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.
[two_columns ]
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.
[/two_columns] [two_columns_last ][/two_columns_last]
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.
Written By

Phil Royle
Rally, track day, Nordschleife life and road trip addict, Phil Royle is an NCTJ-trained news journalist, diverting into motoring magazines in 1997, as features editor at Revs magazine. Phil went freelance in 1999, working for many top UK motoring titles, editing Circuit Driver and launching Performance Tuner.
Phil runs www.roylemedia.co.uk and can be found blogging at www.roadmagazine.blogspot.com
Try These Next
Stories we think you'll enjoy
April 18, 2016
Can-Am Spyder F3 Limited – First Ride (w/VIDEO)
On the face of it, a bike which doesn't lean, is too wide to weave through traffic and can't pull a wheelie sounds pretty pointless - like a solution…
January 26, 2016
Judgement Day for the Holy Trinity: McLaren P1 vs Porsche 918 Spyder vs LaFerrari (w/VIDEOS)
Three of the fastest hypercars on the planet tested side-by-side for the very first time - Steve Davies joins Supercar Driver to find out which is…
September 19, 2015
Track Test: Ferrari LaFerrari vs Porsche 918 Spyder vs McLaren P1 (w/VIDEO)
It took more than 18 months to arrange, but on Friday 18th September we finally found out which of the world's greatest hypercars is faster on track…