How many people are there? Misunderstanding the rear drive can fly, and the four-wheel drive can cross-country.

In many people's inherent impression, the front drive is equal to the grocery cart, and the rear drive is very powerful, so the four-wheel drive must be off-road. But Bian Xiao, I want to tell you now: I really don't know! In this case, from a technical point of view, plus examples of popular science, Bian Xiao talked about why these situations are not absolute.

Typical shopping cart Dongfeng Honda Civic

Front-wheel drive cars give people the impression of buying food, largely because the cost of front-wheel drive is indeed lower than that of rear-wheel drive and four-wheel drive, and most of the mainstream 300,000 cars, SUVs and MPVs on the market are home-oriented front-wheel drive cars.

The front drive engine is in front of the red line.

I admit that this is a fact, and the inherent physical characteristics of the front-wheel drive also determine that it is better at creating space than controlling movement. Taking the engine room of a front-wheel drive and a rear-wheel drive as an example, we draw two red circles on the top of the front-wheel suspension tower and connect them with red straight lines to simulate the weight distribution. You will find that the engine of the front drive is closer to the front of the vehicle, the engine of the rear drive is just pressed on the red line, and some vehicles are even completely behind the red line.

Most rear-wheel drive engines are located above the red line.

This makes the front and rear weight of the front-engine front-drive car basically unable to reach 50:50, and the front of the car is heavier than the rear-drive car, so it is easier to push the head when it is close to the dynamic limit. However, this does not mean that front-wheel drive must not be completed in motion control. God never shuts one door but he opens another, and early research and development and late adjustment are also crucial.

Saab 9-3

Saab 9-3 and 9-5 with front drive are examples. It can be said that in addition to the structure is the front drive, when you really drive them, you feel that the driving performance is better than many rear drives. For example, Saab 9-3 around 2006, under the actual measurement of many media, has an objective speed figure and a subjective sense of stability around the pile, which is even better than the back-drive BMW 3 Series E90, which is famous for its sportiness at the same time.

Saab 9-5

Saab's method, in short, the most important thing is to put forward requirements for its future driving indicators when developing. If you don't tell me in advance, Saab's body proportion is very similar to that of rear-wheel drive. Many people think that Saab is not front-wheel drive just by looking at the appearance ratio, let alone the feeling of actual driving.

Civic? rare

In addition, the control of front-wheel drive may still not completely catch up with rear-wheel drive, so it is better to make up the power. Saab was one of the few manufacturers that fully rolled out turbocharged engines in that year. The horsepower of gasoline models generally exceeded 265,438+00, which was very powerful in that year. If you don't think that power plays a great role in front-wheel drive control and driving pleasure, then look at the current Honda Civic? R, you can't say that manipulation and driving are not fun!

The ambition of "being bigger and surpassing" misunderstood by Chinese people.

Like everyone's inherent impression of the predecessor, rear-wheel drive is often adopted by expensive luxury cars and performance cars, so the descriptions related to motion control are tied together. Indeed, the power of rear-drive luxury cars and performance cars is strong, which makes many people think that as long as they are rear-drive cars, they will surely soar.

Toyota reiz engine compartment

In recent ten years, the typical joke caused by this view is that "high-horsepower rear-drive super-running Reiz" has adopted the rear-drive platform of Crown itself, and Crown is not a car with motion control and positioning, but focuses on luxury and comfort.

Japanese version of Reiz (Mark? x)

The V6 engine of Reiz 2.5 or 3.0 can really bring some acceleration pleasure, but its soft suspension and three and a half turns of the steering wheel are not what a performance car should have at first glance, and it is wobbly to drive.

Japanese version of Reiz (Mark? X) internal

In addition, let's not talk about whether Reiz drives or not. When you open the car door and see its steering wheel as big as a washbasin and old-fashioned interior (some styles have mahogany decorative panels), you have no appetite to drive fast at all. After all, the immobility of a car depends not only on the driving layout or power level, but also on the comprehensive effect of hardware level and adjustment, which must be analyzed in detail.

The third generation Dongfeng Honda CR-V

Early four-wheel drive cars were almost all hard-core off-road vehicles and SUVs with off-road capability, so many people thought that the four-wheel drive city SUVs on their configuration table could also be off-road. For example, the third-generation Dongfeng Honda CR-V of that year, most people bought the four-wheel drive version, thinking it was a four-wheel drive off-road, only to find that this was not the case, and finally the two-wheel drive version returned to the mainstream when the fourth-generation CR-V was launched.

Urban SUVs occasionally go bad.

However, hard-core off-road vehicles and SUVs with off-road capability adopt full-time four-wheel drive or part-time four-wheel drive, while urban SUVs adopt timely four-wheel drive, which are completely different principles and design intentions. The former is really to improve the cross-country passability and difficulty, while the latter is only to improve the trackability and grip of wet ski roads, and occasionally take a bad road.

City SUV without girder

Don't talk about the esoteric thing of differential lock. Let me explain to you that almost all urban SUVs on the market are built by car platforms with horizontal engine front drive layout. Based on it, the timely four-wheel drive can only allocate 50% of the power to the rear wheels at most, which is completely insufficient under medium and high difficulty off-road conditions, and the four-wheel drive system is very easy to overheat.

The suspension stroke of urban SUV is very short.

Besides, whether you can cross-country depends not only on what four-wheel drive you use, but also on the fact that the city SUV has no girders and the body's torsion resistance is not strong. Second, the suspension stroke is small, and the tires are easy to hang and lose grip when off-road. All three tires are road tires, and they are worn out after a few kilometers off-road. Fourth, many urban SUVs still use CVT or dual-clutch gearbox to take off-road. God, I can't imagine the consequences.

Subaru WRX? List of standard tools (Standard Tool Inventories)

Moreover, if we relax our sight a little, we will find that many cars or MPVs are also equipped with four-wheel drive systems, even full-time four-wheel drive systems, such as Subaru and Audi models. Are all these cars four-wheel drive for off-road use? Obviously not, in order to improve road maneuverability and cornering limit.

Nowadays, the hardware parameters on the configuration table are not all the criteria to judge a car's ability in a certain aspect. As mentioned in the article, the evaluation of any car should be based on the attitude of concrete analysis of specific models, and do your homework before buying the intended model, pay attention to the car buy buy and read more articles inside, so as not to regret buying the wrong car!

This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.