Aspera's thoughts on AWD/RWD...

[Matador]

How about you go back and play in the dirt?

[S2KtoFT86]

Originally Posted by MatadorRacing_F1

How about you go back and play in the dirt?

[chriscross_tnt]

Originally Posted by Bochet

Honda makes the best flowing heads in the business. Honda's F20 makes 240HP. The K20 makes 200.

Toyota's 2ZZGE makes 180. That's with all their trick VVTL-i and good heads. Lotus manages to ratchet it up to about 190, that's with 1.8L.

Subaru makes inefficient heads and their boxer engines have never made tons of HP. They're designed for mid range power, and they're quite good at that. They aren't however high revving screamers. The 2.5L H4 in my 2.5RS makes about 160 at the crank, max Tq is @ 4K RPMS. Redline is at 6250.

Subaru's own 2.5L TURBOCHARGED H4 makes 265HP. So they're going to drop .5L, remove the turbo charger and only lose 15HP. Subaru's NA 2.5L H4 makes 170HP. So again, drop .5L and add 80HP.

Neither Toyota or Subaru has engines in their stable that lead me to believe they could develop a 250HP 2.0L H4. Even with VVTL-i, DI, super trick heads...

Yup but only will come on if you have a stalk. With a fog light function. I used a rav4 stalk . I didn't want a auto function since were not wired for it

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[Suberman]

Originally Posted by GT

I have never driven a RWD car in the winter so I was just wondering is it really that hard to drive during that time (I live near Toronto). Since the subie may have AWD, I am still considering the subie.

No it isn't. This Subie BRZ is a dream to drive in winter conditions. And a hoot to boot.

The limits on winter driving come when you need to stop not when you need to get going. All cars have four wheel brakes and only two wheel steering. Winter separates the great handling cars from the poseurs and track monkeys. The BRZ is a great handling car, on good tires.

Awd helps you get going maybe when you shouldn't be trying.

Fwd is easiest to drive in winter. If your fwd car gets stuck consider walking or staying off the roads.

The main trouble with awd is you need a lot of experience to be safe driving in winter using awd. It just so happens that Subaru awd is exceptionally stable and predictable making an awd Subie relatively easy to drive at the limits on snowy public roads. Other systems, particularly the soft reader types found in the Honda CRV or Toyota RAV4 are less forgiving and a whole lot less capable, almost useless in fact. The most recent Ford Escape is much better.

As for rwd being tricky in winter, it isn't. Before the fwd hatchback became ubiquitous we all drove all winter with rwd. And only two snow tires. And they weren't radials!

The BRZ is really easy to drive in winter on four snow tires. Do not drive it on stock summer tires (or any summer tires). The handling is extremely well balanced at low roll angles. The Torsen diff revels in low friction conditions. The engine delivers its low rpm torque very progressively. The electric power steering is very quick, direct and with excellent feel.

In fact, this car is easier to drive in winter with traction control turned off completely than with it on, it's that good.

[Gearhead23]

Originally Posted by aspera

I've read some strange posts on this forum about AWD and RWD. It seems that quite a few of you have never looked under the hood of a Subaru. The engine overhangs the front axle by quite a lot. That's why it has to be short and lightweight. More still have never driven a Subaru. AWD really does work great in certain situations. Corner exit is one of them. Slalom is the other. There is no way my MR2 could turn a corner and accelerate up a wet on-ramp like my WRX.

My WRX can never corner as hard as my MR2 in perfectly dry, smooth conditions, though.

My first suggestion is to overlay pictures of the FT-86 with pictures of other cars and see if there is room in the nose for Subaru's AWD. While your at it; overlay a Celica, Scion, MR2, AE86, 370Z, all sorts of Imprezas, and the beastly heavy American ponycars.

Next, realize that many of you have made a false choice. If given a choice between RWD and AWD...choose BOTH! If we're lucky Subaru has taken the next evolutionary step with their AWD system. That would be a system somewhat like the R34 Skyline's GT-S/GT-R, where the GT-S is RWD and the GT-R is AWD but can bias almost all of the torque to the rear if need be.

The big difference between Subaru's AWD and the GT-R's AWD is a front driveshaft going to a front diff ahead of the engine. If Subaru did this, the engine could move back about a FOOT! All they need to do is run a front driveshaft through a special oilpan to a centered front diff that's ahead of the engine. (Subaru oil pans are deeeep).

My final thought is about the front frame rails on Subarus. They aren't parallel. So if Subaru was going to offer conventional AWD and RWD (with the engine set back to the firewall) they'd have to make two kinds of subframes or they'd have to make the frame rails parallel all they way back to the new RWD mounting points. I just don't think they're offering AWD in any way at this time. My gut feeling is that the car is RWD only.

WRX's Slalom well???

[gutbomb]

You brought a 4 year old thread back for that?