thank you, i understand things a little better. it makes sense that a awd could accelerate better out of corner since the power is distruted. But i wonder if the awd cars inability to pivot around its front wheels as well as a RWD would hurt its track times. I was just curious because my friend says his audi a4 quattro can handle better than my car. So it got me thinking about the whole awd thing.

 

i also posted this on the 996 turbo forum, and i am happy to say we have a more acticve forum. They are probably to busy working or counting their money. But i would still kill (only bugs that hit my windshield) for one those 996 turbos. I got to drive a 996 4s the other day ( at my valet parking job). Being a valet parker, i joyrided it, and HOLY CRAP was that car fast ( all the stereo type of valet car parkers are true). I have never had a better driving experience then in that car. Everything about it was perfect: shifts, acceleration, steering. I can only imagine what the Turbo, gt2, gt3, and GT feel like. I can only say, those two minutes of high speed bliss, are the reason i love porsche.

 

I hear and see these challenges all the time. My car is better then your car. Ok under what conditions !!!!!!!!!!! There are many variables . Track or off road, cone or oval racing , dry or wet pavement, tar or gravel surface , and on and on . Cart blanche statements like these are closer to bragging than the truth.

 

how about this: a rwd car is more efficient in getting the power to the road. it losses less power in the drivetrain than compared to an awd car.

 

Lutzam:

It's hard to generalize. Even with your hypothetical "same car, same weight" RWD vs. AWD scenario, you'd have to also add "same driver" and even then you'd probably find that on some tracks with lots of hairpin turns the RWD car would do faster times. Front engine vs rear engine, AWD vs. RWD, etc. -- they all have design trade-offs and that's one of the things that makes auto's and motorsports fun and interesting.

Your friend with the A4 probably doesn't really understand what "handling" means. His car is nose-heavy and will understeer, but that is generally considered "safer" for most drivers -- but it doesn't mean it handles "better." Your 944 is very neutral in handling, which most performance drivers would certainly consider "better" handling. Your car is also lighter. Emilysgranny is right; your friend's claim that his car handles "better" is nothing more than idle, unjustified boasting.

 

Yah, i didn't take things too seriously when my friend told me his car is handles better than mine. I realize that is is just the timeless battle of "my toy is bigger than your toy". I more just wanted to learn more about AWD. Thanks for all the knowledge.

 

AWD is an absolutely great thing on the street in all conditions simply for the consistency it gives in an inconsistent environment. If I needed a daily driver, I'd prefer it be AWD.

On the track, it can also be an advantage but you need to get quite high into the power/weight figures. Pick two identical 600hp cars with the same driver and I would bet on the AWD car. As others have said, Audi proved that very well in IMSA.

But below a certain power/weight threshold and the additional weight and drivetrain drag will negate some of those benefits. This is an extreme example but a 90hp civic will definitely be slower with AWD than it would be with plain old FWD.

I'll guess that threshold is somewhere around 10lbs/hp. I notice I'm pretty evenly matched with well driven heavily modded S4's at the track.

BTW, an AWD car can be made to pivot around its front wheels just as much as a rear wheel drive car. The reason most have difficulty is due to suspension setup, weight distribution, etc.

A 350rwhp AWD 951 would be a monster at the track, on the street, in a rally...

Well, I guess that's really just a nissan skyline...

-H

 

Oh boy, here we go again. This topic was beat to death in this thread, go to page 5:

https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...&highlight=awd

Fishey, the question was for the street.

I also need to find the article where Mario Andretti was saying how much faster RWD was over awd. They used identical Diablo's, except one was AWD the other RWD. Mario ate his words when he posted faster lap times with the AWD model. This was at least 4-5 years ago in Road and Track.

Thanks to Audi (and costs) AWD has been banned by most forms of racing, Especially Trans-Am.

For the street AWD is far superior, in my opinion. Why? No street is perfect, at least not around here. You cannot pull into the pits on a road trip and change tires when conditions change.

 

If his suspension is stock (probably even if it isn't) then you don't have to worry about what he has to say. I've have/had both cars and I can tell you that the 944 has better 'handling' than the A4.


Just tell him he is gay...that will shut him up.

 

And stop joyriding other peoples cars.

http://216.239.37.104/search?q=cache...hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Don't know what happened to the original site, this is just a google cache

 

I must be the odd man out, I personally HATE AWD. The feedback received, to me, is simply awful and the understeer (yeah, I know it can be dialed out, some.) is not worth the benefit. If I lived somewhere where snow was a given I might be inclined to put up with it but for every day here, I cant stand it. Without a need for it (snow, ice, etc) I just see it as a another option, one that I can live without.
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Yeah, I probably wouldn't care as much if we didn't have snow here, but since we do, I LOVE IT.

I would have a real hard time finding another car that I liked that was RWD.

I originally thought about getting a FWD car but I can't stand torqe steer.

Its AWD or RWD for me.

 

I just wanted to apologize about the whole joyriding thing. Reading that article made me feel really guilty. I guess i can only say it is a really hard when you are at the wheel of a porsche 996 4s, a company and car that you obsess over and dream about, with no one around, to not give the thing a little gas (any car lover would have a hard time not doing so). I guess i am not a big enough man yet to not succomb to that temptation . I will try better next time. I only hope i won't be thrown into the pile of disrepectful morons suchs as amaf and craig944. Sorry!!

 

HAHAHAHAHA, that is the funniest thing i have heard all day!!!! I will be sure to tell him.

 

I wouldn't put you in that category.

But if you can't afford to break it, take it easy.

There was also a story of a guy at a Ford dealer who did something similar with an SVT Mustang type thing. 130+mph on the highway.

Not saying don't appreciate it, or maybe give it a little goose, but take it easy.