Question for people who have drove a rear wheel drive car?

Question

hi.i am thinking of buying a bmw e30 as i really like them the only thing is there rear wheel drive iv only drove front wheel drive this will be my first on road car as i be a new driver soon i was wondering do they feel harder to drive or more unsucure do they feel differnt to front wheel drive?would u nott recomend me having rear wheel drive car for first car on road?any advice would be freat thanks

Answer 1

b m w have all the safty features to control the power of the car  in cornering  so it won t drift the tail ,,,,   unless you want it too...    in normal driving it s  the same as fwd..    i wish i could afford one....   just watch you speed in it as you can cruise at 120..  and think your within the limit    ..   very hard to stick at 30 in the towns..

Answer 2

i always had rear wheel drive, this is my first front wheel drive. they drive just the same as front wheel drive, except front wheel drive the front wheels pulls the car and the rear wheel drive, the back wheels does the pulling. front wheel drives do better in snow.

Answer 3

Front wheel drive.............through the fence face first

Rear wheel drive..............though the fence rear first

Answer 4

I'm another who grew up with rear-wheel drive, still drives RWD vehicles, and I much prefer the overall handling compared to front-wheel drive, even in ice or snow.

Rear-wheel drive was the norm for a very long time.  You will soon feel at home with it -- No more different than getting the feel of any new car you've never driven before.

Answer 5

you're just gonna feel like somebody is pushing your car from the back.

Answer 6

I tried to do a 0 to 60 time in a Vauxhall Senator 24 v when they first came out in the late 1980,s big mistake, the back end swung around almost 90 degrees. Then, for my sins, I was provided with the much lower powered Carlton 2.0 CD automatic,  never enough power to do what happened in the Senator, until............ I had to drive back from Scotland  in December 1993 during a snow storm. The worst experience of my life, talk about white knuckles, the back of the car was tail happy , every bend or curve was a nightmare, never again. I will never never never  have a purely rear wheel drive car.

Answer 7

A rear wheel drive car is just as stable as a front wheel drive one and  both are easy to drive.

Answer 8

BMW makes really nice cars, you shouldn't have any problems driving it.

The reason, most manufactures went to front wheel drive was not for safety.

The reason was space in the car.  Cars with rear wheel drive have a tunnel down the middle of the car, you will see a bump on the floor in the back seat.  Making a front wheel drive car, gives more leg room in the back seat.

Another reason they made front wheel drive, is so there is more direct energy and torque coming from the engine and transmission.  This allowed cars to have smaller engines and still perform well.

Rear wheel drive cars had larger engines, because they have to turn a much longer drive shaft and a lot of the energy and torque is wasted, before it gets to the wheels.

Rear wheel and Front Wheel drive do handle differently on snow and ice.  Front Wheel drive is better and safer in that regard.

Answer 9

Ok. Lets take this from a 15 yr olds perspective... Which is my perspective..

RWD cars are the same as front wheel drive cars...

when driving RWD its important to use your head. Never accelerate hard when turning from a redlight or anything in that category. you will just spin out.

The traction is horrible in RWD since no weight is being shifted on the drive wheels. The reason Front Wheel Drive is so good in snow because the weight of the vehicle goes back to provide traction. So be very careful in rain.

Pretty much you will be fine if you can use your head and not drive crazy. Take it easy in the rain please.

I like RWD because it feels faster since its not really carrying to weight of the vehicle on take off.

those BMW are not that powerful anyways so it shouldnt be a problem.

If you were driving a 92 Lexus SC 265 HP that would be a different story.

or a 75  Chevy Silverado with 5.7 V8

Just be safe and take care... you only have one life live it up and live it safely. Wear your seatbelt dont go speeding to much and dont drive while under the influence of anything

Answer 10

the only thing you,ll really notice different on it is the way it pulls and it will steer a lot easier than a front wheel drive  car does because it wont have no torque on it,that's the main difference in the feel of it,as for power wise you will feel a push sort of instead of a pull feeling to it,other wise they drive really good,they don't handle as good on a wet road or in bad weather conditions,but that can be over come with good tires,good luck with it.

Answer 11

They step out from the back but are easier to control in a spin. And a lot more fun to play with

Answer 12

front and rear drives do feel different I prefer rear drive both are fairly safe in bad weather conditions if you are. I strongly suggest that you get out and drive as many different cars and trucks as you can like test driving while car shopping  or driving your buddies cars before buying your first car.

Answer 13

Had both rear and front. Rear evens the tyre wear out front eats tyres. All depends on what you do with the gas pedal.

