I miss the days of spirited driving in my Mk2 Escorts back in the day too. These days I rarely get the chance to enjoy that kind of driving, and the state of the roads (and sometimes other road users), make it even less enjoyable. I have made a few visits to the Palmer Motorsport driving days at Bedford Autodrome, and can highly recommend it for anyone who likes to think they could be an amateur race driver. The choice of cars, instructors, and courses with big/safe run-offs encourages you to find (and occasionally over step) your limits with a big grin on your face. Drifting a Caterham at speed around a track is something i could do all day!
Rear Wheel Drive on Kia EV6 - Handling OK?
I watched the Fully Charged look at the EV6 earlier. I was disappointed to hear that the 2WD version will be rear wheel drive. Am I just being old fashioned in not liking the idea of a rear wheel drive car? My most recent experience of that was a friend who gave up on a RWD BMW one winter into owning it as he couldn't control it in even moderately slippery conditions. Is there anything about an EV that would make driving a RWD version any safer/more pleasant than an ICE equivalent?
I haven't watched anything on the Hyundai 5 yet - is that the same?
I haven't watched anything on the Hyundai 5 yet - is that the same?
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Technically though the engineer is still sort of right. You still don't get many Fwd cars with much more than 250hp, and those that do have all manner of clever kit to make them actually drivable. And if traction control is operational then it is surely still rare for a fwd car to actually put more than 200hp through the front wheels, certainly from a low speed anyway. But really maybe he should have referred to torque in his statement, as it's the torque that really creates the problem not hp.First ever front driver (mass produced) Citroën Traction Avant - 1934......
So not the newest thing - but it was probably the Mini that started the switch.
In 1980 a Saab engineer famously said "No-one will ever be able to put more than 200hp through the front wheels - it just can't be done".
I owned a Guilietta QV - 240bhp fwd 6years ago. It was fine on dry roads and the ESP didn't intrude often. However, overtaking on damp or wet roads required quick rections to stop the torque steer careering us into the car being overtaken or offside hedge.Technically though the engineer is still sort of right. You still don't get many Fwd cars with much more than 250hp, and those that do have all manner of clever kit to make them actually drivable. And if traction control is operational then it is surely still rare for a fwd car to actually put more than 200hp through the front wheels, certainly from a low speed anyway. But really maybe he should have referred to torque in his statement, as it's the torque that really creates the problem not hp.
On a wet righthander, I deliberately pushed it, to find the outside front wheel spinning when the TC had diverted the torque from the initially spinning inside wheel. The car was very well behaved and required no correction other than backing off the gas slightly. Overall, Alfa had done a good job of managing the torque; wheelspin and TC intervention on dry surfaces was never an issue.
Your making feel so young... like the Montego any Escort is a car I've never driven.I miss the days of spirited driving in my Mk2 Escorts back in the day too. These days I rarely get the chance to enjoy that kind of driving, and the state of the roads (and sometimes other road users), make it even less enjoyable. I have made a few visits to the Palmer Motorsport driving days at Bedford Autodrome, and can highly recommend it for anyone who likes to think they could be an amateur race driver. The choice of cars, instructors, and courses with big/safe run-offs encourages you to find (and occasionally over step) your limits with a big grin on your face. Drifting a Caterham at speed around a track is something i could do all day!
Mark 1 or 2 escorts brilliant...
Montego..... hmmmm not missed much there!
Montego..... hmmmm not missed much there!
The Montego Turbo's weren't that bad my boss had one back in the late eighties.
Yes but that was kind of my point, the times where the TC and other wizardry is working means that the car isn't actually putting all its power of 240hp through the front wheels, it is modulating/managing the power / torque to keep you out of the hedge.I owned a Guilietta QV - 240bhp fwd 6years ago. It was fine on dry roads and the ESP didn't intrude often. However, overtaking on damp or wet roads required quick rections to stop the torque steer careering us into the car being overtaken or offside hedge.
On a wet righthander, I deliberately pushed it, to find the outside front wheel spinning when the TC had diverted the torque from the initially spinning inside wheel. The car was very well behaved and required no correction other than backing off the gas slightly. Overall, Alfa had done a good job of managing the torque; wheelspin and TC intervention on dry surfaces was never an issue.
Yes & no. The electronics didn't prevent torque steer and the Q2 electronic diff (Ford's 'torque vectoring') worked reasonably well. Had it not been implemented, getting the power down would have been much harder.Yes but that was kind of my point, the times where the TC and other wizardry is working means that the car isn't actually putting all its power of 240hp through the front wheels, it is modulating/managing the power / torque to keep you out of the hedge.
So Alfa got the balance between safety and driver's fun spot on. (it had 3 driving modes and in 'dynamic' the steering assistance was reduced as was the sensitivity of the ESP)
I never had the impression that Alfa was over ambitious in the torque it was putting through the front wheels even with the TC disabled. I can't imagine how awful a Montego/Maestro turbo would have been.
Awful!
It had "self overtake" fitted - all you did was floor it and it changed lanes for you, a very early driver aid! Course you never knew which SIDE it would change lanes to......
It had "self overtake" fitted - all you did was floor it and it changed lanes for you, a very early driver aid! Course you never knew which SIDE it would change lanes to......
And the one that really makes me laugh are 300hp fed cars with "ediff"....
So, you burn a ton of fuel making loads of power, then apply one or both brakes to those same wheels to control it! Not only burn fuel, but melt brake pads too!
So, you burn a ton of fuel making loads of power, then apply one or both brakes to those same wheels to control it! Not only burn fuel, but melt brake pads too!
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