What's the difference between Front wheel and rear wheel drive? And I have an '05 Civic Ex which is it?

 

ok front wheel drive is where the transmission in connected to the front axel which makes your front tires power the car. Rear wheel drive is where there is a drive shaft connected to your transmission and rear axel that makes your rear wheels power the car. your car is front wheel drive. you find front wheel drive in most small economy cars and some vans. in trucks and larger sedans and vans are rear wheel drive. you can find somewhere a guy made a civic into a rear wheel drive.

 

thx so does this make a difference in the handeling or power of the car?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front-wheel_drive

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rear-wheel_drive

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-wheel_drive

 

front wheel drive does have it's deficiencies in that the same wheels to power your car are the same ones that have to turn them as well. this leads to understeer, which is when the vehicles front end will want to keep going straight around a corner, especially with an application of the throttle.

Rear wheel drive is considered the better performance 2WD suspension because the front wheels only steer the vehicle so you get better road feel through the steering wheel. but the one thing a RWD vehicle experiences as a problem is oversteer, when the rear end of the vehicle will want to swing out of line during hard corners, slippery conditions or when you give it some gas.

That is a very basic explanation, but the reasons are there. both drive configurations will experience under and oversteer but what is the predominant condition is dependant on the drive wheels. This doesn't mean that a FWD vehicle can't handle well, Car and Driver considered the mid 90's Honda Preludes the best handling car you can get for under 30k so it's dependant on the company and the R&D they put into the suspension and chassis.

Honda Civic's are one of the best handling cheap cars you can get and i feel very comfortable with the chassis and suspension. I am a former RWD V8 car and truck guy so it's greart to have great handling in such a small car. So take a breath, go for a drive and appreciate the great handling in the small package Honda has provided for you.

 

dito... i like how it does in the winter...... pulls good thru the snow... hell my old truck would just sit thier and spin the back tires in the snow sucked!

front wheel drive is great for in the winter in any snow... pulls thru it and steers thru it as well.

 

fwd pulls the car,rwd pushes,some hondas are awd i think its 10% power in the rear and 90 in the front this is found in the 80's civic wagons and i think some accords not to sure tho and alot of the suv hondas are awd

rwd

i think rwd gets over steer and fwd gets under steer

 

The only bad thing about a FWD in winter is severe understeer without the flexibility of throttle oversteer. in my 4WD truck it would understeer a bit but i could always give it some gas and rotate the rear in the direction i want it to. in a FWD vehicle you could use the handbrake but it's not for the novice or faint of heart. in any case one wrong movement or lack of correting skills will hurt or kill you and others so drive safe and wear a seatbelt in any case, car, weather, season. sorry to get all preachy but i'm pretty sure everyone has been affected by an accident.

 

o man i love the ebrake jerk
hahhahahaha
but IF ANYONE thinks about trying it.. FIND A OPEN PARKING LOT TO PRACTICE IN

every year FIRST SNOW no matter WHAT car im driving i find a open parking lot and practice driving in it... dont act like a complete idiot at first otherwise a cop can come over and hurrase you!!!!!!! now if you start out just making large circles stoping and going and then start making it loose control and you regain control THEN the cop realy cannt say much... cause lets face it every car acts different in the snow!!!

its GREAT for people to learn how to correct a loss of control.... lets face it.. ITS BETER TO LEARN in a open parking lot rather than on the road with cars all around you...
again lets face it so many people DO and thats why they FREEZE UP and slide thru a stop sign or red light or right into the back of you! first snow thiers wrecks everywhere!!!!! just stupid people not knowing how to control thier cars! only takes 5mins of (play time) to find out exactly what your car SHOULD DO...

and after i learn that PERSONALY i freak out people around me to make them THINK its realy slick.... that way they BACK OFF and HOPEFULLY SLOW DOWN.... but easiest way to make people slow down is slow down VERY SLOW yourself.

personaly i cannt wait for the first snow im almost ready for it hehehhe

 

Anybody know of anybody who's made their Hatch AWD using non-exotic parts? I saw a cool-*** WRC video and would absolutely love to have AWD.