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      11-09-2010, 11:33 AM   #20
SkipSauls
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Drives: E70 X5 35d
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bonwit904 View Post
notice the extra overhang after the front wheels vs. the current 1 in the other lane --- commensurate with FWD?

What a real shame....
One thing that often gives away FWD vs RWD is the distance between the front wheel wells and the leading edge of the doors. You can use either the actual distance or a ratio relative to the overall length of the car to often "guess" whether a car is based on a FWD architecture.

Most economy cars don't worry about this, as passenger volume trumps any worries over the handling issues caused by hanging all of the weight out over the nose. "Premium" and "luxury" cars such as those from Audi (most models except for the R8), Bentley (Continental GT & Flying Spur), Lexus (HS, ES & RX), Lincoln (all models except for Navigator and Town Car), Cadillac (DTS & SRX), Mini, VW, and others all suffer from this "feature" because they are based on FWD architectures. Many of them have AWD as standard or an option in an attempt to mask this fact, although they have a hard time escaping the wheel-to-door issue.

Using Google images you can see this for yourself pretty easily. Compare a BMW to the respective Audi model and it's fairly dramatic. I like the styling of many Audis, especially the S5 and new A7, but they still scream FWD despite the best efforts to disguise the fact.

I'd bet that the new 1 series is RWD and the overhang is due to the European crash safety standards. All of the new BMWs have a more pronounced nose, and it's going to take some time to get used to it. I'll take the bigger schnoz so long as they don't start Bangling up the styling again!
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