I had a ton of blog topics to talk about but I was going to continue my topic of value but I got a little side tracked.

I haven't written for the blog yet but I'm going to do a segment called "$27k goes all the way?" Over the weekend and I wanted to post the idea here and get some reactions.

I was looking at the 320i when I started value shopping. Decided I could get a base Mustang with track pack for the same price and asked the question of why spend the money on the BMW if I can get such a sports coupe?

You can read it on my blog but I brought in the Focus ST into the picture as turbo 4 family hauler and even the FR-S. Now this is where the split is. This is my new discussion I had with my wife. She brought up good points that will be part of another post related.

So there I was looking at a Focus ST and a FR-S and thought "what about the WRX?" Now things are interesting. I'm a fan of NA motors and RWD. But I'm loving turbos these days. Now we have good power FWD and ok power RWD and does it equate to good power AWD being the best of both worlds or the ultimate compromise??

Let's hear it!

 

I own a track pack Mustang as my summer vehicle. But for winter driving and every day driving, we have an AWD Taurus SHO and a Fusion AWD. We purchased the Taurus several years ago to replace a Charger that we were unhappy with. I have never liked driving a FWD car. I don't like the pushing behavior and vehicle dynamics. We tried the SHO being that we live in Wisconsin and need a dependable winter vehicle. The SHO is a blast to drive and we really enjoy it. I replaced my Avalanche with an AWD Fusion this year. It still pushes a little, but the car is very pleasant to drive and handles excellently. We just finished a 3000 mile trip to visit my daughter and the Fusion performed beyond my expectations.

 

RWD- yes
AWD- yes
FWD- no

 

Focus ST >

 

I'm not saying you're wrong but it seems like a bold claim. I will be attending the EcoBoost challenge in Sept. so I will have a better understanding then. But if the ST does everything it's said to do then it might just be as amazing as I think.

I may have to go over to Subaru and just have a fun day of it before September.

 

WRX FTW! Honestly I would take a Wrx(11+) anyday.

 

I've had two FWD cars and they were fun... but never something I looked for.
Performance wise, from now on, I'll only buy RWD and AWD.

I wouldn't call AWD a compromise because it's most definitely not picking the best of both worlds. It's less fuel efficient & uses many more components making it nothing close to the intent of FWD. It's heavier and more complicated than the more traditional RWD.

I would say it really is just different.
It's great for what it does, hold traction.

I mean, cars with it, GT-R, Lamborghini, Porsche, WRX, Forester, Ford Escape, Fusion... anything.

I wouldn't say it's the cream of the crop either...
If I remember right, 911 Turbo S - AWD... yet, GT2 - RWD?
So is it faster, maybe. Is it better, maybe. Is it Ideal, maybe.

It seems to be just another personal preference to me.

 

^ i agree.. it is a personal preference...i daily drive AWD, it is so ease to drive n maneuver in a crowded city...but when it comes to fun time.. RWD is it.. adds joy to drive.

 

I like Rear wheel personally. I had some from wheel drives while I took a Hiatus from Mustangs for awhile (yes, I missed them). I had to conserve money for various reasons, and the <Mustangs I had required a lot of care as they were worth a fair bit of Money, and Mustangs as we know like gas...a lot! hehe

I first got a all wheel steering Prelude SI, and I hated that car. It had design flaws in that steering system, and Honda discontinued them, and to this day I would swear and attest it was because they knew about them. Unfortunately at that time I could not press that issue and didn't have the money to fight them on it. I got rid of that car at a huge loss, and huge loss in repair bills. It ended up costing me more than the Mustangs I was driving and at least those had justified expense to them...the all wheel steer Honda? Was just a nightmare.

Since then I have become skeptical of anything going on all four wheels including drive, steering and the like because it always seems like either the front or the back somewhere has weak or badly designed components. There always seems to be a weak link (no pun intended) and what they always say about engineering is that the weakest link is the one that fails first.

Saying what I just wrote in the paragraph above may not apply to all, but it sure did on anything I could've afforded at the time. I dang sure wouldn't be driving a Lambo around even if I could have afforded it (which I couldn't) around here they way these nuts drive in my state. It's bad enough that I cringe every time I approach an intersection in my Bullitt when I drive it.

I like the rear wheel, because that's what I know and I know I can work on it if I have to, and know it's pretty much Bullet proof as long as the one behind the wheel doesn't jack it all up, but I am in control of that so that isn't happening.

That yellow Prelude I had pretty much did me in as far as looking at all wheel anything. Maybe things have changed, but for myself I'm not gonna risk it again.

 

Another thing,
Other than more mechanical moving parts that increase odds of a failure, the only sports car draw back to AWD, no easy burn-outs. :/

Although! I will say, there's almost nothing cooler looking than an AWD high hp car squat on all four wheels when it launches rather than an RWD attempting to lift.
Again, personal preferences all over this one.

 

I would rather have an AWD mustang any day of week. Power mods are one of the first thing people do to there mustangs and want more HP and torque. You can have all the power but if one can't put the power down on the pavement then its useless. If all one is doing is spinning tires when flooring it, you ain't moving forward very fast. You have a 600 HP AWD mustang. Those tires are gonna stick.