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Are front engine, rear wheel drive cars more stable in the wet than front engine, front wheel drive?
Are front engine, rear wheel drive cars more stable in the wet than front engine, front wheel drive?
Asked on 10 September 2019 by Peter Broomfield
Answered by
Andrew Brady
Not really. The front tyres of front-wheel-drive cars have to handle acceleration and turning which might mean they reach their limits sooner, but most modern cars are very stable even in poor conditions. When you do reach the limits in a FWD car, it will understeer in a very controlled manner (lifting off the accelerator or winding off the steering will stop this). When the rear wheels of a RWD car lose traction, they'll spin up and this can result in oversteer when the rear end of the car pivots around the front. This is a much more concerning sensation to inexperienced drivers. Like FWD cars, though, modern RWD cars come with traction and stability controls systems which means they're generally very easy to handle in the wet.
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