ROAD 19: Front wheel drive special

Most of us born in or after the 1970s started our motoring life in front-wheel-drive cars. For many, the thrills, spills and grins of a car pulled, not pushed, are too strong to resist, and folk often stick with the cheeky inside rear wheel cocking FWD cars over RWD and 4WD for life.

And why not? Sure, there are some who argue driving purism can only be achieved leaving the front wheels to steer and rear for power delivery. And others claim 4WD, push and pull, is the way forward.

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But with developments in tyre technology and suspension design, the power limit for what a FWD car can handle has steadily risen – along with the fun.

I remember Saab saying the maximum power a FWD car could ever put down effectively was 200 bhp, but that’s all changed. Ford’s last Focus RS special, the 500, which puts down 350 bhp!

In this issue of ROAD Magazine, we’ve gathered and road tested three modern FWD-ers with cult followings: firstly Honda’s Civic Type R, fettled by Mugen, which Travis drummer Neil Primrose drives over 1,000 miles down from the great roads in the Lake District to the Nürburgring.

Then he races his own Honda Civic in the highly competitive German VLN Championship.

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We road test Skoda’s new fast and frugal turbo-supercharged Fabia vRS and also Peugeot’s stunning RCZ 200 Coupe.

There’s going to be plenty of burning rubber, so let the torque steer begin!

Images: Neil Denham, Frozenspeed, Royle Media.