Toyota quality

I prefer rear-wheel drive cars, they fit my driving style and expereince. That's also among the reasons that the Ford Crown Victoria is used almost exclusively in police patrol work in the United States.

This brings to mind NASCAR. Try to find any of the cars out there that are front-wheel drive like the cars they're pretending to be... :>))

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Tom - Vista, CA

Cup cars aren't even pretending to be real cars any more. Common body templates, soon to be common engine templates. Only difference is the shape of the grille opening and the decals for the headlights and taillights. So sad to see.

Ed

Many under 35, who were raised on FWD believe that because FWD is good in deep snow or mud that FWD is superior to RWD in all driving situations, when the opposite is generally true. RWD is far superior to FWD when traction is less than ideal like when driving on plowed or wet roads or when cornering. In those situations the simple act of taking ones foot off the throttle produces engine braking that can cause the front end to lose traction on a FWD vehicle.. Generally the most successful luxury, sport cars and sport type cars have always been RWD. Cadillac and Chrysler are returning to RWD vehicles, because of its superior handling and lower build costs over FWD. In the seventies because of perceived oil shortages in the US they built FWD vehicles to be able to offer smaller vehicles, with a larger interior, for fuel economy. Today, technology allows manufactures to build the larger safer vehicles that buyers demand and still get decent fuel mileage. From what I hear for my friends in the industry, I believe that in the not too distant future in the US the only FWD cars will be in the subcompact and compact class so manufacture can hold down build costs against tight retail prices in the very competitive US car/truck market. If Ford had it to do over their new 500 would be RWD. The 500 began life in 1997, over seven years ago, when FWD was still the rage. The AWD system was added along the way to development as a stop gap until the new RWD models, now in development, can come on line in 2009 or 2010

mike hunt

TOM wrote:

On Wed, 28 Jul 2004 12:07:29 -0400, "Mike Hunt" top-posted:

Like a stopped clock is right twice a day, "Mike" is right on the money in regards to rear-wheel drive. It's better. All the best cars are rear-wheel drive.

Yeah, really. Let's see them get 500 miles at 220 MPH with Front Wheel Drive!

The 500 is a go? Will it be like the Black Beauty featured in Auto Week last summer (if you saw that?)

Should be Rear/AWD for a car that size.

The 500 is a "go." However, it is not like the show car (production cars rarely are). The actual 500 looks a lot like a VW Passat but a little biger. The running gear is derived from a Volvo platform. See

. To my eyes the exterior is bland. Perfect comepetition for the boring Toyota line.

Ed

When was the last time a NASCAR Cup car did 500 miles at 220 mph? Never. Bill Elliott qualified once at over 212 mph. But the highest average race speeds are 190 mph or less. If you don't think you can build a fast front wheel drive racer, maybe you should investigate the 1935 Miller-Ford Indianapolis 500 Race Car. And a properly designed four wheel drive race car is faster than a rear wheel drive race car. CART, F1, NASCAR, and IRL all have rules against four wheel drive.

Regards,

Ed White

FWD cars were banned from that race years ago because of wrecks. The handling of a four wheel drive vehicle is far different than FWD. All four wheel drive vehicles have the torque biased to the rear, in any event.

mike hunt

"C. E. White" wrote:

Looks like a Ford Mondeo pumped out a little for the American market.

Nick.

Looks like a Ford Tempo circa 1988 on steroids. Gawd that was a rotten car. And it still didnt cure me of American built autos until I got a 92 Chrysler Fifth Avenue with a cardboard transmission.

MB

My 1990 Olds 88 has 172K on it with no repairs except an exhaust system ( minus the manifold,)alternator and an A/C compressor; still gets 27mpg and uses no oil between changes at 4K. My 1995 F-150 has 181k with no significant repairs - none. I'm hoping my 2003 Tundra will do as well.

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N