How much is RWD worth it?

[Spaceywilly]

Originally Posted by SpeedR

Sorry I disagree completely.

You think a Miata would do as well as a FWD car…………LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

+1, I have driven plenty of 200hp FWD cars and to say "Unless a car is pushing over approximately 300Hp RWD will have zero adavantage over FWD in anything except drifting and maybe autoX which are both low speed competition. It sertainly has no advantage in day to day driving." is totally wrong. Maybe there is no performance advantage but there is definitely a difference in steering feel and handling between FWD and RWD cars. Whether you are able to tell that difference or care is another story.

[S2kphile]

Originally Posted by ichitaka05

Buy FRS/BRZ end of story lol

[86design]

Originally Posted by ichitaka05

Buy FRS/BRZ end of story lol

[fatoni]

keep in mind we are talking about a 100% price increase...rwd, and the frs for that matter, is not worth it. now when you combine the new car factor then you run into a different matter but you would probably be better off buying a used si and a cheap miata to have real fun with. that way you can walk away from an accident and not have worry financially

[shunya]

with all honestly this would be just a personal preference, some prefer RWD some prefer FWD, I went with the FWD for my 1st car and was persuaded to convert over to FWD, so I hopped over from a Rx7 to an ITR, honestly they were both fun, but there are so many things my FWD didn't satisfy me with. I'm too much of a tail happy person, hence getting a FR-S would definitely be my choice.

[Rampage]

Originally Posted by Spaceywilly

+1, I have driven plenty of 200hp FWD cars and to say "Unless a car is pushing over approximately 300Hp RWD will have zero adavantage over FWD in anything except drifting and maybe autoX which are both low speed competition. It sertainly has no advantage in day to day driving." is totally wrong. Maybe there is no performance advantage but there is definitely a difference in steering feel and handling between FWD and RWD cars. Whether you are able to tell that difference or care is another story.

I did not say you could not tell the difference. I said that RWD has no advantage. That means performance advantage. And there are plenty of FWD cars that will hand the Miata its a$$. Over the last 41 years of driving I have owned high performance front and rear wheel drive cars. A lot of them. I stand by my statement. Anyone that thinks you HAVE to have RWD or AWD to enjoy performance driving in low horsepower cars is mis-informed and lacks driving experience.

[mankarn86]

Thanks everyone for their input! Ive collectively seen some patterns in people's comments:

1. Don't buy the FRS over the si just because of RWD:
This makes sense cause I wouldnt consider a gen coupe or a mustang or a camaro and they are all RWD

2. Drive the cars back to back
Will do.

3. Poor comparison...
Yes these are different cars by their means but their endpoint is the same. The si is known to be a lot of fun too. And if I can achieve 90% the fun and save $10k well that's something to consider.

[bestwheelbase]

mankarn86,

You are on the right track.

[Mitch]

Originally Posted by Capt Canuck

I'm sure that 130 or so bhp difference plays into it as well ;-)

It's 40hp, and the M3 weighs 300lbs more than the Civic. In a straight line, the Civic will give the M3 a run for its money, and yet driving the M3 and the Civic back to back just makes the Civic feel like johnboat.

[czar07]

Originally Posted by Capt Canuck

Clever, let me try...

it's a fucking Toyota

Ooh, that was fun

I said Civic, not Honda. The point I was trying to put across was that its nothing "special". Everyone has/or has had a civic. On the other hand the 86 is new and much more "exclusive" than a civic.

[chate]

Originally Posted by czar07

I said Civic, not Honda. The point I was trying to put across was that its nothing "special". Everyone has/or has had a civic. On the other hand the 86 is new and much more "exclusive" than a civic.

yeah for like 6 months

[Bristecom]

Unless you drive it like a grandma, you can definitely tell the difference. I've driven several FWD sports cars and while I would recommend them to some people, I will never buy a FWD car again. My current car is an AWD sports car which I find to be the best all around compramise. But when fun is the priority, RWD is the only option IMO. FWD cars have a heavy front end for poorer handling dynamics and they lose traction and torque steer under hard acceleration (unless they don't have much power).

[SpeedR]

Originally Posted by Rampage

I did not say you could not tell the difference. I said that RWD has no advantage. That means performance advantage. And there are plenty of FWD cars that will hand the Miata its a$$. Over the last 41 years of driving I have owned high performance front and rear wheel drive cars. A lot of them. I stand by my statement. Anyone that thinks you HAVE to have RWD or AWD to enjoy performance driving in low horsepower cars is mis-informed and lacks driving experience.

Sorry to
Not trying to be a ****, I like the MR2 and you’re not some kid who thinks they can drive because they can play NFS. BUT....
You’re very wrong about the performance difference between FWD and RWD. It’s simple physics all things being equal it’s much more difficult to have only one set of wheels doing the steering and the accelerating. By having the front wheels do the steering, and the rear wheels driving the car, you get a better-balanced vehicle. Any driving instructor will tell you this and every book on performance driving will say RWD is better than FWD. You only have a few square inches where the rubber meets the road separating the jobs of steering and the accelerating is much better than having only 2 of your contact pads do all the work while the other two very little.

[fatoni]

Originally Posted by SpeedR

Sorry to
Not trying to be a ****, I like the MR2 and you’re not some kid who thinks they can drive because they can play NFS. BUT....
You’re very wrong about the performance difference between FWD and RWD. It’s simple physics all things being equal it’s much more difficult to have only one set of wheels doing the steering and the accelerating. By having the front wheels do the steering, and the rear wheels driving the car, you get a better-balanced vehicle. Any driving instructor will tell you this and every book on performance driving will say RWD is better than FWD. You only have a few square inches where the rubber meets the road separating the jobs of steering and the accelerating is much better than having only 2 of your contact pads do all the work while the other two very little.

Fwd is lighter and puts more power to the wheels. They have pros and cons. While i'm not saying fwd is better,I am saying that there are times where the performance difference is negligible