Difference Between Front-wheel drive And Rear wheel drive
Cars with the front wheel drive are called so because they transmit engine torque to the front wheels directly. The front wheel drive mainly is mainly characterized by simplicity of construction and drivability (Especially in the wet). In addition, the use of front wheel drive translates less weight on the vehicle, as it does not requires unreasonable shafts to transmit motion to the wheels.
The main disadvantage of front wheel drive occurs with engine performance and power. This causes the so-called “loss of traction” due to the fact that during acceleration there is a transfer of load on ‘rear axle, decreasing the adherence of front axle. This problem has been solved by electronics, because now we find in almost all cars a traction control system. This electronic system in case of loss of traction, will remove power of the wheels to eliminate slipping in excess.
On the safety front, in case of emergency, the front wheel drive allows easy control of vehicle even by the less experienced driver.
Also, remember that the first car manufacturer to experience a front wheel drive was the Citroen, with version Avant Tracion in thirties, which is now being adopted in most of the models.
The RWD (Rear Wheel Drive) cars transmit the motion of engine through rear axle. This solution is used on cars with sports features and with very powerful engines. It has the advantage of not losing traction acceleration, because the transfer of load to the rear axle increases maintenance of tires. However, the production costs of a RWD vehicle increase and there is increase also in total weight of the car. This is due to the fact that the motion is transferred from engine on the front of the machine to the wheels located at the back using a long and heavy shaft. In addition, there are no major problems from the standpoint of maintenance. The main disadvantage of front wheel drive is the difficulty in gripping the vehicle on roads of poor adhesion. If you accelerate too curve, the vehicle tends to skid in back, forcing the over steer to recover the control of the car. Until the eighties the RWD was greater in the automotive field, and then slowly grew as front and now we have equal share of the both in the market.