Theoretical question: NSX with AWD

[EndLeSS]

Hey all, hope everyone is well.
I've never driven an NSX before (although I was offered the keys from a used car lot once) but theoretically, IF THERE WAS NO WEIGHT INCREASE AT ALL, would the NSX be a better driving car if it had AWD?

Yes? No? Thoughts and opinions?

There aren't too many AWD supercars out there, the only marque that comes to mind is Lambourghini...even crazy limited supercars like the Koenisigg are RWD.

 

[prova4re]

( the only marque that comes to mind is Lambourghini...)

One of the first true super cars was the Porsche 959.

(There aren't too many AWD supercars out there, )

There is a reason for that they suck on the track.
You can get in a lot of trouble when your on the gas and try to turn.

 

[EndLeSS]

I meant Mid engined AWD. My bad.

 

[98GS400]

Wouldn't depend on the ratio of the AWD system if it's 60rear/40front, it will oversteer if it's 50/50 there's a good chance it will understeer or all 4 wheels will break traction at once, but if its adaptive (not a fixed ratio) like Audi's Quattro then you could make it do both (don't ask how, but i've seen Tiff do it on a Top Gear Test Drive of a Audi A6 Avant). If you could have a AWD NSX, u should be able to have a AWS one too

Just my thoughts, but I'm no mechanical engineer

 

[cmhs75]

I think an AWD system will dual the driving expreriance even if it does make the car drive faster

the king of fun driving, FERRARI, never made an AWD car

and if AWD was an advatage, it would have been used in Racing

( Exclude off roud racing )

 

[nicholas421]

i always thought more traction meant faster corners. doesn't awd provide more traction than rwd?

i think awd is avoided by supercars and race cars because the added traction isn't worth the extra weight. if you can provide awd without adding any weight, then it would probably be more popular.

out of curiosity... how are the track times on a 996 turbo?

 

[kgb_agent]

I think AWD with the NSX factory alignment would be dangerous.

 

[DONYMO]

The AUDI RS6 team won many times in Speed World Challenge GT driving a turbo V8 AWD car. He beat the pants off of about every kind of car out there (vettes, vipers, bmw, etc).

I disagree that AWD sucks on the track.

 

[Enzo]

There aren't too many AWD supercars out there, the only marque that comes to mind is Lambourghini...even crazy limited supercars like the Koenisigg are RWD.

Another AWD supercar : Bugatti EB110

 

[EndLeSS]

Damn, I honestly forgot that one had AWD...The only striking thing I remember about that car is the quad turbos!

 

[gheba_nsx]

I also tought about the Bugatti.

Then the Lancer EVO VI RS (2180lbs, 340 ps), the Impreza P1 and the DAX Rush (you can see how it destryos the competition here in this topic) are good examples of AWD front engine monsters...

 

[cmhs75]

OK lets do it in a crazy way

think of all the super cars you consider to be the greatest

then take this list and devid them into AWD and RWD

then see which one is enourmasly bigger then the other

and make a conlusion

I have, and it favers RWD. epcially if you take the fun factor into considration

AWD is like driving with a perminant traction control switched on

 

[falcon]

what about the nissan skyline?

 

[ChrisK]

Isn't Ferrari also working on an AWD system of their own?

 

[JohnJW]

awd.....................................................so easy a caveman could do it.

 

[AdnanVCS]

I meant Mid engined AWD. My bad.

Get a Lamborghini LP640 or Murcalago or Diablo they have AWD

Semi 4WD would be nice.
put it in to rear wheel drive for fun and 4WD for speed and time.

 

[Juice]

The question asks whether the NSX would be a better driving car if it had a weight free AWD. Do you mean better for driving competitively on a track or a better driving experience? They are 2 very different questions.

 

[sahtt]

AWD has its benefits, as does RWD. There is a reason F1 cars are RWD and there is a reason rally cars are AWD. There are also tons of AWD road course cars that do extremely well and there are FF's that win rallies.

It depends on the desired style of performance, feel of the car, over/understeer characteristics, predicted driving scenarios, and the list goes on and on.

MR setup provides the most efficiency as far as drivetrain loss is concerned as well as the least moving parts and parts under stress. If this outweighs the additional traction etc. of an AWD drivetrain, MR is the best setup.

Since we drive on the street without pure performance as our only goal it takes a lot of personal opinion to find the 'best'. If that was the case, we'd all be on sportbikes with 0-60's in the 2 second range.

Just as important as performance is feel. A FF car will never feel as rewarding or graceful, IMO, as a FR or MR setup. AWD has a combination of FF and FR unless it's a lamborghini with a midship AWD system. It still has characteristics of a FF of 'pulling' vs 'pushing' that many do not care for but it is not near as drastic.

MR stands out clearly as the most enjoyable, reliable, and efficient setup to me. Note I didn't say safest or most diverse in applications.

 

[gtr]

Coming from a rear engine 444hp car I can say the traction is worst than the NSX in accel. In this cold weather 2nd gear spins after the engine rev past 4000rpms with awd and massive tires What i'm saying is that AWD is recommended with these high hp cars especially in real road conditions vs prepped track and r tires.

With the current 290hp I feel RWD woudl be faster since it does not have as much drivetrain loss nor really a traction problem for these cars.

 

[beqa16v]

I might be young but I have some racing experience with all types of cars, FF; FR; AWD and little experinece of test driving NSX on the track. from my experience i learned the following: AWD is very good in low speed corners, more exactly at low speed twisty corner exits because of their traction. no MR FR or FF car can keep up. FFs suck hard here. but they are not that bad at high speed curves, when holding the trottle down in high speed long turn you feel so confident on FF. MR is mostly a high speed racetrack setup, it also gives ability to step on gas earlier when exiting the corner. AWD cars tend to understeer a lot. if you look at some BMI tests you find the same thing there, on Tsukuba twisted minitrack with its sharp corners NSX-R had hard times keeping up with new STis and EVOs and GT-Rs with their AWD in corner exits but totaly destroyed them on Fuji speedway, the real, fast racetrack. But with todays high technology SH-AWD like systems and super highpower cars, AWD becomes more and more superrior to MR FR in terms of performance and safety espetialy in the street.

my opinion, with 290hp NSX with AWD would suck. driving feels of AWD is not even close to MR, bigger drivetrain loss is also a factor. the only advantage of AWD nsx agains MR would be 0-60 acceleration time.

and sorry for my english, its not my native language, i live too far away from US