In a previous post on the great debate between FWD and RWD, we touched a bit on the coming of age of the new crop of small FWD cars.
Matt Prior of AutoCar UK, shares the same thought too.
Some of you have expressed doubt that the Ford Focus RS can have 324lb ft of torque and be driven by its front wheels, yet suffer from no torque steer at all.
Earlier this week I spent two days in France with the RS and can report that, actually, you're right. It does torque steer.
A bit.
It's at its most prevalent near straight-ahead. Accelerate onto a motorway through third gear, and across cambers the RS will take nibbles at the steering wheel.
Which is about as surprising as finding it gets dark at night. The surprise is how little there is. The RS's traction out of tighter bends really is astonishing too.
With a lot of lock, out of a second-gear uphill corner it'll rocket away with no front-wheel slip at all and precious little torque effect on the steering.
Read more at AutoCar UK blog.
4 comments:
1. Yeah, we've come a long way since the Saab King of Torque-steer. Is torque steer the result of un-equal length drive-shafts? So in theory, the problem could be helped by mounting the engine longitudally and have equal length drivetrain assemblies?
2. Do note that the Ford Focus RS has turbo lag. This lag really helps it in cornering by delaying the timing of power coming on tap til a more convenient time - i.e. past apex or corner exit.
1. Then it would be very difficult to mate a longitudal engine with a FWD transmission. Not to mention space-packaging issues and crash safety (transverse configurantion is more "crash friendly"). Though Audi manages to package it together, at what cost is anybody's guess. But they have a reason as the vehicles are designed to accomodate AWD drivetrain as well.
2. Never really heard much about turbo lag on the Focus RS, usually modern cars with OE turbos have very little turbo lag, even more so in small hatches. But that does not mean lag is non-existant, just more manageable, and as you mentioned, probably helps in certain corners.
Just watched the Focus RS test on 5th Gear. Jason Plato made the same comment on the lag - it's there but it works with you rather than against you.
1. My understanding is that BMW inline-5s are setup longitudal... as is quite a number of FR cars for that matter. Yeah, you're right, FF cars tend to be transverse.
2. Geee, nice to know he agrees with that assessment. I didnt get to drive the darn thing though.
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