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The Most Fundamental Question of Any Car

When it comes to choosing a car, there are literally millions of combinations to consider. From the color to the trim to the number of doors, every decision seems to matter. However, at its core, a car is all about one thing: how does the power get to the ground? This is the most fundamental part of an automobile, and yet we still can't seem to agree on how to do it best.

Do You Want to Drive Forward or Backward?

Imagine yourself behind the wheel, ready to hit the road. But before you can put your foot down, you have to decide which direction you want to drive. Do you want to take off towards the front of the car, where all the action happens? Or do you prefer to start at the back, with the rear wheels and transmission working in harmony?

In reality, both options have their merits. Some drivers swear by starting forward, citing the benefits of having more power upfront and better control over the vehicle's movements. On the other hand, others argue that beginning at the back is a safer option, as it allows for more gradual acceleration and reduced wear on the engine.

The Debate Continues

While some may have opinions on which direction is superior, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. The truth is, both options have their pros and cons, and what works best for one person may not work for another.

Ultimately, the decision of how to get power to the ground comes down to personal preference and driving style. Whether you're a seasoned driver or just starting out, understanding your car's capabilities and limitations can help you make informed decisions behind the wheel.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- If you're looking for a carthere are literally millionsof combinations you could choose from.(upbeat music)So many decisions to makefrom the color to the trimto the number of doors but whatabout the most basic question of any car?How does the power get to the ground?It's the most fundamentalpart of an automobileand we still can't agreeon how to do it best.Do you want to drive to the front?(engine revving)Or to the back?(engine revving)That's what we're here totalk about today on "Versus",front wheel drive versus rear wheel drive.(bright music)We're gonna be lookingat front wheel driveand rear wheel driveacross five categories,availability, trackability, daily-ability,fixability and customizability.Each will be scored with apotential five points each.The one with the most points at the endof the video will definitivelybe the best of the twoand I will try and remain as impartialas I can throughout this video.Letting the numbers do the talking.Round one is all about availability.What kind of car exist in eachdrive train configuration?How many of them are there?And how do they vary?Front wheel drive cars arethe most popular in the worldbut it wasn't always the case.Before the '60s most carswhere rear wheel drivebut this was mainly due tothe ease of construction.Front wheel drive carshad been done beforebut one car really started the trend.(engine revving)(upbeat music)The 1959 Austin Mini,it had a transverselymounted engine transmissionand differential whichmeant there was no needfor transmission tunnel on the floorof the tiny car could be flat givingit much more room inside.This design was a hit and itwas copied and copied overand over until we reached the modern daywhere front wheel cars completelydominate the sub compact,compact and mid size markets.In 2014 only 12% of cars sold in Americawhere rear wheel drive.Rear wheel drive cars are alsousually of a specific type.They hold the market share of sports cars,luxury sports and exotics.Just because rear wheel drive arethe most popular sports cars doesn't makethem the most available fast cars.Any brand new rear wheeldrive car is gonna costyou more than $24 000 and forthat you're getting a Fiat 124 Spiderof a four cylinder Camaro 1LS.Through that money ata front wheel drive carand you're looking atwell optioned Fiesta ST's,Veloster Turbo's and Fiat 500 Abarth's.Is Abath the plural, I'm not even sure?And even if you're notlooking at factory options,you can get a Fiesta ST witha stage three power packand a car back export beforeyou can even get a spoileron that Camaro.You'd be 30 horsepower downbut a 1000 pounds lighter.The economy of making aeconomy car has made it easierto then progress to makingthem faster and more fun.Did you know that mostminivans are front wheel drivebut most full size vansare rear wheel drive.Full size vans are rear wheeldrive because they're buildon the chassis of basemodel full size trucks.So rear wheel drive cars are all based offof speed performance, offroad and hauling performanceor they're parts bin cars andthat's kind of the problem.Performance cars are movingtowards all wheel drive.Look at traditionally rearwheel drive sports carslike the 911 and NSXif chasing performancemeans putting more powerto the road rear wheeldrive isn't gonna bearound much longer.And with non-performancecars being rear wheel drivebecause they're borrowingparts that were already made,the rear wheel drive models numbersare gonna shrink twice as fast.