There are many advantages to FWD. A couple of the primary ones:
Better traction in inclement weather (more weight over the driven wheels).
Better space utilization (roomier interiors)
From a pure performance standpoint, there are a few drawbacks. In particular the front-heavy weight distribution limits outright handling and causes additional understeer. While accelerating, weight is tranferred to the rear of a car, so acceleration out of corners is limited in FWD because traction is lost to the driven tires as weight is removed. Additionally, some steering "feel" is lost because the front wheels are doing so much as opposed to a RWD car (like a BMW) in which the steering hardware is only taking care of steering.
Frankly, for a mass-produced street car, these limitations are fairly minimal. Additionally, different cars handle these limitations differently. Remember, John Cooper did some amazing things with the Austin Mini decades ago and beat many larger and more powerful cars with this basic little FWD car. Mazda has also done amazingly well with the handling and steering feel of the Protege. All else equal, however, a RWD car will have some inherent advantages over a FWD car until the weather gets bad.
