AWD or FWD

[table5511]

I have seen alot of people buy a fully loaded gt and negotiate it to 32k.

 

[travislipe]

Well I wanted a AWD, but we also wanted black & the rear ent. so the only one they had with them options was a FWD. I thought about it & then said ah lets do it. So we got the FWD, I noticed a difference in acceleration, the FWD seemd to have more get up and go! Also through the snow here in the winter I didn't have one problem with the FWD. I did use the manual shift mode often to take off in 2nd gear to keep from spinning, but I am happy with it!!

 

[djc6]

I noticed a difference in acceleration, the FWD seemd to have more get up and go!

I noticed the same thing when trying out the CX-9 a year ago, I thought it was my imagination. When I was researching the CX-9 1.5 years ago I saw this thread about the CX-7 FWD being faster than the AWD version, wasn't sure if it applied to the CX-9 as well.

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123674784-AWD-vs.-FWD-Performance...

 

[ceric]

FWD is in general faster than AWD due to less weight (about 200lbs lighter).
Unless you have more than 400hp, AWD does not help you put more power to the ground.

 

[Speed3Boris]

I considered it here in Maryland where I don't really need AWD - but the $1300 or so price diff I'll get back on resale, so the real cost is extra fuel and that's worth going up north in the snow at times.

 

[Al's Chop Shop]

Plus, if you are going around a corner, and let's say you lose control and the back end swings out, with awd, the rear wheels being driven will only cause further back end swing than fwd. Now supposedly the computer can sense which wheel of the 4 is slipping and applies power to the wheel with less slip. I don't see any advantage to awd, unless you live in a hilly area in the north half of the u.s. and the roads become snow covered more than several times a winter. Keep in mind, when trying to slow down, all wheel drive does nothing for you, you rely only on your brakes, so the only thing awd is for is acceleration on slippery surfaces so your tires dont spin. But think about it, with front wheel drive, if your tires spin, you do NOT lose control, because front tires spinning do not cause a rear end to slide sideways.... rear tires losing traction cause a rear end to slide sideways, so I want nothing to do with applying any power to rear wheels at any time.

you've obviously given this a lot of thought, but i'd have to disagree with you here. FWD does not have superior in traction (safer) in the corners. its the simple fact of weight transfer. when you accelerate mid-turn (lets use a right hand turn, for example) your weight is transfered to the drivers side tires, front and rear fairly equally (assuming you aren't on the brakes, which is a bad situation anyway). upon acceleration the weight is transfered to both rear tires which is why you can put a vehicle right up to its traction breaking point but still gain more speed around the curve and keep it from losing traction. during this acceleration the FWD car will have a tendency to break traction in the front tires, usually the front right (i do this all the time in my FWD cx9). in a RWD vehicle you do not loose traction in the drive tires because the weight transfer is directly on the tires you are powering.

lets also look at any race car. the majority of race cars today are RWD. next would be AWD. not many are FWD unless they are in a specific class based on the vehicle's original design. why is that?

personally, i'd rather control an over-steer situation over an under-steer situation any day of the week. granted, the majority of drivers are not trained in any way in defensive driving or any type of 'control' driving where you need to recover a vehicle that has lost traction, and this is why modern manufacturers keep their cars tuned to under-steer when 'neutral' is generally considered by professional drivers to be the best place for maximum traction. most vehicles being produced are FWD which has a general characteristic to under-steer, but they are easily tuned to neutral. i've spent enough time in evasive action simulators and skid cars to know how to control both. and also having had ample time in the drivers seat of an open wheel race car, i'm pretty certain AWD will beat FWD around a track any day of the week. when you think about why AWD would be better, you will understand that AWD will be safer.

as for the type of AWD system these vehicles have, it isn't as drastic as you make it seem. the rear tires do not slip to a noticeable amount before a large bias of power is applied to it creating more loss of traction, as if it would burnout the rear tires during engagement. all tires are always rotating at the same speed during its engagement, and the transfer case cannot change that when you drive down the road. AWD 'activating' cannot cause you to lose control because it is just not as drastic as it seems. its seamless. think about an open differential. when it has traction power is split equally to each tire. once one looses traction, power is diverted to the spinning tire. it doesn't 'bang' into full power of the slipping wheel, its seamless, just as it is as you regain traction and power is then split back to 50/50. while the t-case is doing the opposite in this AWD case, the principal is the same even though you're adding viscous couplers and such.

