I thought FWD was better for not getting stuck then RWD, because it is pulling instead of pushing...

 

I agree; FWD should have bettertraction in sand or the snow thatwe have a lot in Canada. I just wonder why you think RWD would be better.

 

RWD is "better" for control, and steering feel. And subjectively, it's just more fun! Here in Charlotte NC, we rarely get snowy/icy weather, so FWD is just an annoyance (specifically, the torque steer, tire wear, cv joints, etc). But as I mentioned in my first post on this thread, I'm NOT knocking FWD for those of you who live in snowy climes. But here in Charlotte, give me RWD any day! This Mazda is the first FWD veh that we've owned in over a decade, and I hate that aspect of the car! But at my price point, any family car that is within my budget is going to be FWD. Bugger.

David

 

we know RWD is better for control, but the post we were commenting was the person said it was better in the sand. Which to my knowledge FWD has much better tracting in SAND/SNOW!

 

RWD is much better in sand. I go to the sand dunes frequently and you won't go anywhere in sand. (At least the sand I'm thinking of.) I think RWD is better in snow as well because you separate your steering and acceleration inputs (steering on front tires/accel on rear tires.) A tire only has so much traction to offer, the more things you ask that same contact patch to do, the less effective it will be.

 

Good points, all. I'm just observing that FWD totally blows UNLESS you have an actual need for it. Back in the glory days (say "Before Kids") we had an '83 Porsche 911, and one time I had the chance to take it out in some snow. It was great! All of the weight was over the (driven) rear wheels, so traction was abundant. And the fronts were free to do their job: steering. Man that was fun!

David

 

well, the speed6 is AWD....

but im on the same page as you... i wish they'd start making more rwd cars that didnt cost $30,000...

such as the old drift cars (ae86 corolla's, celica's, 240sx's, actually, pretty much all japanese cars back then were rwd, except for hondas and acura's...

 

I like to separate my daily driver and fun vehicles..If you want to go fast on the cheap, go buy an older fox-body (80's) Mustang. For around 5K you can have a very decent car (depending on how heavy you want to go on the engine of course.)

RWD cars are very popular in the Middle East (They like Crown Vic's and Grand Marquis & they drive the snot out of them...we have to install special cooling packages on those vehicles to withstand the abuse.)

 

I'd have bought a stick instead of the automatic. The 6 speedautomatic in the V6 models is troublesomeand has some annoying traits (i.e. downshifting if you even think about speeding up) but it does shift smoothly when it's working right. I didn't opt for the Bose system and don't regret it. The standardsound systemsounds great.

 

I wz referrring to the same points as ssltaure. u let alone the front wheel do steering manouers and u'l hav a better traction with rear wheel. The sands here is swift. And with FWD doing both the jobs ( Steering & accel) will have very little traction. i do a lot of desrt safaris and dune bashing though in a 4X4. oftenv do get chance to get out of the road to avoid the nerve wreckin traffic of dubai and drive thru the sandy roads, all these encounters have proved better with a RWD than a FWD. This is my personal approach. Even i get to here a lot about FWD are better for sand and snow.

As slature said these RWD cars are really what guys look for here. Ofcourse, the cars here comes with middle east specifications unless u import it from US or Europe.