Re: FWD and RWD and faster safer driving

["James Bratek" <jim@domain.elided>]

In terms of real world street driving, I'll concede that the FWD is equal or
perhaps superior in certain circumstances than RWD layout.

However, the point I'd like to make is this: for sports cars, the focus is
on track performance, because after all, sports cars are designed for
competition on the track (whether it be road circuits or ovals). RWD
handling dynamics (i.e. oversteer) are more controllable in this situation
than FWD (i.e. understeer). To prove my point, how many FWD cars have
finished ahead of RWD cars in the same class of racing series? None. BMW M3s
and Porsche 911s have a good amount of oversteer, but the overall handling
dynamics of both cars are very controllable and therefore desirable for
winning track competitions. Their records speak for themselves.

Even Honda, a predominately FWD car maker, is smart enough to know that in
order to build a truly desirable sports car, it needs to be RWD (NSX,
S2000).

I worry that if the future Alfas to come to the US are FWD, the press and
consumers will say "nice car, too bad its FWD" and instead buy a Miata, Z3,
SLK, or Boxster (instead of a Spider) and a BMW 3-Series, Audi A4 Quattro,
or Mercedes C-Class (instead of a 156). If this happens, Alfa will surely
pull out of the US market once again.

Bad marketing can kill a company. VW (US), for all its record sales, still
has its Jettas outselling Passats even though the Passat has received more
awards from the automotive press and is larger in size than the
tight-backseat Jetta. No matter how hard VW tries, Americans will always see
VW as a peoples car, not the luxury brand that VWAG is trying to sell. A
similar phenomenon can potentially plague Alfa's return: their past
reputation for quality and durability is less-than-stellar. Maybe some
kickbacks to J.D. Powers might help...

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