RE: To lock or not to lock...

[audidudi@mindspring.com (Jeffrey J. Goggin)]

>"with an AWD car, it's very difficult to recover, period.".......
>
>......because an AWD car allows you to get far more speed and with far more
confidence
>than would ever be possible without AWD but does not give you an equal
improvement in 
>handling and braking Vs 2WD. AWD makes it 'too easy' for the less
experienced to get in
>way over their heads Vs 2WD.

Well, sort of ... the real answer is that with AWD, modulating the throttle
doesn't affect the car's balance nearly as much as it does with a 2WD car.
With a FWD or RWD car, modulating the throttle helps you trim the car's
balance; with AWD -- especially with the center diff locked -- you're
modulating both ends at the same time which, in effect, cancels everything
out.  That's why it's so difficult to recover when you overcook it into a
corner and the front (or rear) end starts sliding ... that's also why
slow-in, fast-out works so well with these cars.

That said, Glen is right on the money as to why average drivers get into
trouble with AWD.  I would disagree that AWD cars have higher cornering
limits, though, as generally speaking, they don't.  It may feel like it,
subjectively at least, but in terms of absolute cornering power, the
difference is minimal.

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