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Old 09-08-2004, 04:27 PM
Hudson Hudson is offline
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Re: Performance from a FWD vehicle.

Many newer FWD cars have equal-length half-shafts (you'd think that two "halves" would be equal, but apparently not). This helps reduce torque steer problems and has helped raise the threshold for maximum hp in a FWD car. Before the spread of equal-length half-shafts, the theoretical maximum was 225-250hp for a FWD car.

The amount of power a FWD is capable of handling depends largely on the weight of the vehicle, whether or not the half-shafts are equal length, and the geometry of the suspension. It is typically believed that anything above 300hp is impractical in a FWD car (note that Cadillac doesn't offer a FWD model with more than 300hp net SAE).
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