Al

 

[nuru]

Also I find that going up slushy surfaced hills, icy surfaces on hills, and trying to get into my neighborhood's hill in the snow, the FWD and RWD cars need a huge running start to try to get up to the hill, most do not make it - the heavier trucks seem to have a better chance but a bunch of them and their two-wheel drive brethren end up parked down the hill, while those of us with AWD, 4WD, have an easy time getting up the hill. That made the difference for me when it came time to choose.

 

[ceric]

Well, it does not snow where I live.
However, I can feel my AWD working when it rains and the pavements are wet.
(yes, I accelerate a bit hard offline - I'll admit that)
So, my AWD is worthy of the price tag not only when I go skiing, but also when it rains.
TCS/VSC will take care of yaw/traction control problem. Fish-tailing is nearly impossible
unless you really try hard to prove it.

True about extra cost to maintain and higher repair cost down the road.
To each, one's own.

 

[9kfever]

What he said.. I live in the high desert of CA, I opted for FWD. It never rains, snow is an impossibility.. One less thing to break (I tend to keep cars a long time), plus it gets a little better gas milage. I didn't even see many AWD models on the lots around here - all FWD. Total opposite when I was helping my sister shop for a Mazda back in Ohio - all AWD CX-9's and no FWD models on the lots.

Couple times I went to Big Bear, chains were mandatory for AWD vehicles anyways. They were only optional for 4WD + Snow Tires those days.

AWD is great for accelerating in the snow, but it doesn't do anything to improve braking performance or cornering. Thats where traction control comes in, and the FWD model has it too. I'm not even sure if I still lived back in Ohio if I'd opt for AWD - FWD with snow tires always served me well, especially since the snow tires help with braking and cornering and AWD does not.

I know this is an old post but I wanted to correct some incorrect information. I have ran through CHP and CalTrans checkpoints in Big Bear, Wrightwood, and Mammoth when "chains required, 4wd with
snow tires OK" and have never been required to put chains on with an AWD with M+S tires. This includes last new years when Mammoth received 18 feet in two weeks.

Hence the reason I bought an AWD in so cal. AWD=4WD and M/S =Snow Tires in DOT/CHP's eyes.

http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/traffops/trucks/ops-guide/chains.html



No chains FTW, although you must still drive cautiously!

 

[ceric]

On highway 80 near Sierra, usually CHP either closes it down or require chains on 2WD and let AWD pass (w/ all season).
It rarely happens that they require AWD to put on chains. I guess CHP is very conservative these days.
That is also why I have AWD. I am sick of putting on chains on minivans I used to own when outside is
cold, muddy and wet.

 

[table5511]

lets also look at any race car. the majority of race cars today are RWD. next would be AWD. not many are FWD unless they are in a specific class based on the vehicle's original design. why is that?

personally, i'd rather control an over-steer situation over an under-steer situation any day of the week. granted, the majority of drivers are not trained in any way in defensive driving or any type of 'control' driving where you need to recover a vehicle that has lost traction
l

Oversteer is not too hard to recover from if you have decent tires with good traction on adverse roads. Driving in snow with summer tires or bald tires in an oversteer situation and you are S.O.L.

In rural areas, you hear about alot of car accidents where the driver "lost control." This is usually due to the combination of speed and corners of the road. (factors include bald tires, alcohol, crappy car, etc etc). What I'm getting at is that those accidents are basically a result of an "out-of-control" situation with uncontrollable oversteer.

I agree, the majority of drivers, at least in Kentucky, can't even slow down for a stop sign, let alone have the ability to "slip" their vehicle into a coordinated slide, or recover their vehicle. It is because of this that all the soccer moms and dads driving large suv's with "AWD" or "4WD" are just DANGEROUS on the roadways. They assume they can travel faster on adverse roads, and that their 4wd/awd will help them stop. It is not the having of the AWD/4WD, it is the idiot mode that they select when they drive.