GM Rear/Front Wheel Drive Survey

BlaRo

BlaRo

Little Nudger
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General Motors is conducting an informal survey on their blog to see whether consumers would be more interested in front-wheel drive or rear-wheel drive. They're focusing on SAAB for the discussion, seeing as they have no idea what to do with them.

Link here

One of the things that GM would like to better understand is the level of enthusiasm for rear-wheel drive versus front-wheel drive, particularly for young buyers of compact and sub-compact cars. Our belief is that front-wheel drive cars can be very rewarding to drive if properly set up. We also like the interior packaging space advantages, low mass and poor-weather traction of front-drive vehicles.

At Saab, there is a long and storied tradition of fast, reliable rally cars. These cars fed significant power through the front wheels and yet remained stable and entertaining to drive, which proved particularly important in long-distance races.

At auto shows we're starting to see many small rear-drive concepts.

What do you think, should we work toward fun-to-drive front-drive or is rear-drive with all-wheel drive a better solution?
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What do you think?

Personally, a RWD SAAB would be horrible in terms of heritage, but for Chevrolet, Pontiac, and some Buicks it would be terrific. A small, RWD sports coupe would be different enough from the Japanese to sell on its own points. Failing that, AWD would be a viable alternative to both FWD family cars and enthusiast-oriented vehicles like the G6 Coupe. A 240hp AWD G6 GXP Coupe? :woot:

If this belongs in the Automotive News section, I apologize in advance.
 
there needs to be a rwd hot hatch or something practical but still small and nimble. all the kids would want one bc of performance and the parents would approve bc of practicality. hell i would buy a rwd hatch.
 
SAAB used to do RWD; besides, f*ck heritage if its going to make the cars better. I can't imagine what my friends' 92 9000 Aero CS Turbo would've been like if it was RWD - with front drive, it already pulls harder than a 911 turbo from 30-90. Everyone, do GM and every auto enthusiast a favour, and tell GM to go RWD!
 
You're all talking about small and nimble RWD cars you hope to see - made by an US manufactor :?
If anything RWD, I expect them to be big if not huge.
And I don't think that RWD would do much improvement on Saabs - I can imagine the average Saab buyer buys a Saab because it is NOT RWD.
 
Re: GM Rear/Front Wheel Drive Survey

BlaRo said:
Personally, a RWD SAAB would be horrible in terms of heritage
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I agree wholeheartidly, but I'm sure having the same steering wheel out of a Cadillac SRX wasn't on the drawing board concerning heritage either.

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I found it pretty odd that alot of people were saying to stick with FWD, but we know from racing that RWD provides much better balance, and Saab is supposed to be a sporting automobile so i don't understand their reasoning beyond heritage. If we stuck with heritage then we would all be driving cars with solid axles and leaf springs on all corners.
 
RWD cars will be more expensive not because of the mechanicals but for the electronic driving aids that needs to be added to keep people out of the ditch.

Not too many drivers pay attention enough to catch a slide in slippery conditions. They'll just spin out and crash.

I'd like to keep people driving FWD cars. They are bad enough drivers as is!
 
Re: GM Rear/Front Wheel Drive Survey

Saab has never been RWD, and should never be if it was up to me.

But it isn't, and it wouldn't surprise me if GM smacks a Saab-grille onto some sad american excuse for a sportscar...
 
Kebab gud said:
if the world was perfect then Christian von Koenigsegg and B?rd Eker whould have bought Saab from GM and made the brand perfect again..
but thats never gonna happen..
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Or maybe Ingvar Kamprad? But thats not gonna happen either...
 
If GM came out with a subcompact hatch that was RWD, I would be in 7th heaven.
 
Saab needs more models!!! a new 9-5 , a smaller car like the golf, and a small sportscar maybe.. maybe not rwd, but 4wd would be nice!
the 9-2 and the 9-7 do not count... =\

They have to do something,, The new 9-3 was something good, but it's not enough. They also shouldnt try to be "premium". When the 9-3 SS came, the prices went up for no reason.
 
Kebab gud said:
Saab.. build it yourself! now with a crazy design and an insane topspeed :p
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Maybe not :p

But I seriously think Kaprads ways of thinking could go well together with Saabs heritage. However, being the most reasonable multi-billionaire on the planet, he'd probably never buy Saab in the first place...
 
Kebab gud said:
there are rumors that porsche might buy saab ..
the only problem is that its only rumors now..
and if Porsche buys saab saab is just going to become just another maker using VW platforms...
Click to expand...
which is better then GM platforms ;)
 
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