% of FWD cars have no ground clearance so that ****** them up there...

 

[imported_Phil]

I can drive on gravel perfectly well in my FWD Focus, thank you very much Dug
I don't need no steenkin' traction control, that's what my right foot is for.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Move to the city and get a real job

 

[Soccerman06]

Originally posted by: Amused
FWD beats RWD any day when it snows. Other than that, you'd be correct.

Only when the car is accelerating, otherwise every car has the same general handling characteristics

 

[acemcmac]

raear wheel drive fvcking ROCKS

The day I buy an FWD car to be anything other than my sh!t car will be the day I put a .45 in my mouth and end it all

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: Phil
I can drive on gravel perfectly well in my FWD Focus, thank you very much Dug
I don't need no steenkin' traction control, that's what my right foot is for.

oh, i can do it no worries, it's just that it's so much more stable/easier to do in a big RWD vehicle...

I usually sit on 100kmh tops in my 323, and it's a job that requires serious concentration on a road that's not been graded for a while...

Whereas, i can sit at 120-130kmh very comfortably in the work utes/panel van

 

[Trikat]

FWD is better in rain too.
I'd still prefer AWD, then RWD,then FWD.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

My experience has been that FWD is pretty good on gravel (part of the reason most non-AWD rally cars are FWD). I don't prefer FWD generally - just the opposite - but I haven't experienced any problems on gravel. In general I find FWD easier to handle in virtually any slippery conditions, regardless of the actual surface involved.

 

[MixMasterTang]

Originally posted by: Soccerman06

Originally posted by: Amused
FWD beats RWD any day when it snows. Other than that, you'd be correct.

Only when the car is accelerating, otherwise every car has the same general handling characteristics

Usually RWD cars have a better weight distribution making them able to handle better even when not accelerating.

 

[ahurtt]

Originally posted by: acemcmac
raear wheel drive fvcking ROCKS

The day I buy an FWD car to be anything other than my sh!t car will be the day I put a .45 in my mouth and end it all

Until you have to drive in the snow with no 4WD. RWD SUCKS for that.
RWD is good for towing and that's about it. Because the weight of the payload on the towing hitch makes for better traction on the rear tires and actually lifts the front wheels somwhat giving them less traction. That is why SUV's are almost exclusively RWD, for towing purposes. If you ever tried pulling a boat out of the water up a somewhat wet or slippery boat ramp with a FWD vs. a RWD car, you'd see the difference. I've seen people trying to do it with FWD cars and just sitting there spinning their tires. They had to hook it up to a pick-em-up truck with RWD and that boat came right out of the water with no traction loss at all.

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: Amused
FWD beats RWD any day when it snows. Other than that, you'd be correct.

There are some specific instances where that is not always true...but generally..yes.

In a RWD car, if you start to skid, you can usually steer out of it because the steering wheels are not the drive wheels. I've skidded in a FWD car many a time before, and generally, you lose steering as well.

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: Insane3D

Originally posted by: Amused
FWD beats RWD any day when it snows. Other than that, you'd be correct.

There are some specific instances where that is not always true...but generally..yes.

In a RWD car, if you start to skid, you can usually steer out of it because the steering wheels are not the drive wheels. I've skidded in a FWD car many a time before, and generally, you lose steering as well.

Plus, the driving wheels don't tramline into existing vehicle tracks and throw the vehicle about at speed...

The back end of my 323 dances while i'm trying to keep it on the straight on some cut up gravel, on the same road with a big RWD i just power over it smoothly...usually at a significantly higher speed...

 

[dug777]

bump so more FWD fanboys can take a shot at me

although i doubt most FWD fanboys have ever done much gravel driving...

 

[mcvickj]

/shrug. I've never had a problem driving a FWD on gravel roads.

 

[Rubycon]

It has been proven that water that supported your beloved Balanteocheilus melanopterus sp. can be vaporized using standard house power electrolysis method and when allowed to enter the intake of your tire pump will curtail excessive torque steer experienced on windy, riprap covered roads.

Never thought those bala sharks could be put to that kind of use did you?

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: mcvickj
/shrug. I've never had a problem driving a FWD on gravel roads.

have you driven RWD vehicles on teh same roads? Were they cut up by grain trucks/heavy traffic? How fast were you going?

If you answer no/no/not very, then sure, no worries i guess. I drive FWD & RWD regularly on gravel, hence the thread...

 

[Pepsi90919]

Srsly, every FWD car

O RLY?

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: Pepsi90919

Srsly, every FWD car

O RLY?

Shur m shur

 

[Czar]

I've only driven fwd cars so I have no idea what I'm missing. But saying driving in gravel and driving in snow is somehow different when it comes to fwd or rwd doesnt make much sense. Both snow and gravel makes you loose traction and with little traction fwd is always better (logicly speaking and from what I have read, heard )

 

[arcenite]

I prefer RWD cars mostly cause I am a muscle car fan boy... but I currently drive a 2001 hyundai sonata and that car can be a bitch to hook when turning from a dead stop... especially in the rain.

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: Czar
I've only driven fwd cars so I have no idea what I'm missing. But saying driving in gravel and driving in snow is somehow different when it comes to fwd or rwd doesnt make much sense. Both snow and gravel makes you loose traction and with little traction fwd is always better (logicly speaking and from what I have read, heard )

Wrong

if if the gravel has multiple established 'tramlines' in it, then with FWD your driving wheels are dragged about as you cross them. With RWD your driving wheels can't be 'hooked' by a line in teh gravel.

If you haven't actually driven a RWD on gravel at speed, then you're right, you've no constructive input in this thread

 

[Czar]

Originally posted by: dug777

Originally posted by: Czar
I've only driven fwd cars so I have no idea what I'm missing. But saying driving in gravel and driving in snow is somehow different when it comes to fwd or rwd doesnt make much sense. Both snow and gravel makes you loose traction and with little traction fwd is always better (logicly speaking and from what I have read, heard )

Wrong

if if the gravel has multiple established 'tramlines' in it, then with FWD your driving wheels are dragged about as you cross them. With RWD your driving wheels can't be 'hooked' by a line in teh gravel.

If you haven't actually driven a RWD on gravel at speed, then you're right, you've no constructive input in this thread

its exactly the same with snow, tramlines and eveyrthing, even more so than with gravel

gravel roads are alot harder than snow so those lines only form under the worst conditions