(racing sport car)Even truck makers all see thebenefit of all wheel driveand once it become cheap enough to developas a base model they won't usethose two back wheels alone anymore.Front wheel drivehowever will keep kickingfor years to come.It's the only choicefor cheap economy cars.Right now the cheapestfront wheel drive carin the US market is theChevy Spark startingat a little over $13 000.The cheapest all wheel drivecar is $4 000 more than thatand the cheapest rear wheel drive caris $7 000 more than that.Rear wheel drive cars aresome of the coolest out therebut as far as the availability goes(ringing bell)it's not easy to get your hands on oneand it's only gonna get harder.I'm gonna give them two points.Front wheel drive carsare cheap, plentifuland have a long future aheadof them whilst having adecent amount of history.I'm marking them down for four points.It looks like front wheel drivecars have some catching upto do so let's see how tightthey hang on in the next round.This round is focused on performanceon track and in motor sport.This is the stuff I love.The numbers, the stats, thelap times and I'm sure allof you I'm no longer talkingabout the base model viability of cars.Rear wheel drive carsare all over motor sport.F1 is rear wheel drive,IndyCar is rear wheel drive,NASCAR is rear wheel drive,Formula DRIFT is rear wheel drive.(upbeat music)In fact the only raceseries that currently useany front wheel drive carsare Grassroots series basedthat were once road legal.There was once a front wheeldrive car that qualifiedfor Indy 500 in 1927 butit never finished the race.Why does rear wheel drive havesuch a strangle hold on motor sport?Is it just because that'show this series started?The main factor is weight transfer.As the car accelerates it leans back,weight gets send backwardsand the back wheels getpushed into the ground.For rear wheel drive cars this meansthe drive wheels aregaining more mechanical gripas they accelerate.For front wheel drive carsthe drive wheels are gettinglighter and less grippyas they are being lifted into the air.But rear wheel drive carsaren't perfect in this.Overdo it and you lose traction.In my track experience,I've had three spins.Guess which car they were all in.For front wheel drive carsthough losing grip dueto over acceleration meansthe car will slow downwhich means the weightwill transfer to the front,the tires will get more gripand you can catch a mistake a lot easier.(screeching tires)Front wheel drive carsalso have a advantagewhen it comes to wet conditions.Since they're biggestweakness is weight transfer,it makes sense that when thewhole field has less grip,they aren't affected as much.Because of this amateurrally cross is a sportwhere if you're not inan all wheel drive SUVywith a missing rear bumper,you're probably in afront wheel drive car.Winning more traditional motorsports eventin a front wheel drivecar is not impossible.Stephan Papadakis' 1998Honda Civic drag racer brokeinto the eighth second quarter mile timesand the Civic Coupe buildby Pezzi Tuning holds fourglobal time track records.Not front wheel drive records, over all.The modern day Civic type Ris an absolute track weapon.It laps the Nurburgring inseven minutes and 43 seconds.If you wanted to match that pacewith a rear wheel drive caryou'd be spending three timesas much money at a Porsche dealership.Could it be that frontwheel drive cars can be justas good at motor sportas rear wheel drive?And it's just thatmanufactures don't buildthem for performance?Kinda, it's not as cut and dry as that.Rear wheel drive carsstill have the advantagein most circumstances(ringing bell)and a still driver can avoid the pitfallsof rear wheel drive.With that being said, I'mgonna give three pointsto front wheel drive for theamazing honorable mentionsthat they do havebut four point to rearwheel drive for holdingon to the lion share ofperformance development.Rear wheel drive is usingthat one point track advantageto close the gap as there'sonly one point between them now.Let's see what happens in the next round.(clicking)The next round is all about daily-ability.How easy is it to have thesecars on a day-to-day basis?Right now, I drive a rearwheel drive car day-to-dayand I don't it at allin Southern Californiabut anywhere else in the world,it gets a little bit harder.Front wheel drive cars as we mentionedlast round have a naturaladvantage when it comesto grip and slippery conditions.If you live somewherewith rain or mud or snow,it's easy to lose tractionin a rear wheel drive car.It doesn't take owning aDodge Hellcat to kick the tailout on accident,all it take sis a lead footand a slick intersection.Also the advantages of weight transferthat a rear wheel drive car has,don't really apply on theroad unless you're launchingfrom every stoplightand I for one am definitely not launchingfrom every stoplight.(whooshing)Front wheel drive cars are manufacturedfor comfort and ease of use.The entire concept behind them wasto have a flat floor cabin whichcould allow for more space.A part of how this was achieved waswith a engine transmissionand differential all being constructedand designed together.No U-joints, no drive shaftsand less fluid needed.All components ended up lighterand a lighter car is easier to drive.Lack of rotational mask alsomakes the more fuel economicbut while front wheel drive cars all havethis configuration,it doesn't mean rearwheel drive cars don't.Let's look at the ToyotaCelica and Toyota MR-2 Spider.Both are small two wheeldrive sports cars poweredby Toyota 1ZZ engines.But one is front wheel driveand one is rear wheel drive.With the MR-2 being midengine it gains a lotof the packaging advantagesof a front wheel drive car.You have the same fuel economy and poweras the front wheel drive Celica.This is honestly academic though.As cheap mid engine cars are rareand you can't tell me that a MR-2 isn'tan ideal daily driver.In the same way thatfront wheel drive can makea good track car, rear wheeldrive cars could be builtto be better dailys but nomanufacturer is really doing itand it's a lot of RND dollars(ringing bell)just to prove a point.For being efficient,forgiving and spaciousfront wheel drive carsget four points in this categoryand for having down sidesbut none of them reallybeing too detrimental,I'm giving rear wheel drive three points.That's a two point gapgoing into the next round.Let's see if rear wheel drivecars can put the power downand claw their way to the top spot.