RWD - As dangerous as what people make it out to be ?

[happytechie]

I obviously don't push my car enough, I have not had any scary instances yet. I also have a 1 series BM 1.6 coutesy at the mo and have given it the obligatory caining, and it does not break traction at all.

your car is fitted with a bonnet full of electronic gizmos to keep the boot behind the bonnet though. In an MR2 you get the engine, the clutch, the gearbox and the wheels. If you want to reduce power going to the wheels you need to throttle back or dip the clutch.

My boss has a 535i and I'm often amazed at how badly he drives it and just relies on the TC system to keep him on the road.

 

[merlin]

I have not had any scary instances yet.

You're not likely to untill you turn off the grip robots.

 

[4T5]

What a weird thread & attitude to RWD. Being an old git i learned to drive in a RWD motor & so did everyone else. We are All alive and fathered you young'uns. Those that are scared of RWD are wimps and cannot call themselves drivers. Those that think FWD are better are just wrapped in there own bubble and obviously cannot drive as well as they think.
If you lose a FWD car you lose it and usually understeer into the kerb, if you lose a RWD car a little throttle control and opposite lock brings it back.
If FWD was superior to RWD then F1 would be FWD wouldn't it. You cannot beat the balance of RWD by slinging the engine and gearbox over the front steering wheels and expect it to handle as good as a RWD.
RWD is not dangerous only crap drivers are dangerous.

 

[PMKeates]

You're not likely to untill you turn off the grip robots.

Although the "grip robots" (I like it ) do offer a virtually impossible to lose back-end (As long as you don't let off the throttle!), you must admit, the car has a fairly uber amount of grip to start with!

 

[Overlag]

then there is lift-off oversteer..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lift-off_oversteer

i can get this to happen a little in my alfa 156 on roundabouts but couldn't in my previous, more neutral, focus 1.8

lift off oversteer is more of an issue in mid or rear engined cars

or my fiesta....nearly spun it.... just flooring it corrects though. wont work in a RWD car tho LOL

 

[Firestar_3x]

I was told even looking at a RWD car would kill me?

 

[volospian]

However, I'm pretty certain that an inexperienced driver is more likely to get themselves into trouble in a mid-engined turbo charged car than a FWD shopping trolley.

I was going to type a load of gumph about "and a front engined turbo car, low powered "uniquely" balanced RWD like my GT6C" and so on, but then realised I was just being pedantic, so instead I'll just settle for "I agree with Dogbreath"

 

[Dogbreath]

if you lose a RWD car a little throttle control and opposite lock brings it back.

I'm guessing you haven't driven an MR2 Turbo? Without a doubt they are condierably harder to recover from an unexpected slide than a front engined car. The Rev1 gained something of a reputation as a "widow maker".

 

[Mr Footlong]

I had a mk2 MR2 Turbo for about a year after my first scoob. It came from Japan with very low and hard suspension and had been modded for what looked like street racing/track days. It was actually for my housemate but he was too ***** to spend the necessary money on it to bring it back up to spec. It was a very cramped, bone-shaking ride that really could be described as like a go kart and my god did the back end like to come out. Being a hard driver I did this almost daily for fun, after mastering RWDriving. With standard suspension the turbo's are easy enough to break out the back on, with stiffened suspension you end up doing it all over the place tbh. A very scary experience at first when you go past the limit but with practice (not driving recklessly in traffic ideally ) it can actually be extremely rewarding. I carried over my drift driving to my other 2 imprezas and drift safely literally every day, a hell of a lot in fact in fluffy.

Any half up to date RWD car is perfectly safe when driven safely. They vary wildly in my opinion once you into slide territory . As it has already been said, take is as the word of god that you have to pay particular attention when driving in the wet/gunk on the road as you can end up spinaroonied/through someone's living room/kissing the central reservation etc before you know it if you don't know what you are doing.

 

[4T5]

I'm guessing you haven't driven an MR2 Turbo? Without a doubt they are condierably harder to recover from an unexpected slide than a front engined car. The Rev1 gained something of a reputation as a "widow maker".

Because it had the design fault of exagerated Lift off oversteer. I can hold Any car sideways including MR2's. I believe learning to drive a RWD car properly makes you a better driver. In my day drifting and holding drifts was one of the main events of an evening drive. With RWD you learn to expect & cope with a little tail wagging. With FWD the first time you lose it is unexpected and most end up kerbing it.
Driving is easier up to a point in a FWD car where as once a skilled RWD driver you tend to know and get to the limits better.
Also although the MR2 is RWD it's mid engine RWD which i would term as different again from a RWD front engined motor. To me FWD, RWD & Mid engined all need to be driven accordingly.
For the Average driver then FWD is easier to drive and very predictable but for the more experienced drivers out there then RWD has better feel & control. On top of that it's much more fun and involving.

 

[Mr Footlong]

I agree with all of that but just to be picky, in my experience of driving a lot of different cars, high performance 4WD can be just as involving and just as rewarding, subject to setup imo. Despite having zero problems in the skiils department for RWD, I have absolutely no intention of ever going back to either that or FWD. To each their own I guess.