See my responses in red.Seems AWD vehicles are shipped to the northern states while RWD's are sent to the west and south. For everything I have researched any car with AWD has the following disadvantages;
1) Higher clearance or height reducing drag coefficient Not apparent with this model
2) Larger turning ratios You'll find the turning radius is quite good
3) More weight Yes
4) Less zero to 60 and 1/4 mile performances 0-60 in 4.6 seconds is pretty quick for AWD
4) And more technology that wears out / go wrong / defective I've had Audi's with Quattro for years, and if you perform normal maintenance (fluid changes in the transfer case/differentials), then higher maintenance cost doesn't materialize until you are well over 125-150k miles, where inevitably weepage will occur at the driveline seals.
Even where it doesn't snow, a high-horsepower AWD is preferred over rear-wheel drive because the power can be effectively applied to four wheels, which reduces wheel-spin and helps maintain control in sub-par traction conditions (i.e., light rain)
Appreciate others opinions and looking forward to some customer wheel options.
It's not really because you're pushing two dead wheels with the back two, but it's because of the amount of power you can apply to the road and actually utilize for a launch. Put too much on the rear and it'll spin. Put a lot more on all four and it'll drop the power down and kick off with no issue. That's why AWD cars can 60 foot like beasts and requires a much better setup RWD car to be able to keep up. But on the top end, with all of the power being divided, the RWD car will blow by.From what I've seen in reviews the AWD models tend to have better 0-60 times by a few tenths but I imagine the 1/4mile is worse, the reason the 0-60 is better is you have 4 wheels to apply power to in order to launch the car from stationary instead of 2 trying to push 2 that are dead weight. The height difference is a half an inch, the turning radius difference is 6 inches, and the weight difference is about 160lbs in an almost 2 ton car anyway, a little over 4% increase.
As far as things to go wrong well I got the extended warranty on mine and I'm not sure how much longer past that I'll be keeping it, frankly even without AWD in the mix the number of things that can go wrong on these cars once out of warranty is staggering and in 7-8 years self driving cars will probably be a lot more commonplace and a digital chauffeur sounds neat.
That's one of the reasons I am going AWD this time around. Off the line you have an AWD coupe, but after that, its RWD, so should be pretty good performer.The Q60 AWD only kicks in when required. It keeps the power 100% to the rear unless it's needed up front, and it can send 50% forward.
The GTR has the same setup, and you can actually watch it on a torque split meter on the dash. After using AWD to get off the line, it's almost always 100% rear in a straight line. Once you start cornering, AWD will kick in, but that actually is a benefit.
I like going WOT coming out of turns and so I prefer AWD myself. Additionally, we get a bunch of ice in the hills here so having AWD helps a little. Our winter facilities are severely lacking compared to up north.That's one of the reasons I am going AWD this time around. Off the line you have an AWD coupe, but after that, its RWD, so should be pretty good performer.
We have very similar driving styles,lol, and it tends to rain alot here.I like going WOT coming out of turns and so I prefer AWD myself. Additionally, we get a bunch of ice in the hills here so having AWD helps a little. Our winter facilities are severely lacking compared to up north.
And the added weight. But Nissan's ATTESA system has been around in some form or another and that too in high hp applications for decades. There's no one else I would trust more when it comes to AWD systems...not even Audi (although their current Haldex based AWD systems suck while the original Quattro was awesome)Well that just explains it even better as to why the AWD is the ultimate option for this :|
The only thing I can think of that's a "drawback" is more pieces to break ? That's pretty much it.
I have a set of Vossen VFS1's that I am waiting to put on. 20x9.5 and 20x12. The rear most likely wont fit but I am going to see what I can do to make them work. I just need a day that isn't -10 degrees lolAnyone in the states with aftermarket wheels?