Kenneth_kwok

I drive a 2005 E500 as a family sedan.
I never knew how to, and never tried to "drift"
the car on public roads, "to be tail happy".
Magazines says rear wheel drive allow more fun. (What fun?)
Do any of you do that on public roads?
Can you tell by driving, whether a car is rear wheel drive
or front wheel drive?
From my primitive understanding, when a car accelerate,
the bonnet lifts up a bit, and the rear trunk sinks down a bit.
The sink down of the trunk presses the rear wheel harder on the
road, with better Traction (or friction between tire and road).
And front wheel do steering, rear wheel pushes the car. That's better.
Are those noticeable to you?
I used to, and still think "rear wheel drive" is the "proper" way.
But the rear wheel drive has that tunnel at the centre of the back seat that is not very nice for rear passenger. And I often have five persons including myself in the E500
I got a bit upset when I watch a "lowly" Honda Civic Type R is slightly faster than BMW M3, and Audi ?RS3. Isn't Civic front wheel drive, and supposedly less capable than a rear wheel drive?


http://www.carbuzz.com/news/2015/8/1...Track-7728372/

boardboy330

Drive has everything to do with cornering and movement and nothing to do with power, per se. The "lowly" Honda is a much more capable motor against our MBs when it comes to tuning. They aren't highly tuned as ours are and are far easier to upgrade. Throw a turbo system and NOS, you have a monster. What you won't have is a track car. The torque steer is far too great for front wheel drive to compete with a rear or AWD on the track. In a straight line the Honda will win. That said, any vehicle on a track is more than likely driven by a seasoned racer and theoretically could out do any other car. Your question is about driving on the road. I can tell by driving whether a car is FWD, RWD, or AWD. Actually I can roughly guess what percentage AWD the car is by driving it. It's a feeling. You can sort of feel if the car is being pulled or pushed, not only in a straight line but in to turns. You can also hear FWD cars start chirping in turns where as a RWD doesn't. AWD is different. Usually no chirp, and it doesn't feel pulled. Reason why is AWD is really FWD. THEN the RWD kicks in. Most are 60/40. Some are 70/30. Only one I know of is close to 50/50.

I used to drive a RWD car every day to work. We had really bad snow storms and I would show up when all my co-workers called out. They all drove trucks. I think with the ability to drive it, a RWD should be sufficient for anyone. It sincerely helps with ESP.

I will say, the turbo in the CDI makes driving on snow nearly impossible. Once the turbo kicks in, the tires spin. ESP in that case makes it dangerous when accelerating. The E320 gasser we have...no problem at all.

Just my experience and opinions.

Kenneth_kwok

Thanks. That's very good experience.
Could you expand on "You can sort of feel if the car is being pulled or pushed, not only in a straight line but in to turns."?
Previously I drove a 1984 Toyota Corona 2 litre engine in Australia. ( I think Rear wheel drive) and then 1995 Toyota Camry 3 litre engine in Australia (Front Wheel Drive). I often feel the Camry "is not as solid". I cannot quantify it. And I think my impression was more subjective than anything.
A friend considered Benz CLA. But then he commented that he felt it's not as worthy as it's front wheel drive.

mersum1es

Definitely there is different feeling when driving RWD/FWD cars, and in slippery conditions feeling difference is drastic. In winter time (snow!) I often put ESP off and 'drift' in public roads/cross junctions (usually only at low speed ), W211 ESP off is still keeping some of the system active, but my W210 gives more freedom (I'll spin if I let it to do it...). IMO manual transmission gives much better 'touch' to drift, too bad my both cars are automatic.

Isn't CLA available AWD version where you live?

cmriv

weight distribution is primarily the biggest difference for me. Not to mention over and under steer are complete opposites when comparing fwd to rwd.

boardboy330

It's really hard to explain. I used to do SCCA racing and I can physically feel a difference between FWD and RWD vehicles. FWD feels like it is pulling you up to speed and RWD feels like it is pushing you. Not sure how much better I can explain it honestly.