Now i'm on 4 x 4 for the second time and it just goes where you point it regardless of power input.

The down side is if used to it's limit it eats all four tyres at the same rate.

U pays yer money and takes yer choice

Answer 14

Rear wheel drive feels different, but you'll soon get used to it, no torque steer, and they handle better than front wheel drive because the weight is distributed better.  you can break the tires loose easier because of less weight on snowy/icy/wet roads.

Answer 15

Rear wheel drive cars have worked since cars were invented.  With too much power applied, you can spin out, which is different than the understeer created on front wheel drive.  Knock yourself out, it's a good car.

Answer 16

I was brought up with RWD cars some 60 years ago.

They are much easier to control than FWD as changing the power to the wheels controls the behaviour in a corner nicely.

If you drive a FWD car into a corner at the limit you must apply just enough power to the wheels so that they neither drive nor drag. Changing the power input in a corner does horrendous things which result in the car going straight on. This effect is not apparent in a RWD.

RWD gives better cornering at the limit and reducing the power in a corner drives the car into the corner not into the ditch.

You could not easily set up a 4 wheel drift with a FWD.

Although I have a FWD car now I would prefer a RWD any day.

RoyS.

Answer 17

My first car was a GTO which is RWD and has tons of torque compared to most cars...as long as you don't do stupid c**p around people, you will be fine.  RWD is definitely more fun and handles better IMO. Hope that helps

Answer 18

Rear wheel everytime. Less or no understeer. Far easy to control, better grip.

Answer 19

I have driven many rear wheel drive cars in the past. One was a Ford Mustang. Which was horrible in snow with rear wheel drive. Fish tailed all the time. Since I traded in my Mustang for a front wheel drive I never had the problem of fish tailing or climbing a hill on a snowy day. I don't think I will ever buy a rear wheel drive car again just for that reason. That's if you live in a snow climate.

Answer 20

Hmmm... a lot of varied & interesting answers.

I would solidly recommend a BMW, the fact it's rear wheel drive is a bonus. BMWs are built to a certain quality, not down to a price. Front wheel drive cars became popular with manufacturers in order to give lower, flatter floors (You don't have a transmission tunnel running the length of the car) and for ease of manufacture (front wheel drive components are mounted on a 'subframe' & can be quickly bolted into the car to speed up manufacture.

Your BMW e30 is an old car, so won't have ABS, traction control, etc., that many modern cars have - but then a front wheel drive car of the same age wouldn't either.

In a front wheel drive car, the front wheels are doing the steering, braking & delivering power - the back end is just being dragged around as dead weight - this means that at the limit, your front end is the only thing that you have control over - go into a corner too fast & unless you have enough power to 'pull' yourself round, you're going off the road!

With a rear wheel drive, sure - you can apply too much power & the back end will swing out, but ease off & it'll come back into line - you jut need the front wheels pointing the right way.

As for snow & ice, well no car's great in this - front wheel drives tend to be better from the outset as they have the weight of their engine & transmission over the driven wheels - when I was young & driving rear wheel drive Volvos & Fords, we'd just switch to snow tyres & weight up the boot (trunk) with sandbags or rocks to get traction, you can't add more weight to the front wheel drive cars without having someone sit on the front of the car!

What I'm getting at, is that your car isn't a monster: It won't spin you around as soon as you move off from a junction in the wet unless you're VERY heavy footed & have badly worn tyres - In this situation, a front wheel drive will go in a straight line due to torque steer anyway.

Just buy your car, learn to drive it & enjoy it.

I did over 70 miles door to door in my E46 320d last week on wet roads in less than an hour - never a scary moment, the traction control never cut in, felt as safe as anything.

ps You never see a front wheel drive race car, do you?

Answer 21

they are basically the same as long as you control the acceleration...especially in snow and rain

Answer 22

Hey Love, your better going for a front wheel drive because if you get caught in Icy/snowy weather the front wheel drive will pull you along to get you out of the patchy Ice or Snow.

I really don't think there is a rear wheel drive I think there is only a front wheel drive.

Hope this helps love and have a good week.

Answer 23

I had a rear wheel drive, and in normal conditions felt the same as the front wheel drive i drive now....but if it snows where you are, rear wheel drive is not the greatest. Because it snows alot here in the winter, and i experienced 2 winters with  rear wheel drive, i wont get one again.

Answer 24

rear wheel drive cars are good in the wet as you can go sideways round corners and roundabouts.i find they handle a lot better in the wet but it depends how you drive them