Alberto Michelatti

- http://www.autoblog.com Cost: about 1200 €.

1981 Alfa Romeo Alfasud 1.3 1982 Lancia Beta Trevi 1.6 sedan 1985 Mitsubishi Pajero 2.3 turbodiesel wagon 1988 Lancia Delta 1.6 GT 1992 Lancia Dedra 1.8 catalyzed sedan 1995 Alfa Romeo 155 2.0 Twin Spark 16V Super 1997 Fiat Cinquecento 1.1 2004 Toyota Avensis 1.8 VVT-i sedan automatic

Aoccidrng to a Cbmadirge Uvinsretiy pforsseor, it deos not mttaer waht is the suqecnee in wcih the ltteres aeppar in a wrod, the olny iopmatrnt tnihg is taht the fsrit and the lsat ltteer are in the rhgit pcale. The ruselt can seem vrey cfnoesud and dpsetie all you can raed whtiuot mnay pbormels. This is due to the fcat taht hamun mnid dno't raed erevy sgnile ltteer, but the orevlal wrod. Ciruuos, no? Alberto.

Fiat Panda caterpillar Madonna di Campiglio, Trentino, Italy. Alberto.

Please wait a few seconds for Video to Load! Alberto.

http://blogs.toyota.com/ Toyota's Bruce Ertmann Alberto.

Toyota Corolla in wireframe. Alberto.

2008 Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X brochure leaked: specs revealed Alberto.

The Simpsons: interactive map of Springfield! Alberto.

Decano self-adhesive sunroof doesn't let the sun shine in. Alberto.

"There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about", Oscar Wilde. :P Please wait a few seconds for Video to Load! Alberto.

I am a FWD cars enthusiast, and I would like to explain why for me FWD cars are overall superior to RWD cars and, from a certain point of view, to AWD cars also. 1) the engine and the gearbox overall mass directly over the front axle means at the same time more brake power, more control, more directionality, more safety, more space, more stability, more traction. 2) the absence of the RWD longitudinal propeller shaft means at the same time less fuel consumption, less noise, less pollution, less space waste, less vibrations, less weight (up to about 100 kg). 3) with a FWD car, if you apply full throttle when cornering the car becomes understeering and the worst thing that can happen is that the car go straight, colliding longitudinally with the obstacles (take a scale car model and lock with adhesive tape the front wheels, make it run on the floor, and see what happens. Then lock the rear wheels and then all the wheels, and see what happens). Furthermore, on a FWD car generally only the wheel with less grip spins, while the other wheel keeps the directionality. With a RWD car, instead, the car become oversteering and the worst thing that can happen is that the car fishtails, colliding transversally with the obstacles. With an AWD car, instead, understeer and oversteer limits are obviously higher, but if you exceed them the car control recovery could be very problematic for a normal driver, because over a certain limit the car understeer with the front axle and oversteer with the rear axle, all at the same time. 4) a FWD car is very easy and instinctive to control, because if when cornering the FWD car becomes understeering you have just to release the accelerator pedal and, eventually, slightly adjust the trajectory. A RWD car is very difficult and not at all instinctive to control, because if when cornering the FWD car becomes oversteering you have to carefully keep pressed the accelerator pedal and quickly countersteer to keep the trajectory. The behaviour of an AWD car is generally quite similar to an FWD car, but when you exceed its high limits the control recovery could be problematic for a normal driver. Briefly, I think that the overall best possible solution today available is a FWD car with an open differential, better if with TCS (Traction Control System: electronically controlled artificial limited slip differential actuated by brakes) and ASR (Anti-Slip Regulation: electronically controlled power modulation actuated by the drive-by-wire throttle). Why an open differential? Simple: just because with an open differential while one wheel spins the other wheel can keep the trajectory. I think that the only real disadvantage of a FWD car is that it is not funny to drive, because the rear wheels are almost always perfectly on their ideal trajectory, short of you use some like for example the handbrake 180° turn or the Scandinavian flick (pendulum turn). However, it is neither funny to bring your RWD car to a bodyshop for the reconstruction of the rear end, it isn't?I think that the only two possible rational solutions are FWD or AWD; however, I think that a RWD car makes sense only in presence of huge power, rear engine and, most of all, in presence of very skilled drivers. I think that if you don't live in a territory with very slippery steepy roads, an AWD car is substantially useless... a waste, from a certain point of view. For example, I think that on a snow covered road it is safer to drive a FWD car with M+S tires rather than to drive an AWD car with normal tires. And now, the curiosities corner. Did you know what is the most powerful FWD car ever? As far as I know, the most powerful FWD car ever is the existing Pontiac Grand Prix GXP, equipped with a 303 hp SAE net 5.3 V8 engine (307 hp DIN, EU-spec). They who say that the most powerful FWD cars ever are the 1966÷1970 Oldsmobile Toronado W-34 7.5 V8 (455 in³) and the 1970 Cadillac Eldorado 8.2 V8 (500 in³), both with 400 hp SAE gross (open exhausts, no accessories), are wrong, because when in 1972 there was the SAE gross to SAE net switch, the advertised power of the Cadillac Eldorado, for example, was of 365 hp SAE gross or 235 hp SAE net, while the power of the Oldsmobile Toronado fallen from 350 hp SAE gross to 250 hp SAE net (to convert DIN horsepower to SAE net, simply divide the DIN number by 1.0139). For the ultimate, I think that the annoying and not dangerous FWD cars' torque steer issue, mainly noticeable on high torque FWD cars, is not depending by the half-shafts length, but instead it is depending by the overall torsional stiffness of the left-side half-shaft and of the right-side half-shaft, no matter if the equal length half-shafts or the unequal length half-shafts system is used. I think that when full torque is delivered by the differential to the half-shafts, the longer half-shaft, due to its weak torsional stiffness, accumulates a delay in torque delivery to the right-side wheel, and this phenomenon makes the car steer to the left-side. FWD-FTW! Safety first! Alberto.

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jhNtCHKuYbg :D Alberto.