MINI Motoring

After a conversation I had with a co-worker, I did a search for front wheel drive skid on Google. I figured this might be a good idea since I have always driven rear wheel drive / 4WD vehicles. This is the first site that came up. The title made me think, "Okay, this is just some person who hates front wheel drive and thinks it should be illegal". This is not the case.

The author simply wants to ensure that all owners of FWD cars know that they react differently than RWD after they lose traction. Knowing the difference before you get in a situation where you have to apply that knowledge can save your skin. I highly suggest reading through the entire article.

FRONT WHEEL DRIVE CAN GET YOU KILLED:

IS YOUR CAR FRONT WHEEL DRIVE?

If it is, there are a few things you should know about driving one of these babies in slippery conditions. You may have been driving it for years without any problem, not knowing that when and if you encounter a condition of front-end skid, or fwd understeer, you life may well depend on knowing what to do, and most importantly, that you don't want to do what was correct with Rear Wheel Drive.

Front Wheel Drive automobiles, although they have been in production in various parts of the world for most of this century, first came to America in any kind of quantity with the advent of the Austin/Morris Mini, first introduced here around 1959. Prior to this time, although there were the odd Tucker, Saab, or Citroen to be found here and there, Front Wheel Drive was a rarity. But what the Minis started caught on, becoming much more popular with the introduction of the Volkswagen Rabbit, and then springing up under the badge of just about every major manufacturer, from Audi to Oldsmobile.

This was a Good Thing for some reasons - the unitized drive line inherent in FWD made production cheaper and easier, for example. And, once you hit the 'edge' of adhesion, such as in snow and ice, FWD makes for a much more controllable car - But You Have To Know How To Drive It!


FRONT WHEEL DRIVE CARS OPERATE COMPLETELY DIFFERENTLY IN SNOW!

This isn't absolutely true; when the traction is good, and/or when the vehicle is being driven slowly enough, there is virtually no apparent difference between controlling a front wheel drive vehicle and doing the same with its Rear Wheel Drive Counterpart. Consequently, there are people all over the planet who have been driving their FWD cars for years in a completely blissful state of pure ignorance that there are fundamental and important differences between FWD and RWD. But all this completely changes on that snowy day when you find yourself just a little fast in a corner that's just a little too slippery - when you get to "the edge."

Yet, for some reason, it doesn't yet seem to be popular knowledge that a front wheel drive vehicle is completely different creature to control once the limits of adhesion are reached. I have asked many drivers of FWD cars if they are aware of the different driving style required in event of a skid, and I don't remember finding a single one who knew what I was talking about. I have, however, encountered a few who won't drive their FWD in winter, saying it just acts "too squirrely" on ice and snow.

Rally drivers, for whom the Mini became the ne plus ultra within a year or two of its introduction, (there were other, less popular fwds, such as Saab and Citroen) found the differences very quickly. Sports car magazines of the time were full of praise for the way FWDs "pulled their way around corners," in slippery conditions, while the best one could do with the rear wheel drives was to "cross them up" and hope for the best - using power to the (rear) drive wheels to control how far outward the rear end slews, and correcting for the inevitable outward skid by steering the front end outward to compensate. A little too much power, of course, and the car would inevitably sail right off the outside of the corner - sideways - or come to a halt after spinning around for a while.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 07, 2005 at Sunday, August 07, 2005. You can skip to the end and leave a response.