In another thread I see alot of people posting about "learning" to drive a rear wheel drive car. You make it out to sound like learning to fly an airplane or something. I dont understand why the thought of RWD has you folks so confused. Can someone explain?? :scratch:

 

Front wheel, Rear wheel, All wheel drive...have certain characteristics to learn how to drive.

Front wheel drive...pretty easy... fronts are the driving wheels, as well as the turning wheels...VERY easy to drive/manuever (however if your backwheels lock or slide...your F)*&%d....because there is no way to manually get them back moving. All the weight is on the front wheels (engine in front right) so its not easy to get stuck with a front wheel drive car.

Rear wheel drive...different animal...front does the turning, rear wheels do the pushing... Get into a slide...the rear wheels can help you get out of it. They can also 'kick the back end to the front' very EASILY in a high horsepower car. When given gas, the back end can 'whip' out to where the front was (spin yo azz)....and that is not so hard to do....especially in snowy or wet conditions.
Also...the rear tires don't have as much weight over them (the trunk is above them)

Also in a solid axle rwd car...because theres no give between the 2 rear wheels...accelerating and hitting a bump causes...uh...interesting affects with the rear kicking into the next lane.
Front wheel drive cars don't have that as the front driving wheels are on an independant front suspension.

All in all...FWD/RWD are different..and if you haven't driven one before...don't assume its like a FWD civic...cause it ain't...especially when your dealing with gobs of HP

 

I've always drove RWD cars... except for my parents Dodge Van. Its FWD and handles a bit diffrent. I also notice the steering wheel shakes like a you-know-what when driving fast down the freeway. (Not sure if all FWD vehicles do that)

I'd rather drive a RW myself.

(I've never drove a vehicle with the engine in the back, either)

 

Funny,my Taures does that to. I thought it was the tires. I guess maybe Im confused because the majority of my cars have been rwd(only 2 fwd) and the only FWD with any power Ive ever driven is my Taures. FWD drives weird,especialy when you put your foot in it. I dont realy have any use for FWD. In my opinion RWD is much eisier to drive and a much more stable and predictable platform.

 

SInce this is RWD confusion this is a question I have.
Will the 05 have a limited slip rear differantial standard. Or will it have it at all?

 

V6 - doesn't
GT - has a limited slip
(just like now)

 

If I understand correctly (and someone who knows more about this can by all means correct me), sometimes shaking in FWD on freeway is due to the wheel alignment (I think it causes more wear to the tires too...again, no expert here). If you haven't gotten them aligned in a while, might be something to check.

 

Gonna try that next weekend.

 

if your wheels aren't balanced, be it FWD or RWD you will get the "shimmy" at highway speeds.

Hammering the gas in a FWD car through a turn and having the wheel shake is not fun.

 

It's important to remember you have a live axle! Anyone else ever go WOT "accidentally" over railroad tracks? :bang:

 

Then there is torque steer and a bunch of other not good things that happen with FWD cars. Nothing like a good RWD car and accelerating in turns. :headbang:

 

the car is scared that a V8 RWD is near it.

 

in snow rwd sucks, i always worry about denting my car or skidding into something in snow. rwd is also bad in rain... lay on the pedal too much with wet pavement an u go skidding... but this is only usually true if u are at a stop and u floor it

 

Alignment is usually more related to the car "wandering" off to a certain direction. For example, it may pull to the left on the freeway when you take your hands off the wheel. That is an alignment issue. The shaking or shimming at high speed (usually happens at speeds above 75 from what I've seen) is usually from unbalanced wheels. Tire places can put little weights on your wheels to make them balanced .. they know how much weight to put on each wheel based on what their computer tells them.


As far as the original topic: RWD cars do have different characteristics, but honestly, unless you really push the car you can't notice that big of a difference. Car companies have gotten pretty good at making a FWD car drive well .. ever since about the late 1980s they've been decent to drive. As much fun as RWD? No. But decent nonetheless.

