Pssst. Is that a can of worms I can hear being opened? Before you click 'comment', stick with me - this is not a which is better, front- versus rear-wheel drive debate. Just me arguing that the front-driven performance car shouldn't be overlooked so readily by some.
Or would it just be better back to front? Discuss
Hell, I own a lightweight rear-wheel drive sports car so
my colours
are well and truly nailed to the mast. However, the other week I spent a day lapping a rather wet and greasy Oulton Park in Peugeot's
new hot RCZ R
The reason? Lurking in that nose and tasked with putting 270 turbocharged horses - and more importantly, 243lb ft of torque - to the road is a Torsen limited-slip diff. Testing out just how much grip there was on offer (or not as the case may be, thanks in this case to plenty of rain and new Tarmac), and what a proper mechanical diff can do to a car's dynamics, the conditions were perfect.
Back to front
Coming from rear-driven machinery, it's quite surprising how much you have to adjust your driving style - never has slow in, fast out been more appropriate. The diff won't help you if you go in too hot, so be sensible with entry speed then nail the gas to get the diff locked up and find the traction. When you get it right it really is arm-round-a-lamppost stuff. And, more importantly, it's massive fun.
Original GP Mini was a diff-equipped hoot
Sure, you can't carry a lurid, stinker of a
slide round Druids
in a front-driven car, but into Oulton's heavier braking zones you can get the RCZ R slithering on the brakes, the rear wanting to do its best Usain Bolt impression and overtake the front in a flash. Hit the middle pedal mid-corner and the term 'mobile device' takes on a new, non-digital meaning, then force the throttle through the bulkhead to get that nose pulling you straight and back on track. An odd sensation, but a bloody brilliant one when you nail it - BTCC beckons, in your dreams.
Hook-up
It's not just the RCZ R that can cause an involuntary upward curling movement at the corners of your mouth either. The Mk1 MINI Works GP was exactly the same. And the Renaultsport Megane R26.R.
In fact, I had a similar experience a few years back in the roll-caged Megane. This time it was a boiling hot day at a billiard table-flat Bedford Autodrome, with super-sticky Toyo R888s doing their best to battle physics. The end result was the same. Just like the Peugeot, you can drive it neatly and tidily and carry plenty of speed, or you can hoon around like you're wearing incendiary undercrackers. You'll still have a great laugh.
FWD cars? Yeah, boring, all of them...
Electronic systems are getting better too. I'd always opt for a proper diff in the driveline, but increasingly ECU-based traction systems acting on the brakes are helping front-wheel drive hot hatches find grip and not destroy joy (there's a marketing slogan in there somewhere...). Take the Ford Fiesta ST's black magic understeer control.
It possesses an uncanny ability to find traction given the hardware it's packing, and even if for a fleeting moment you can feel it's holding you back marginally rather than working with you, it's not at the expense of entering a fast right, rear wheel in the air and totally broadside. How is that not fun?
Is it more so than in a rear-wheel drive car, though? Well, that's not really the point. The issue is that it's fun in a completely different way; it takes a totally different style of driving to extract the best lap time and/or the maximum amount of entertainment from a front-driver like any of the cars mentioned above. We're PHers. These challenges are what we live for, no?