1) With more weight (both engine and transmission) sitting over the drive wheels, you will get more traction in the rain and snow.
2) With more weight (both engine and transmission) sitting over the drive wheels, you will have LESS traction accelerating hard as the weight will transfer rearward.
3) sending enough power through the drive wheels can cause torque steer
4) Tires have traction limits. Using the front tires to both steer and accelerate at the same time will limit a front driver slightly more in handling than rear wheel drive at the extreme.
5) typically there CAN be more road feel through the steering wheel with rear wheel drive as you don't have to use as much power steering boost. I say CAN be because not all rear drivers have a good feel... that has to be engineered in. If you ever drive a Porsche or BMW, you'll get the idea.
6) Having both the engine and transmission in the front of the car un-balances the weight distribution and handling won't be quite as neutral.

overall, you won't notice the performance differences much as us normal people will not push our cars to do more than 60-70% of what they are capable anyway. Today's cars have very high performance limits due to tire technology and suspension engineering. Under normal driving you will get more bad weather traction and maybe just a little less sporting feel.

posted by 12.220.171...

• Front vs. Rear Wheel Drive, Dave, Thu, 20 Feb 2003 00:35:57
  • Re: Front vs. Rear Wheel Drive, Marko UK, Fri, 21 Feb 2003 03:09:01
  • A Lot, Steve Sheltz, Thu, 20 Feb 2003 06:26:45 <-- Viewing This Message
    • You can't do that with rear wheels (most), mikeolich, Sat, 22 Feb 2003 07:45:05
    • One small correction., Mr. Science, Thu, 20 Feb 2003 12:46:11
    • And more, Stephen Goldberger, Thu, 20 Feb 2003 09:31:45
      • umm, is the baseball bat thing an analogy or based, tturboboy, Thu, 20 Feb 2003 14:05:04
        • Maybe if I hit you upside the head with a bat ..., J, Thu, 20 Feb 2003 15:05:20
          • Hehe...good subject line J, Mr. Science, Thu, 20 Feb 2003 15:29:53
            • General relativity thought experiment., J, Thu, 20 Feb 2003 16:36:49
              • Understand now, but disagree, Mr. Science, Fri, 21 Feb 2003 09:36:14
                • Rats!!! I can't get away with ANYTHING here! :-), J, Fri, 21 Feb 2003 12:34:50
                  • Does this mean you agree?, Mr. Science, Fri, 21 Feb 2003 13:46:20
                    • i agree completely with your critique of j's analysis-, tturboboy, Fri, 21 Feb 2003 17:01:14
                    • Man, I screwed up the punchline, Mr. Science, Fri, 21 Feb 2003 14:06:16
              • You neglect traction, Steve Sheltz, Thu, 20 Feb 2003 22:54:31
      • Wet traction., J, Thu, 20 Feb 2003 10:30:04

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