The one thing that is really cool about a RWD car is when you're on a twisty road. If you're half way through the turn and you lay into the throttle a bit, it'll actually help you turn. You can feel the car rotate - neat feeling. I felt it for the first time last summer driving a red V6 rental Mustang. Front wheel drive cars tend to plow (understeer) when you go into a corner. Understeering is safe, but not usually all that fun. It also makes for a rather-unispired handling package.

Even with a great set of suspension underneath a FWD car, there's usually not much that can be done to avoid an understeering character. That's because there's a lot of nose weight and your driving wheels do the turning as well. On the other hand, RWD cars can more easily be coaxed into a more neutral position. With steering and throttle / brake inputs, you can definitiely get the tail end out on most RWD cars provided you have the power.

But let's not get too carried away here. Even though RWD cars can be put into an oversteer situation, most, in fact, close to all, production cars have at least a hint of understeer dialed into them unless they're hardcore racers from the factory. That's because manufacturers know that a hint of understeer will keep most of the unexperienced idiots from getting into a situation they can handle. Nonetheless, the new Mustang I'm sure will be one of those on the list of "persuadable oversteer" with throttle input. That will rank it right up there with Germany's finest. And to that .. a big :headbang: is deserved.

Flooring a high powered car in the rain and expecting it to gain traction is like giving a kid too much candy and expecting him not to puke his guts out.

 

That is ALL in the driver.

 

Thanks for the correction guys...I knew that alignment wasn't the term I was looking for.

As for the original topic, I grew up in FL, and came to live in CO with a RWD (and a FWD). I knew lots about hydroplaning (or rather, how not to), but not a ton about snow driving. I just play it safe and give everyone plenty of room. I'm sure part of it will be feeling the characteristics of the car out (how it brakes, etc.).

Just remember...back wheels in back, front wheels in front. RWD just means that the back wheels really want to get out in front. (oversimplifying of course, but when you're in the car, you may not be thinking about anything else...especially when you're sliding)

That's honestly most of what I think about, and I have yet to wreck (though I've slid a bit more than I like), KNOCK ON WOOD!

 

IMHO you guys cant drive. I have never put so much thought into driving a rear wheel car as you guys,and I learned to drive in the ice and snow. Maybe its because Im older and grew up with,and learned to drive with,rear wheel drive. I dunno Like I said Ive only had 2 front wheel drivers. Got my first one in 96. But Ive had ALOT of FAST rwd cars.

 

When you've been driving it for so long, you tend to just KNOW these things..and react accordingly. Its second nature now.

However if your just learning, thats a different story, especially if your used to FWD.

You may not remember that...what was it 60 years ago

 

I always had RWD, and never really had any problems regardless of the weather. I grew up in Ky, where we got some snow, but not tons of it. I used to drive a Ranger 70 miles to and from work, rain, snow, sleet or shine. That's an extremely light rear-end, with RWD. I got around fine, but had a few slips and slides, luckily never hit anything.

My wife decided she wanted an Accord. It's a good dependable car, and is great for it's purposes. (i.e. not to be riced out fart can muffler etc.) Anyway, once I drove it in the snow, I realized FWD is the way to go in the snow. Having all the weight over the drive wheels makes all the difference in the world.

If you start to go into a slide, instead of hitting the clutch to make the rear-end stop pushing itself around, you just shoot it a little gass, and let the front wheels pull you out of the slide.

My Dad did everthing he could to make sure I was comfortable behind the wheel of any type of vehicle. It's all second nature for me now.

All in all, the gas is on the right, the brake on the left, and you use the round thing in front of you to point the car in the direction you want to go.

 

I'm young and drive better than alot of adults out there. It's nothing out of this world. I also bet people are just exxagerating just to maybe prove their points.
And wouldnt the TCS come in handy for the inexperienced on those situations. For the new stang it will though.