fwd vs rwd vs awd

["Louis A. Mulieri" <lmulieri@zoo.uvm.edu>]

	Admittedly I have been speed reading the debate on fwd, rwd and 
awd drive.  I apologize in advance if I missed this point but my real 
concern 
with fwd is and always has been with 'the stoppin' not 'the goin'.  There 
is that
fraction of a second when one takes the right foot off the accelerator 
and moves it to the brake.  At that momement the compression of the 
engine acts like a brake on the front wheels.  If you happen to be in a 
place where you do not want to put your foot back on the accelerator and 
traction is poor the obvious conclusion is that the rear end will try to 
get in front of the front end.  Last summer this happened to a friend of 
mine just after the beginning of a shower after a long dry spell.  She 
was traveling at 65mph and decided to slow down, immediately she did a 
360 nose dove into the median strip  and reemerged on the opposite lane in 
the 
wrong direction.  They had amplified the problem by putting their best 
set of tires on the front.
	For the goin part I live on a steep hill 12%+ grade and many 
fwd cars have a hard time when it is particularly icy.  One neighbor used 
to back up on those days, my husband just invites me to ride the hood out 
to the main road--wheee!

	Audi content:  My 5k quattro not only looks beautiful but 
performs superbly up and down hill goin and stoppin (even before I got 4 
studded Nokias.)
	Berthann
5000cstq; 124K and changing parts monthly but worth every penny