lol this might sound stupid but i haven't decided on what car to get yet, im confused between an EK coupe and a bmw 320ci, the bmw is rear wheel drive, so it's perfect for drifting, but the civic is FWD, and i was wondering if u can drift in fwd:S, and if u can i would really like to know how.
Thx

 

you can drift a FWD just fine but it may be a bit more finicky on setup coming into the corner... for example, RWD with power you can hit the corner turn in and just fricken gun it and your rear end will swing... FWD requires a bit more skill, if you're going fast enough you can just rack hard into it (you may need to let up on the throttle a touch) and get it to slide or you can do a swedish flick and get it to come around... (turn opposite direction of the corner quickly then back into it, like a fast S movement...) The issue comes with FWD moreso than RWD if you don't have a proper setup to allow oversteer (I believe that's the right term..) then you could have problems getting the rear end to break loose... So long and short, yes you can drift just fine with a FWD car and you have a small advantage coming out of the corner because you can nail the throttle and pull out of the corner under full acceleration where a RWD will have to let up a bit...

 

you won't be drifting.. you would be "*** draging" as we here like to call it

 

A few key points that this particular site points out...

Drifting: "Exceeding your tires' limits of adhesion, exhibiting a lateral slip, resulting in an oversteered condition."

"The most common reason why people don't drift FWD vehicles is because it is much harder to do than a RWD and RWD vehicles are more common and affordable in Japan (therefore setting the example by which the US follows)."

http://www.driftsession.com/faqs/faqs.htm

 

You say fwd 'drifting' requires more skill. Bollocks. It may be easier to get the back moving on a rwd car, but just try keeping it there. It is harder to drift a fwd car, but no amount of skill will ever make it drift as well as a rwd car. And i think in this day and age drifting really refers to rwd cars, breaking adhesion with power rather than lateral force is the accepted definition. Anything else is really just sliding.

 

So it's drifting if you break the rear end loose from raw power but it's sliding if you just drive the car into it? So basically if I turn a corner in a rwd car on gravel and punch the throttle and my rear end brakes loose I'm drifting but if I turn the corner in a fwd car and my rear end brakes loose I'm sliding? so according to that defenition you CAN NOT drift a fwd car? I'm seriously not trying to be argumentative I am just curious because I know very little about actuall drift racing... I know WRC and Auto X etc...

 

in a sence you can drift a FWD car... but why?? you would have to hall on the ebrake to make the backend kickout to"drift", but it wouldn't be doing other than sliding, with a RWD car you are at least having teh tires spinning therefore propelling to your intended destination, where as the FWD car is just pulling it *** arround not being effient at all for racing.

 

its not "really" drifting in a FWD, because you cant keep it going. Its going to straighten out as soon as you let off the hand brake, or once your sideways momentum runs out. In a RWD or AWD, you have power going to the rear wheels too, so you can use your control over the car to keep pushing the rear end out. But its all just formalities. You can argue this one all day, it comes down to interpretations, and so some will say you can drift a FWD, and some will say its not drifting.

 

True. RWD drifting takes tons more skill and finesse than hanging on the e-brake at 50 mph (which, as sacs pointed out, isn't actually drifting since you can't keep going that way).

True drifting (RWD) isn't about mashing the gas until your tires come loose. It's actually the opposite. You get up speed, downshift, and dump the clutch so the wheels actually begin dragging as opposed to spinning. Once you're sideways and through to full opposite lock, you can get on the gas to keep it going. It takes a lot more skill than one might think; much more than just hanging the *** out under power or with the e-brake. And technically, your description is correct (keep that word in mind; technically). You cannot truly DRIFT a FWD car. Physics will just give you a big fat middle finger. You can slide.