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With cars like the MazdaSpeed3, Civic Si, Cobalt SS and others, what are the or some of the best handling front wheel drive cars out there? Which ones strikes the best balance between cornering and smoothing over the bumps in the road?
It's a trade off, and out of the three you mentioned, I'd say the Civic Si is the most balanced. It is probably the best compromise and would likely hold value longer than the others if that is a concern.
But, if I had to own one of the ones you mentioned, I'd probably purchase the MazdaSpeed 3.
I also wonder if Ford is bringing their turbo-charged Focus hatch over from the European market. That might be worth a wait and see.
It's a trade off, and out of the three you mentioned, I'd say the Civic Si is the most balanced. It is probably the best compromise and would likely hold value longer than the others if that is a concern.
But, if I had to own one of the ones you mentioned, I'd probably purchase the MazdaSpeed 3.
I also wonder if Ford is bringing their turbo-charged Focus hatch over from the European market. That might be worth a wait and see.
I still wonder why ford got rid of the SVT focus back in 03-04 they even came with a 6-speed back than which was rare in hot hatches.
not to be a Clarkson leg-humper, but from what i've seen of the Saturn/Opel Astra reviews on Top Gear, that thing can't handle worth crap. it does nothing but understeer and plow. i've heard similar complaints of all GM FWD platforms.
from watching and participating in gobs of auto-x events, i would say the quickest and most preferred FWD platforms would be the Mini and an assortment of Honda platforms. the Focus and GTI handle well, but tend to be slower overall.
I love the Mini too, but if buying new and getting the JCW upgrade, you're well into the 30s on MSRP. Great car, but that's a high price of entry for a "hot hatch."
The biggest problem with sporty FWD cars isn't really handling per se. They do tend to understeer because of the front weight bias but many FWD cars handle very well. They do have some challenges going really fast on a slalom course because of torque steer and the difficulty of using the throttle to position the car.
Good handling FWD cars I have driven:
Honda Civic - great steering and overall balance
Mazda6 - not a sports car but it is a fine handling FWD sedan
Ford Fusion - similar to the Mazda6 and much better than a Camry or Accord
Mazda3 - typical Mazda chassis tuning. I'd really like to drive a Mazdaspeed3.
You see in the market a trend for high hp FWD cars moving to AWD like the TL with SH-AWD, Audis, etc.
I really hate front drive cars. I ran over a curb once but the other side dropped off about 2 feet and I couldn't pull myself off. I don't like the front wheels looking like they need air all the time because of the the unequal weight. A friend's front wheel drive Outback was taken to an oil change joint and they drained the transmission by mistake and the guy on top wondered by there was still oil in the engine so drained and filled that back up not knowing the transmission was empty. The car actually ran for 2 days before freezing up.
A friend's front wheel drive Outback was taken to an oil change joint and they drained the transmission by mistake
It wasn't an Outback. They aren't FWD.
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