I've never owned a car (and I have owned many) which needed repairs to the suspension or transmission. I can well believe that such repairs would be more expensive on a front-drive car, but if repairs are never needed, the cost of them is academic.
John On Sat, 22 Jul 2006 16:33:20 +0100, Adam Maas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Godfrey, > > The co-location of steering and drive makes even the simplest FWD car > more mechanically complex than a RWD car, even if both have fully > independant suspensions. The CV joints and drive shafts are what drive > up the cost of repair, sometimes by quite a lot. Also transaxles are > more difficult to work on as they are more mechanically complex > (Primarily due to co-locating the differential and transmission). > > Ironically FWD is once again becoming restricted to smaller cars where > it belongs as the superior handling and accelleration characteristics of > RWD cars is making them more popular once again. And FWD cars only have > superior traction under very limited circumstances. RWD gives superior > traction under accelleration and also loses traction much later under > hard cornering. FWD overloads the fornt tires cause earlier traction > loss and a tendency to understeer badly when things go wrong. > > -Adam > > > Godfrey DiGiorgi wrote: >> On Jul 21, 2006, at 7:14 PM, P. J. Alling wrote: >> >> >>> It's much like front >>> engine drive automobiles. The cost much less to manufacture and >>> design. Repair becomes much more problematic, and the advantage to >>> the >>> driver isn't necessarily that great. >> >> >> HUH? >> >> Front engine, rear drive cars were the norm for decades because they >> were simpler to design and cheaper to manufacture. >> >> Front engine/front drive designs were invented >> >> - to improve traction by putting the power system's weight over the >> driving wheels >> - to increase space for carrying passengers relative to the vehicle >> total volume, allowing smaller, lighter vehicles >> - to lower costs to the buyers >> >> All of these are benefits that have advantage. Experience and >> development in the designing and manufacturing of front drive cars >> over the past 30 years has brought the cost of manufacture down to >> match that of front engine/rear drive cars. >> >> I don't see how "repairs become much more problematic". The only >> thing that becomes more difficult to repair about a front drive car >> vs a typical front engine/rear drive car is the fact that the engine >> and transmission are enclosed in a smaller space so it can be a >> little more difficult to get to the parts. If you've ever worked on >> any densely packed machinery (try a 1966 Jaguar XK-E, for instance) >> you'd understand that this is a function of how much machinery you're >> putting into how much space, not a matter of front drive vs rear drive. >> >> Godfrey >> > > -- Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/ -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
