Book Description
This digital document is an article from Automotive Design & Production, published by Gardner Publications, Inc. on September 1, 2004. The length of the article is 1333 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.Citation Details
Title: The allure of AWD.(On Cars)(all-wheel-drive)
Author: Christopher A. Sawyer
Publication: Automotive Design & Production (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 1, 2004
Publisher: Gardner Publications, Inc.
Volume: 116 Issue: 9 Page: 52(2)Distributed by Thompson Gale

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The battle between all-wheel-drive and rear-drive has just begun. Adapting front-drive to propel both the front and rear wheels would seem to be the smart answer for many automakers, but it may not be enough to pull their luxury models even with the image leaders.

********** Acura is the latest automaker to adapt an all-wheel-drive system to a front-drive architecture to produce a performance sedan that can turn as well as it accelerates. The 2005 RL's Super Handling All-Wheel-Drive (SH-AWD) system apportions power to the wheels individually, managing torque such that the car tracks with an almost otherworldly tenaciousness. And, as such, it answers the question whether a transverse front-engine vehicle can acquit itself when paired with its all-wheel-drive...