The question of whether a front-wheel-drive vehicle is better than a rear-wheel-drive one, or vice versa, isn’t really a question of quality but rather of preference and purpose. In fact, many average vehicle-buyers probably don’t even know which set of wheels moves their vehicle, making the manufacturer’s purpose stand nearly alone in deciding the drivetrain layout of choice.
Even many all-wheel-drive vehicles on the market aren’t all-wheel-drive all of the time. Many only become all-wheel-drive when the automobile’s computer deems it necessary to become such. The benefits of all-wheel-drive are well-known, but front-wheel-drive and rear-wheel-drive both have their own set of benefits as well.
Before diving into the benefits and differences, let’s look at some examples of both front and rear-wheel-drive vehicles for some frame of reference. Also, to keep things consistent, we will assume that we are referring to vehicles with the engine in the front rather than the middle or rear as in many supercars.
Most of your average cars, minivans, and many SUVs come standard with, or are available in front-wheel-drive. This includes cars like the Toyota Camry, Nissan Sentra, Honda Civic, Mazda Mazda3, Hyundai Sonata, Mini Cooper, Ford Focus, Chevrolet Impala, and Volkswagen Jetta. Very few new SUVs are not available with a front-wheel-drive only option.
Rear-wheel-drive vehicles include many large luxury sedans, sports cars, and pickup trucks. Large sedans like the BMW 7 Series, Genesis G90, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, and Chrysler 300 use rear-wheel-drive layouts with optional all-wheel-drive on higher trim levels. Sports cars like the Chevrolet Corvette, Ford Mustang, Mazda MX-5 Miata, and Nissan 370Z are rear-wheel drive only. Pickup trucks like the Ford F-150, Nissan Frontier, Chevrolet Silverado, and Toyota Tacoma come either exclusively with rear-wheel-drive or with a four-wheel-drive option.
Now that front and rear-wheel-drive vehicles have been generally identified, we need to look at why the manufacturers choose to make these types of vehicles the way they do. Let’s start with the front-wheel-drive layout.
Front-Wheel-Drive:
The primary reason manufacturers choose to make most average cars and SUVs front-wheel-drive by default is cost and simplicity. With the engine and transmission in the front of the vehicle, the appropriate drive components can be placed very close to the source of the vehicle’s power. Less material has to be used to get the front wheels to rotate.
In addition to cost and simplicity, most cars and base SUVs like the Toyota Corolla, Honda CR-V, Hyundai Elantra, and Nissan Rogue are not going to be used outside of daily commuting or regular traveling, eliminating the need to use or add special parts for extra hard use. This just enhances the rationale for keeping everything as inexpensive and straightforward as possible.
Some benefits of having a front-wheel-drive layout include good poor weather traction and better fuel economy than rear-wheel and all-wheel-drive layouts.
Because the engine is one of the heaviest parts of any vehicle, and because it sits over the driven wheels, the added weight pushes on the front wheels, giving the vehicle better grip in rain or snow. Fuel economy tends to be slightly better as well because the drivetrain components are lighter and less extensive than those of other layouts.
A drawback of the front-wheel-drive layout is the lack of outstanding handling and performance characteristics. Asking the front wheels of a vehicle to both move and steer can be done but only to a point. This can be seen during hard acceleration. As the vehicle starts to move forward, weight is transferred to its rear, and the front end grip is reduced, not allowing the vehicle to accelerate as quickly as other layouts. Hard cornering can be tricky too as the front wheels can struggle to both turn and move the vehicle at the same time.
As with everything, there are exceptions to this. A few notable front-wheel-drive performance vehicles include the Honda Civic Type-R, Ford Focus ST, Volkswagen Golf GTI, and Hyundai Veloster N. All of these vehicles have well over 200 horsepower, a figure that has been suggested as being the top horsepower number a front-wheel-drive vehicle can comfortably handle during strenuous driving.
Rear-Wheel-Drive:
Manufacturers choose a rear-wheel-drive layout when balance is the primary goal of the vehicle. With the engine in the front of the vehicle, drive components must be routed all the way to the rear to turn the back wheels. This includes components like the driveshaft and differential. Consequently, these components are generally heavier than those in a front-wheel-drive layout, but they also spread the vehicle’s weight more evenly over a larger area, thus creating a better overall handling balance.
This is the primary reason that most sports cars are rear-wheel-drive. Not only is weight distribution better for more desirable handling characteristics, but the rearward weight shift during hard acceleration pushes down on the back wheels and increases grip. With the front wheels not having any more responsibilities than steering, the vehicle is set up to handle better overall.
Even though large, heavy sedans like the BMW 7 Series and Mercedes-Benz E Class aren’t designed to tear up the track like a Corvette or 370Z, their goal is to provide a stellar driving experience. Balance and drivability is prized over simplicity and economy, so most of the largest luxury sedans are equipped with rear-wheel-drive as their base drivetrain.
Pickup trucks are usually equipped with a rear-wheel-drive layout because of a different kind of balance. Because pickup trucks have an empty bed rather than a fully-enclosed canopy, they carry virtually no weight over their back wheels. The drivetrain components become crucial to add at least some weight to the rear of these vehicles so that they don’t break traction during acceleration.
Some drawbacks of the rear-wheel-drive layout includes less poor weather drivability, added drivetrain complexity, and potentially less efficiency due to heavier components and added drivetrain energy loss.
A few rear-wheel-drive vehicles you may not realize are rear-wheel-drive include the Lexus IS, Dodge Charger, and Kia Stinger.
To say that a certain drivetrain layout is better than another is largely a statement of preference and purpose. Understanding the differences between what a front-wheel-drive vehicle can deliver and what a rear-wheel-drive vehicle can is crucial in understanding why manufacturers set up their vehicles the way they do.
With that being said, the type of vehicle you buy and the type of driving you will do is largely dependent on the actual vehicle you want to purchase. In most cases, it will already be set up to optimally deal with the normal conditions under which you choose to drive.
