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Re: The next MG

To: padre@billman.kuntrynet.com
Subject: Re: The next MG
From: "M.P. Trebelhorn" <mpt3265@osfmail.isc.rit.edu>
Date: Wed, 11 Mar 1998 15:40:23 -0500 (EST)
Well, I currently drive the only RWD car in the family, a 1970 MGB.  (well,
only RWD daily driver, anyway) I live in
Rochester, NY, where non-el-nino winters rack up better than 10 feet of snow
per season.  I drive the 'B year-round, and wouldn't have it any other way.
On one occasion last winter, I didn't make it home because of the snow -- not
because my RWD vehicle let me down--it was running beautifully--but because the 
national guard closed the highways and called it a disaster area.
*sensibly driven*  RWD cars can do a lot more than you
give credit for -- MGBs were, after all, serious contenders in the Monte Carlo
rallies of the '60s.

There's an old saying that the difference between understeer and oversteer is
that oversteer scares the passenger, while understeer scares the driver.  In
my experience, a RWD car is quite easy (not to mention fun) to correct in and
through turns.  Besides, I'd rather have the steering wheel transmit information
about the road, not about the engine's torque curve.  

I've driven a number of
hot hatches and front wheel drive touring cars, and while they feel powerful,
provide some real excitement, and so forth, they just don't feel very sporting.
I was going to say that FWD is okay for minivans, but then I remembered: the
two vans I've ever had much fun driving were also RWD, a full-size dodge van
and a Ford Aerostar minivan.  When my hands were on the wheel, they weren't
fighting with the engine, they were just steering the truck.  

Now, if MG were to make a 4wd sports car as a contender in rallying...
An MG "G" GT Quattro?  could be fun...

Safety Fast,
Matt

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