Rwd Or Awd. Which Stagea Is Better?

[momo]

Its wrong.

Almost mid 1500's with half a tank of petrol on a local weigh bridge and another mates R33 GTST weighed a tad over 1400kg's on the local weigh bridge also half a tank of petrol.

Kerb Weight is with a full tank of juice, all coolant, oil etc.

were you in the car just out of interest.

regarless its semantics the math says 110kgs you say "Almost mid 1500's" - "a tad over 1400kg's" so lets say 1540-1410 =130kg

I would suggest the numbers are correct and perhaps there interpretation of curb weight is different (dry weight?) it is after all a site used by everyone in japan for car stats.

I stand by my statement if the extra weight didnt out way the beifit it wouldnt be there.

[Cubes]

Possibly.. Japlish has the dry weight as kerb weight.

Also.. That a tad over 1400kg (1433kg from memory) was for the R33 GTST. My R32 GTST hasn't been on there yet as the weigh bridge is up north so I'd expect around the expected 1320-1340kg's. Might be more. I really should pull my finger out of my... and get it down on the weigh bridge to know for sure.

Weights were with no one in the car.

I wasn't disputing your statement of the extra weight benefit thing just weights. AWD FTW.

[joe26f]

I only said how often do you see attessa vehicles in WRC because the bloke before me said something like AWD cars in WRC mack everything else so AWD stageas must be better.

I only bought the RS because it was an excellent example of a stagea that hadnt been modified and the extra few thousand for a rs4 paid for my insurance plus it was full leather n sunroofs which was pretty much all i was after. I wanted the AWD model but couldnt afford it being 20 and on shithouse wages.

Im not disagreeing with anyone I just reckon you'd have to be macking around to notice the difference between two standard stagea's one RS the other RS4. The AWD in the end would cope better with mods.

Depends what you are using it for, if its your daily and you drive it normal you'd be hard pressed to find a difference. If your race boy extroadanaire and want to average over 200kph around the nurburgring get the AWD.

I think your all being tools with the whole my stagea is better then your stagea argument.

[Silverback]

Whether driving a RWD or AWD Stagea, the key things in determining car control are the skill of the driver, the prevailing conditions, the speed of corner entry/apex/exit and understanding the capability of the vehicle you are driving.

As an illustration of stupidity regarding driving, I am reminded of a time when a workmate drove us back to Canberra after a drive day at Eastern Creek. We were in a late model fairmont, and as we came into the first roundabout into Canberra I was a little disconcerted that my mate was entering the roundabout at too high a speed, this was confirmed about 2 seconds later as we plough understeered into the gutter on the side, completely stuffing the suspension in the process. When I asked WTF did he think he was doing, he replied "I thought the traction control would be working"!! Looking incredulously at him after that comment, I then informed him that the traction control stops wheelspin under acceleration, and only operates on the rear wheels

[momo]

I think your all being tools with the whole my stagea is better then your stagea argument.

Didnt ever here that mentioned by anyone sorry pal, must have missed it. enjoy what ever you've got.

Edited July 13, 2007 by momo

[Sydneykid]

Considering my usage patterns, I actually can't think of one reason why I would personally buy a RWD Stagea over an AWD Stagea, in the real world the fuel economy difference is negligible, the lower purchase price is offset by the lower resale value. The AWD has so many advantages for me, extra weight for towing, traction for getting out of wet pit areas with the trailer attached, destroying HSV Commondoors and FPV Foulcans from the lights, especially in the wet. There's no downside there.

cheers

[Mr_RS4]

I also prefer the AWD, like the comment about the traction controll a couple of posts above exactly illustrates my point about people placing too much confidence in driver aides and treating them as brain replacments But I still agree its safer and I wouldn't give it up (my comment about ditching the AWD in a manual conversion was purely thinking out loud). And I agree about everything SK and most others have said so far................

HOWEVER "joe26f", where do you get off mate? There is always one person to wreck a good discussion! I don't recall anyone so far mentioning anyones stagea being better than anothers. We have been talking about advantages and disadvantages of AWD vs RWD and people have bought different opinions to the topic but I haven't seen anyone being a tool about it......except yourself! And I think (had you read everything properly) there have been a few examples where AWD can assist you in certain conditions over what RWD can provide with out "If your race boy extroadanaire and want to average over 200kph around the nurburgring get the AWD."

Anyhow I'm glad that your happy with your purchase and it seems that you made a wise choice, after all as long as your happy. But lay off the un-necessary comments ok

[STAG250]

SO...

Is the extra 3 odd grand dollars worth the difference between a RWD and ATTESA AWD.

I'll take a poll.

I think so

[AlexCim]

Out of interest, has anyone EVER broken traction with all 4 wheels in a stagea or GTR? I'd guess its extremely difficult to lose control due to traction loss in either of these cars...

Yes, infact, I've done it countless times. Dry tarmac, wet tarmac, ice, snow, dirt, grass, mud. Been there, done that.

....and I have never managed to even chirp the tyres on the 4wd let alone spin them

I get chirps 1->2 and sometimes on downshifts 2->1

On a wet road with Nankang/Wanli/Linglong spec tyres, if I stall it up and launch I get about 0.5s worth of FOUR wheel spin. On a very wet road, I spin all FOUR wheels through all of first gear.

