From: Steve Hoult <stevehoult@home.com>
>None of this has anything to do with why we are plagued with FWD cars
today.
>It all boils down to MONEY. It's CHEAPER to design and build a FWD car.
Cheaper than a Chevette? Hard to believe.
>Because of better packaging, you can also build a lighter, more fuel
>efficient car then you can with RWD and raise your CAFE (Corporate Average
>Fuel Economy).
It was not that many years ago that the mileage champ in the USA was the
Toyota Starlet, a RWD car.
If you sell bunches of econoboxes you'll raise your CAFE
>which in turn lets you sell more of the very profitable RWD luxo-barges and
>Pony Cars.
Or profitable FWD luxo-barges, of which there are also several.
For a streeter, I actually like FWD. I was driving SAABs when they were
simple, cheap, tough machines in the late sixties (love that torquey little
Ford engine). But I must admit I have become really spoiled now that I have
an AWD machine for the street. And for autocross, a very light mid-engined
car is a lot of fun. And a huge RWD wagon with bloody-primitive mechanicals
is handy, too. So maybe I won't be getting a FWD car any time soon.
Phil Ethier Saint Paul Minnesota USA
Lotus Europa, VW Quantum Syncro, Chev Suburban
LOON, TCVWC, MAC
pethier@isd.net http://www.visi.com/mac/
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