quattro AWD vs RWD: which is superior?
02-06-2003, 11:36 AM
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quattro AWD vs RWD: which is superior?
quattro AWD vs RWD: which is superior?
Looking for some authoritative articles, or studies on the issue. I have a friend (BMW owner) who is arguing that quattro, or AWD systems, provide no advantage over RWD cars. He even states that RWD is preferrable. Help me out. Here is a quote from him:
"Under hard acceleration, the weight transfer of a vehicle (including
the driver) is toward the rear of the car. (Likewise, the reverse is
true for braking-thus larger brakes in the front.) This favors
rear-wheel drive cars because the most power is placed where the
tires have the most grip. AWD is not an advantage here because the
front wheels do not grip nearly as well as the rear and the 'little
improvement' is negated by the additional weight. That's physics.
That applies to acceleration. There are dozens of additional aspects,
such as a rear spoiler, front spoiler, oversteer, weight balance, and
so forth that affect all aspects of driving. Bottom line: BMW has it
figured out, Audi has unsuccessfully been playing catch-up for over a
decade. Will they finally catch up? No, not really-they can't without
changing their customer base."
Looking for some authoritative articles, or studies on the issue. I have a friend (BMW owner) who is arguing that quattro, or AWD systems, provide no advantage over RWD cars. He even states that RWD is preferrable. Help me out. Here is a quote from him:
"Under hard acceleration, the weight transfer of a vehicle (including
the driver) is toward the rear of the car. (Likewise, the reverse is
true for braking-thus larger brakes in the front.) This favors
rear-wheel drive cars because the most power is placed where the
tires have the most grip. AWD is not an advantage here because the
front wheels do not grip nearly as well as the rear and the 'little
improvement' is negated by the additional weight. That's physics.
That applies to acceleration. There are dozens of additional aspects,
such as a rear spoiler, front spoiler, oversteer, weight balance, and
so forth that affect all aspects of driving. Bottom line: BMW has it
figured out, Audi has unsuccessfully been playing catch-up for over a
decade. Will they finally catch up? No, not really-they can't without
changing their customer base."
02-06-2003, 11:46 AM
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Your friend seems to make huge generalizations....
they both have a time and a place. Audi seems to have the AWD thing down as they aren't having much trouble with any of thier race cars pulling victories are they? Not that the driver has nothing to do with it either...
02-06-2003, 02:52 PM
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If he's going to
try and dazzle you with his brilliance, make sure he doesn't paraphrase the math. He flinging about generalizations, which have some truth to them, but when taken in their entirety, are sadly lacking in content.
The dynamics of automotive engineering are staggering, examining a single aspect of vehicle handling without consideration of many other factors is futile.
And what, all we do is drive in straight lines?
Best bet, tell him to come-on over and strap into the righthand seat for a spin.
The dynamics of automotive engineering are staggering, examining a single aspect of vehicle handling without consideration of many other factors is futile.
And what, all we do is drive in straight lines?
Best bet, tell him to come-on over and strap into the righthand seat for a spin.
02-06-2003, 07:42 PM
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If he were comparing *front* wheel drive to RWD, he would be correct in all his assumptions, however
AWD is 100% superior in all situations except one: added drive train weight. If you really want to know specifics, search the forum, there are a lot of posts/articles to be found discussing the subject. I could repeat all of it from memory, but I'd rather not.
02-09-2003, 06:56 AM
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Your friend is wrong. Show him this video
<a href="http://users.wpi.edu/~jmodel/movies/galati_launch1.mpg">Click here</a>
I'd love to see him try to explain that. Oh, be sure to remind him that this happened even though the Audi had a huge weight penalty from so many victories.
I'd love to see him try to explain that. Oh, be sure to remind him that this happened even though the Audi had a huge weight penalty from so many victories.
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02-24-2003, 12:52 PM
#8
wow totally wrong.
awd below means quattro.
awd has twice the traction as a rwd car with the same tires and hp. thats simple physics.
thats why a high Hp rwd car will spin out at a launch and a awd car with the same hp will just launch.
awd has twice the traction as a rwd car with the same tires and hp. thats simple physics.
thats why a high Hp rwd car will spin out at a launch and a awd car with the same hp will just launch.