My car does not have an LSD, but it still LS's all the time. U-turns, loose earth, wet road, whatever except dry road.

Pixel8r, I still don't believe that accelerating MORE will have the car pull out of a corner safer.

I stand by the comment. I found that when accelerating through a corner it is best to induce understeer and then plant my foot to get the fronts spinning and pulling me out of the corner. This also causes a much smoother transition onto the straight as I found lifting off unsettles the car slightly.

Yes, I hoon around in mine a lot and it sees some hard driving, but I wouldn't give up the AWD without a fight. I honestly say that there have been times where I have thanked god for the car being AWD rather than RWD. Also, I think it being 4WD has helped me a lot in keeping my license (Probably just my problem).

THOUGH, at this point I am considering converting mine to RWD (long story why, its not coz I am anti AWD), but I don't think it would have been wise to start off with a pure RWD stagea. I also always comment to others, "If I had to give my kid a turbo car as a first car, this would be it"

BTW, those comparing figures for speed/etc

AWD, 180awkw, 14.2 @ 99mph compared to GorGasm's 14.7 with 175rwkw (or whatever it was)

[GorGasm]

170rwkw Id expect about a low 14 now with 186rwkw.

Parts for the RWD stagea are a pain in the ass to get. Still havent got brakes to fit >=(

[AlexCim]

For the weight difference to be significant over the traction advantage id think that power for power, you should get a better time than an AWD.

Either way, low 14's is a quick street car but everyones cousins non turbo VL runs a 11, so their VL MUST run an 8... without ever having gone to the track.

[_Ryan_]

I have had 4 wheels spinning in the wet and a little bit in the dry in a stocky on nankangs, decent rubber fixed that tho.

I bought my car for the AWD- keeps me out of trouble , keeps me safer in the wet- I cant pull out in traffic or boot it to merge in the datto in the wet, same thing with roundabout's, AWD is great on country roads.

For me the stagea was meant to be a sensible car i can put-around in and drive into the ground, i haven't driven the 1600 since i bought it

I can let my GF borrow it and not have to worry about getting a call about it being wrapped around a pole... That said, her supra is smooth even tho its HEAVY and stock height, rear end comes round and it just glides.

-Ryan

[ssshonky]

haa.. Ironic isnt it? I went from a Pulsar with no traction to a stagea with heaps of traction

but I am here thinking .. hey that 1600 sounds heaps of fun!

Never happy it seems!

I have had 4 wheels spinning in the wet and a little bit in the dry in a stocky on nankangs, decent rubber fixed that tho.

I bought my car for the AWD- keeps me out of trouble , keeps me safer in the wet- I cant pull out in traffic or boot it to merge in the datto in the wet, same thing with roundabout's, AWD is great on country roads.

For me the stagea was meant to be a sensible car i can put-around in and drive into the ground, i haven't driven the 1600 since i bought it

I can let my GF borrow it and not have to worry about getting a call about it being wrapped around a pole... That said, her supra is smooth even tho its HEAVY and stock height, rear end comes round and it just glides.

-Ryan

[pixel8r]

haa.. Ironic isnt it? I went from a Pulsar with no traction to a stagea with heaps of traction

but I am here thinking .. hey that 1600 sounds heaps of fun!

Never happy it seems!

I think I can relate. I went from a silvia turbo to the stagea so I kinda know what its like. The silvia turbs used to lose traction very easily in the wet, had to kind of go gently up to 60km/h. The stagea is just so much more stable and easier to control in every way, mainly due to the extra weight and AWD. Still I sometimes miss the nimbleness and acceleration rush of the silvia (even though the stagea is only a fraction slower).

My current saga with the stagea is how badly it deals with hot weather. I'm slowly realising the turbo is way too big for it and all the driving around off-boost or trying to build revs to reach boost in 35+ degree weather is getting me very annoyed and frustrated. I was warned by many people on here though so I should've listened to them instead of the "turbo specialist" who told me that the GT30 would be more responsive than a GCG highflow...whatever. I've figured I could probably sell the GT30 for about the same price as it costs to get a Garrett GTRS new so all it would cost is the labour to change it over (and maybe a couple bucks for gaskets?) - very tempting. would breathe some life back into the ol' wagon and give the GT30 to someone who would hopefully have funds and a more suitable car and get more from it than I have.

The car is great when on boost, but the problem is that in hot weather the engine isn't as responsive off-boost so it takes an awful lot longer to even get to 2500rpm I find I'm pushing the car almost to its limits to keep up with other cars who are just casually cruising along

enough griping from me though...way off topic sorry...

[Duncan]

Alex....put some decent tyres on I still cant chirp second let alone get them spinning

[AlexCim]

Alex....put some decent tyres on I still cant chirp second let alone get them spinning

Here is a list of the quality of tyre that I have bought for my Stag. I chirped them all.

- Yokohama DNA GP

- Advan Neova AD7

- Dunlop LM702

- Michelin Pilot Precida

- Federal SS595

- Hankook K104

Here is the quality of tyres that spin all 4 in the wet

- Nankang E505 (or something like that) [Came with the car]

- Wanli something [borrowed wheels off a mate, these were on them]

[Tangles]

I love the hankook K104.

Ive chirped them in the dry a few times

[_Ryan_]

RE001's grip insane wet/dry, and 8000km and counting!