(clicking)The fourth round is allabout how easy it isto fix these cars andhow often problems occurin the first place.In general though, front wheel driveand rear wheel drive carshave some key differenceswhen it comes to maintenance.Parts for front wheel drivecars are generally cheaperand smaller than the equivalentrear wheel drive car.This isn't just because afront wheel drive's placein the market either.Front wheel drive trainsare build more efficientlywhich means less parts and less wear.In theory manufacturers are also buildingto a margin so they'renot gonna give you partsthat handle much morethan average of use unlessthey're grabbing from the comparts bit.In general though there'slots more that can go wrongwith the rear wheel drivefront engine drive trainthan with a front enginefront drive configuration.The transfer of power downthe whole chassis throughso many components meansthere's more points of failure.Front wheel drive cars alsodon't need separate fluidfor different transmission'cause it's all in one unit.CV axles tend to be a failure pointon front wheel drive carsbut they need replacingaround about as oftenas a rear differential bushingso it's not much worse.Where the tables reallyturn is with transmissions.A clutch replacement on arear wheel drive car can takea skilled mechanic under two hours.On a front wheel drive carthough you're disconnectingall the front steering,control arms, endlings anddropping the front sub frame.I just put a ACT clutch inmy Yaris over the winterand it took my 10 days.Now 95% of that is becauseI don't know what I'm doingbut most mechanics arelooking at over six hoursto properly swab itYaris clutch and that'swithout power steering.Differential work is also a big painon front wheel drive cars.If you wanna see how easy it isto remove a rear differential,just watch James do it on "High Low".- Hi, I'm James.Today, we're gonna lube some groves.(squirting gel)(beep)- The overall take away isthat most front wheel drivecars can run for longerwith only standard maintenancebut when there is an issue,rear wheel drive cars are easier to fixbecause the parts are morespread out and easier to access.Though the parts cost cheaperon those front wheel driverepairs so the bill mightnot be so bad as you think.(ringing bell)Since you may have to shellout a big chunk at oncefor front wheel drive cars repair,I'm gonna give them three points.And for having more points of failureand more expensive parts,I'm gonna give rear wheeldrive cars also three points.We've got one more round to go.Front wheel drive isstill ahead by two points.Let's see if the lastround can turn the tide.(clicking)The final round is allabout customizability.How much can you actuallymake these cars your own?On the low end of thingsit's pretty similar.There's no reason thateither car couldn't haveany ride height, anyforced induction setup,any body styling andany suspension you want.The car scene is fullof Hondas from every endof the spectrum and Camarosthat can run the gambitof styles and setups.On an entry to mid levelyou can find unique partsfor just about any car.The after market has grown to be so bigand so all encompassingdrive train doesn'treally affect customizationon an average budget.The place where wereally see the separationis engine swaps.With front engine rear wheeldrive cars the sky is the limitwhen it comes to engine swaps.Do you wanna see a LS Datsun?It's been done.Do you wanna see Ferrari engine 86,it's been done.(racing engine)Engine swaps are the upperechelon of customizationbut front wheel drive carshave some crazy swaps too.Take a look at this Hayabusaswapped Mini Cooper.Or this LS-X swapped Civicor this super fat Fiat 500hiding a Lamborghini V12.If you've got the determination,you can get any engine into any car.There's just one problem.All those front wheeldrive cars I mentioned,they're no longer front wheel drive cars.The thing is if a motor is designedfor rear wheel drive the geometry ofwhere the power getsdelivered it's so far off fromwhere a front wheeldrive car would need it,it's way easier to geta custom drive shaftand just swap it in the rearend of a rear wheel drive car.With a rear wheel drivecar though you can useany engine you can fit if youmount it the right way round.Take a look at this K-series swapped FRS.It uses a longitudedlymounted turbo charged K24and transmission from a S2000.The K24 is the engine froma Honda Civic SI which islike the people's championof front wheel drive cars.And these guys made it drivethe rear wheels of the Zion.An engine that foughthard on the front linesof front wheel drive cars has now defectedto the other side of the (beep).Rear wheel drive simply has the edgein this category becausethe engine bay isn't filledwith transmissions and CV axles.(ringing bell)For having almost no limiton what you can make,I'm going to give rearwheel drive cars five pointsin this categorybut for representingwith some crazy buildsand for having such a bigimpact on (mumbles) culturein the first place,I'm can't give front wheeldrive cars anything lessthan four points.Which means that frontwheel drive is our winner!(bright music)(racing engine)And man, did these numbers shock us.Every one in the office was convincedthat rear wheel drive wasgonna be the big winner.But what do you guys think,let us know on the commentsif you're into frontwheel drive cars like meor if you're into rearwheel drive cars like me.Hey everybody, I hope you're staying safe.Just wanna let you knowthat Donut Media is puttingout seven shows a weekright now so be sureto follow Donut Media on YouTubeand the Donut Podcast channeland be sure to follow uson Instagram and Twitteras well to stay up to date.