Front Wheel Drive Vs. Rear Wheel Drive Vs. All Wheel Drive

Many consumers are plagued with the decision between FWD (front-wheel drive, RWD (rear-wheel drive), and AWD (all-wheel drive). Most know there's a difference as far as what wheels are supplied power from the transmission; however they are still unclear of the pros and cons of each individual system. In this article we are going to explain in detail what the advantages and disadvantages of FWD, RWD, and AWD and how they will affect your savings.

Let's begin with FWD since as much as 70% of new vehicles sold today come in this driveline configuration. Front wheel drive is the cheapest option when buying a new car because it is the simplest and less cost expensive for manufacturers to produce; less moving parts equals cheaper production. FWD yields excellent gas mileage because the entire drive-line aside from the motor is much lighter than in all wheel drive and rear wheel drive cars; so being lightweight is a good benefit for fuel economy. The other advantage that front wheel drive has is that it has less distance and fewer moving parts to transfer power to the front wheels. In a FWD vehicle the differential is located inside or directly connected to the transmission and from there the CV (constant velocity) axles supply power directly to the front wheels. With power being supplied almost directly to the front wheels there is a much smaller loss of power when compared to RWD and AWD; the more power that isn't lost through the drive-train means better fuel economy and better acceleration because almost all of the engines energy in a front wheel drive vehicle is making it to the wheels. Front wheel drive vehicles do fairly well on snow ridden and slippery roads because all of the weight from the engine and transmission is sitting over the wheels with power supplied to them, this causes an increase in traction.

There are disadvantages to FWD vehicles. One such disadvantage is that the design performs poorly in straight-line acceleration. If you're looking for a performance car you may want to stay clear of FWD powered vehicles. Front wheel drive cars under heavy acceleration shift all of their weight towards the back of the vehicle; when this happens it normally means a loss of traction and potential wheel hop from this inconsistent transfer of weight. Then there's the poor front drive fun factor; you can't simply slide the rear end of a FWD vehicle around a corner unless you're very talented with the E-brake handle, this can also be very dangerous and is not a wise decision. front wheel drive puts the stress of steering, braking, and accelerating all on the front wheels, this basically means that there is a lot going on in the front making alignments and tire balancing crucial.

Rear wheel drive is just the opposite of front wheel drive. With RWD vehicles performance is greatly increased; now when all the weight shifts to the back of a RWD vehicle under heavy acceleration it's actually dynamically being transferred to the wheels that are supplying power for better traction. Rear wheel drive cars can be a lot of fun on twisty and winding roads, using the throttle one can control the sliding of the rear of the car with proper steering. There's nothing like fishtailing in a rear wheel drive supercharged Ford Cobra. RWD is fairly widely accepted as an American muscle car choice or for use in trucks. Most sports car enthusiasts choose a rear wheel drive engine configuration for performance and handling.

Some disadvantages of RWD are the fact that there is additional weight when compared to FWD, this tends to hinder fuel economy. In combination with the added weight of rear wheel drive there is also a loss of power through the rest of the drive-train, from the heavy RWD driveshaft to transferring power through a ring and pinion to the rear axles. It is unlikely that you will ever see a rear wheel drive vehicle on a list of most fuel efficient cars. Also your choices for fuel efficient motors are fairly limited in a RWD configuration, most manufacturers of rear wheel drive drivelines place either V6, V8, or V10 power plants in RWD vehicles; so that's definitely going to be a problem when it comes to fuel mileage in your rear wheel drive car or truck. RWD cars can also be a handful on wet or snowy roads especially if you're blessed with worn out tires. Loss of traction and loss of control is very common on rear wheel drive cars because of the light weight nature of the rear of the car.

AWD and four wheel drive are probably best suited for muddy off road trails and slippery roads. However, there is a difference between four wheel drive and all wheel drive; four wheel drive has the same driveline components as AWD, but unlike all wheel drive it can be engaged or disengaged to make it RWD via a shifter. AWD use to be exclusive to vehicles that were off road, but all wheel drive has recently found its way into many performance cars such as the Subaru STI and Mitsubishi Lancer Evo. AWD seems to be best suited for performance, for example; an all wheel drive system in the Porsche 911 Turbo allow it to go from zero to 60mph in only 3.6 seconds. The whole time your tires are spinning in a FWD or RWD vehicle the clock is still ticking away, unlike an AWD car.

AWD does have quite a few disadvantages when it comes to your pocket book. With the added weight of an all wheel drive driveline and the loss of power from the engine while transferring energy to the AWD system fuel mileage is greatly affected. Another problem with all wheel drive is the cost of repairs over time, if you do a lot of driving in a warm climate you may want to think twice about AWD it may not be necessary. There are many moving parts in an AWD system that can go bad from all wheel drive center differentials to driveshaft u-joints. The cost of the all wheel drive parts may not be much more expensive when compared to other cars on the road, but the labor involved in repairing an all wheel drive car can become quite costly. Many AWD driveline components must be removed in order to just change a clutch. The more time a technician has to work on your all wheel drive car the more expensive it will be. In the case of all wheel drive automatic transmission failure you will be very surprised to see how much that endeavor will cost you on an all wheel drive car, junkyards and mechanic shops know the limited number of AWD vehicles on the road; so all wheel drive transmissions and differentials pull a premium price. With today's newer FWD vehicles being equipped with traction control it's beginning to question the practicality of all wheel drive in the case of non-performance oriented vehicles. FWD may be the most fuel efficient, but RWD and AWD are the best for towing. Out of the three, rear wheel drive is the most fun to play with; after all Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift was all about rear wheel drive cars and they seemed to have a lot of fun.

Source: http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/techcenter/articles/43847/article.html