Celica Forums General Discussion General FWD vs RWD

Ok, let's have a technical discussion. IN THE SNOW, if two cars were the both an even 2800 pounds, which would be "safer" in the snow? Please don't say AWD.

FWD would have more traction, but ultimately, it's easier to control any form a skid/slide in a RWD, so inthe end, I choose RWD. What do you all think?

RWD sucks, it slides out from behind you too easily. FWD is better because the front end is guiding the car with power, and steering.

you're gonna most likey oversteer in rwd and understeer in FWD. in the snow you're screwed either way. it's gonna be down to driver abilities.

get a hovercraft.

Yessuh.

But seriously, I drove a little miata around the neighborhood, and after I got used to the sliding around, I felt more confident slipping around than when the Camry or Celica slid around.

I use to own a Corolla SR-5 that was RWD and it sucked in the snow. It was fun granted.

I would have to stop way back on a slight incline by a traffic light and plan my acceleration when the other light turned yellow.
I remember once I couldn't get up my friend's street. I even tried going in reverse.
I have more stories, but I think you get the idea,
Plain RWD sucks in the snow, sleet, freezing rain, etc.
RWD and some traction control is different.
FWD is always better than RWD in the snow.
AWD owns all.

To get a true feeling, you need to start sliding out of no where and be shitting your pants, trying to pull out of a slid without fucking your car up...then you'll see


As far as direction of where your car is going...think about it. Front wheels are driving the direction of where the car is going. Since the power is in the front of the car, the car has more control of which direction where its going.

Rear wheel, the front wheels are just guiding the car without any power, while the back wheels are spinnin

If you attack a corner too hard with FWD, your front tyres will spinn and you'll go straight forward without any control and crash. With a RWD car, going to hard on the power, the tail will come out, and you can catch it with oposite lock (or whatever the hell it's called).

FWD sucks donkey balls (yes, that is the correct technical term), and is no fun at all.

^^AKA understeer. Exactly. With RWD, power/weight transfers to the rear under acceleration. So having power there will be to your benefit. Bigtony, you're mistaken just a bit. FWD will not work in the way you've explained.

And what I meant by RWD, was with some traction control.

I had a RWD truck and now drive a FWD GTS. Madison just got hammered with 12 inches of snow midweek and now I'm certainly learning the differences between the two. RWD you can steer yourself in any direction you want. If you turn your wheels and punch it, your RWD will point you in the direction of the wheels. FWD you go where your car points...turn the wheel and punch it, you go forward. If you turn your wheel and hit the brake, you go forward. The only wany to maneuver in snow in a FWD is to have it in neutral without the brake on. Personally, I'd rather drive a RWD in the snow, but I'd rather drive the GTS than that truck.
It's all a used-to-it thing. I'm used to RWD because I drove it for seven years; I've been driving a FWD for 6 months, and for only 3 days in the snow.

Moral of the story: GOOD DRIVERS pwn any FWD, RWD, or AWD car.
How do you become a good driver in the snow: fuck around in a parking lot with no cars in the way and put yourself in spins, slides, and goofy stuff like that, then teach yourself to get out of it. It's not illegal and not dangerous. Just don't fuck up that Celica.

^^nice post, kinda what I was looking for. BTW, I already fucked the car up.

Aren't a lot of vans RWD too?

FWD is better, FWD pulls the car as opposed to pushing it and with this you are able to maintain and obtain traction much better, otherwise with RWD you are pushing your front wheels and that is making your much more prone to slip because if you slide then you will continue to push your vehicle out of control where as FWD you are able to to guide the car better if you slip by having that front-end traction and control.

Pushing your car has its advantages if you're comfortable with it, can control it, and can predict it.
RWD is better at low speeds...IMO
FWD is better at high speeds...IMO
I drive slower in snow, and I live in a bigger city now than last winter, so I had a hard time getting used to my GTS in the horrific snow storm we just got a few days ago.

it also depends on the tires... my celica has baldies and in light snow and ice is sucks but in "fresh powder" aka empty parking lots it handels great... i dont know why but it works great...

it does come down to driver skill though, and weight distribution, you can have a 4wd truck and get no traction cause theres no weight in the bed

RWD is good if you know how to use it. FWD is good for the adverage person.

I read this under Car and driver's technical section. In the article, they addressed how traction works with cars. Granted that both cars were fitted with good tires, and that they were both respectively nice cars, TSX and BMW 3 series. Under hard acceleration, the TSX will have more traction at the initial point of acceleration, about 30% more than the 3series. And as acceleration progressed, the traction advantage of the TSX immediately dissapeared. The RWD 3 gained about 30% tracction as weight transfer changed. And as accleration got heavier, RWD gained traction, while the TSX lost traction.

when you are referring to traction, you're talking about hard accerating. when you're in snow, you aren't trying to race, you're going slow those statistics do not relate to driving in snow conditions. jyboygenius, how about naming some speeds that you want to talk about, like FWD vs RWD @ 25mph. As far as traction goes, in order to obtain 30% increase in rear wheel traction, you need to create enough G force, which means hard ass acceleration. If you accelerate to get the 30% increase, your tires are spinning like a tornado from kansas.

I'd feel more comfortable in a RWD, a lot easier to recover from over-steer than understeer.

I thought we moved offa the snow and all...

AWD raised truck with some snow tires owns all