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Grex Cars Item 62: Thoughts and reflections on the Impala/Caprice/Riviera/Fleetwood
Entered by omni on Mon May 22 03:49:00 UTC 1995:

 

   Earlier last week, General Motors announced that 1996 would be
the last year for the Impala SS, Caprice, Buick Riviera, and the
Cadillac Fleetwood. Being that I drove an Impala as a taxi for a
while, I'm kinda partial to the old girl. But then again, I'm finally
glad to see GM moving on and gonf to all front wheel drive makes.

 Any thoughts..... reflections?

10 responses total.

#1 of 10 by bruin on Mon May 22 12:08:28 1995:

I believe it is the Buick Roadmaster, not the Riviera, that will be
going bye-bye next year.  Guess this makes the Ford Crown Victoria/
Mercury Grand Marquis/Lincoln Town Car as the last of the big
rear wheel drive sedans.  Wonder what fleet buyers (taxis, police, etc.)
are going to do when they too are outahere!

#2 of 10 by omni on Mon May 22 19:54:14 1995:

 I know that Yellow Cab of Ann Arbor has been phasing in Crown Vics,
and while the're not too bad, the Caprice still is roomier on the
whole. (I'm speaking as a rider, not a driver, BTW)

#3 of 10 by novajay on Tue May 23 01:53:11 1995:

It was a sad news to me, being that the Impala SS will be flushed down the
front wheel drive toilet (sure, it has four doors, but it's still a hell of a
lot better than a wrong-wheels driven Taurus SHO- the '96 model is UGL dder is
not the news itself, but what the news means-the demise of rear wheel drive. 
Next to go will be the Camaro/Firebird and the Mustang and lastly the 
Corvette.  Nothing beats a RWD V8 car (from a hot-rodder's standpoint). I
suppose in twenty years I'll be adding quad-turbochargers and a cam to a front
wheeling Neon sport coupe.  Until then I won''t think such evil thoughts.

#4 of 10 by mcpoz on Tue May 23 11:36:42 1995:

I agree that the rwd is best for the hot rodders, but the fwd cars really 
perform.  I had a Taurus SHO and it was really amazing.  The 96 will have 
a Yamaha 32 valve V8!

#5 of 10 by n8nxf on Tue May 23 13:30:01 1995:

I never really did like fwd a whole lot.  It bugs me the most on slick
roads when the wheels start to spin a bit and you lose stearing.  With
rwd in the same situation you can make that corner even quicker ;)

#6 of 10 by mcpoz on Tue May 23 15:15:45 1995:

I thought FWD had an advantage on slick roads, such as snow and ice.  I 
personally would think hard before I bought a family car which is RWD in
the frozen North.  As for hotrodders, isn't the weight transfer on 
accelleration the primary advantage with nearly 100% of the weight over the
rear (ie:  picking up the front wheels)?   Also, in cornering a powerful
rwd car, you have additional steering control via the power applied.

#7 of 10 by omni on Tue May 23 15:32:25 1995:

   You can't exactly put a 50# bag of kitty litter over the rear axle
in a FWD car and have it mean anything, unless your engine is in the
rear ;)

#8 of 10 by mcpoz on Tue May 23 17:00:13 1995:

You are right, but putting weight in a rwd trunk just gets a higher % of
the weight over the drive wheels.  This is an advantage fwd already has.

By the way, believe it or not, I know of a Mechanical Engineer who put sand-
bags in the back of his fwd Escort station wagon, for the purpose of helping
his snow/ice traction.

Finally, I am now driving a large RWD car which has traction control.  This
is MUCH better than a standard RWD and if anyone is getting a rwd car, I would
recommend it.

#9 of 10 by gregc on Wed May 24 12:12:49 1995:

As someone who has owned a 5-speed FWD only Subaru for 11 years, *and* a
1978 305 Chevy Caprice for 4 years(and drove it on and off for many years
beforehand), I'd have to say that, if it was really important that I get
somewhere in snowy weather, with the greatest possible speed/safty, I'd
take the Subaru every time. Now, don't get me wrong, I *like* driving the
Caprice in snowy weather, it's alot of fun. There are manuvers you can
do in a big RWD that you can't do in a small FWD. But as far as control
is concerned, I'll always take FWD.

#10 of 10 by n8nxf on Wed May 24 18:36:04 1995:

I agree.  FWD does have better traction.  Due to it's 50 / 50 weight 
distribution my 80 RWD AMC Spirit was quite good in the snow.  It was
my primary mode of transportation to and from skii trips in northern
MI as well as the UP every other weekend for 10 years.  Never a problem.
Very good snow car.  It also had above average ground clearance.  I'd
take it places where I wouldn't take our AWD Subaru.  Our 86 Chevy Nova
is decent in the snow too but FWD does have its limitations:  Loss of
stearing when skidding due to either braking or accelerating.

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