Keith Gustafson <gusmach@shore.net> wrote on
Date: 12/18/97 7:25 AM:
>Personally, living in New England, I think fwd is better for basic
>transportation, since no one calls rain delays for life. I love my +2, but
>it is downright scary in the rain with less than 1/2 a tank of gas. I have
>never driven it in the snow, and don't wish to. With FWD comes better
>packaging efficiency, better fuel economy through weight savings and less
>drivetrain mass, and lower costs. And just think, without FWD, do you think
>any of those cool mid engined cars we love [elise, europa,] would be around?
>Not a chance, too expensive. All around, I think FWD is a positive thing.
>That does not mean it is the best thing to make a car handle, just that that
>is a small percentage of what most people do with their cars, and when they
>do need it, many FWD plebian cars handle as well as their RWD counterparts.
Keith,
I understand the climate, growing up in Connecticut before transplanting to
Calif. Personally, I see it a little differently but looking at it from your
point of view for a minute, it stands to reason that a car with a lot of weight
over the drive wheels will have more traction in slippery conditions. This
would include rear engined cars as well but their steering wheels probably
wouldn't have enough traction for the average driver to feel comfortable with.
So that leaves fwd, or better yet, fwd with rwd added (4wd) with all the
front-biased weight distribution that implies as the best solution to the
traction problem for most people (apparently, including you).
That's fine. My problem is not the existance of fwd, only that, with such a
proliferation of them, we who are not disposed to fwd have very little from
which to choose. Mercedes Benz, BMW, the high end Lexuses and Infinities are
available of course, but for a price.
At moderate cornering loads, in slippery conditions, fwd does give more traction
to the front wheels. That makes fwd a *safe* choice for the average driver. I
agree.
But plodding around in snow isn't quite what most of us think of as performance
driving. And even in just rain, I would much rather have a little less pure
traction if I can have balance. I don't understand why the +2 would be so scary
in the rain (having driven my Elans which are lighter still in the rain quite a
bit to my great delight) but it may just be perspective.
Rod
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