"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...

FWD cars typically have relatively primitive rear suspensions and still
handle pretty well because the rear suspension of a FWD car doesn't
have a lot to do but keep the rear bumper from dragging on the
pavement! ;-)

That's what many makers would have you believe as it keeps costs down.

In a former life I was an automotive engineer in a department that did
development of future cars for one of the USA big 3.

Part of that job was suspension design and analysis. It is hard to
effectively lie to me about steering and suspension design. ;-)

But the better handling FWD cars also have decent rear suspension.

Right, but doing whatever you are doing right is far more important than
which general setup you pick.

Even longitudinal leaf springs with a live axle done right can work well on
reasonably smooth surfaces. High unsprung weight only matters on bad
surfaces, which unfortunately seems to prevail these days.

For example people like to **** on FWD cars with simple trailing arms and a
beam axle at the rear. However the beam axle is unsurpassed for keeping the
wheels near vertical to the pavement which is very important for developing
maximum cornering force. If the wheels are not powered, unsprung weight can
be kept low. Get the trailing arm geometry right which is often done, and
you have a nice vehicle - stable but still adequately nimble.

The gold standard is upper and lower control arms, but that soup gets ****ed
in at least as often as it is done right. ;-) Many compromises come when
encroachments on the passengers and luggauge are to be avoided.