On Sat, 01 Jul 2017 12:54:22 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

On 01/07/17 12:43, Steve Walker wrote:
Road cars are mainly FWD for two reasons as far as I know.

1) The transverse engine and gearbox, plus lack of a propshaft allows
for a far smaller tunnel and hence more cabin space in the same size car.

2) FWD tends to retain grip when a RWD car might have let go.


Not quite.

The flip side to the latter is that once either has let go, the RWD car
is more controllable - they can be steered on the throttle - but only
people experienced in doing that (not me) are likely to get that right.

The FWD was all about safety with incompetent drivers. Under power on
loss of grip a FWD will tend to understeer, but lifting the throttle
generally restores equilibrium. A RWD car will lose the rear, and
although the reduction in throttle is likely to bring the tail back in,
its not an easy situation to bring under control.

That is, the propensity to lose grip is the same, its the behaviour
having lost it that makes the FWD more suitable for people who have zero
interest in driving, to drive.

In fact its far easier to steer an FWD on the throttle than a RWD. RWD
is a matter of controlling drift with throttle *and* steering input. FWD
- especially on something like a mini - is about throwing in some lock
and then controlling the corner using the throttle *alone*.

Exactly, but why deliberately make a car that requires more skill to control?

--
I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder.