Are any FWD cars genuinely rowdy?

When I think of rowdy cars, I mean things that are a handful in a good way. They make you giggle when you drive them. The thought crossed my mind, are any FWD cars genuinely rowdy?

Speed 3= FWD muscle car.

Pretty much anything with enough boost and torque steer- Saabs and turbo Dodges come to mind.

Neon srt4.

SAAB c900 turbo.

Omni GLH and all it's variants.

Turbo Sprint/Firefly/Swift.

Turbo Colt.

I'm sure there are more, but if it's 4cyl+ FWD+ Turbo it's hard not to be rowdy, especially if it's light.

MX6 or Probe GT

JtspellS wrote: Speed 3= FWD muscle car.

Agreed. I had a 2010, that car was a handful in the lower gears if you weren't on basically perfect pavement........and even then.

And IIRC it was boost limited in the first few gears.

I'll second the Saab C900 Turbo. Of all the cars I've owned it's in the top 3 of fun.

Neon SRT-4 and Mazdaspeed 3. The Fiat 500 Abarth certainly sounds rowdy.

There's an RSX that auto crosses locally and is the most tail happy FWD car I've ever seen. I'm guessing that's mostly due to setup rather than some inherent tendency of the car, though I don't know McStrut Hondas that well. Looks like a huge handful on course and I've seen the guy lose it in spectacular fashion a few times (which I, of course, have NEVER done...), but I'm sure it's a riot.

z31maniac wrote:

JtspellS wrote: Speed 3= FWD muscle car.

Agreed. I had a 2010, that car was a handful in the lower gears if you weren't on basically perfect pavement........and even then. And IIRC it was boost limited in the first few gears.

My 08 was the same, the second you got on the throttle you better be ready to counter steer, and yes 1st and 2nd was limited to i think 11 or so PSI, Love my RX8 but miss the hell out of that car.

A CRX with a B16 and a spool! Every drive's a workout.

JtspellS wrote: Speed 3= FWD muscle car.

I'll third this. I bought my '11 version of the car because it made me giggle after I nearly torque-steered off an on ramp on the test drive. Now I've added even more power and its hilarious.

Focus ST FTW

jstein77 wrote: Focus ST FTW

My impression is that the Fiesta is more rowdy than the Focus.. Focus felt like a Saab... Fiesta felt like a terrier on crack.. always ready for more throttle.

In reply to jstein77:

Funny thing is I agree with this too, test drove one and was blown away by how it felt, unlike the MS3 this felt quite a bit more linear.

I just picked up a VR6 GTI and find it hilarious.

Furious_E wrote: There's an RSX that auto crosses locally and is the most tail happy FWD car I've ever seen. I'm guessing that's mostly due to setup rather than some inherent tendency of the car, though I don't know McStrut Hondas that well. Looks like a huge handful on course and I've seen the guy lose it in spectacular fashion a few times (which I, of course, have NEVER done...), but I'm sure it's a riot.

I've never done anything like that.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/HK4tfRGvZ6s

Well, maybe once or twice.

The turbo Cobalt SS with an LSD and a tune is quite a handful.

I've never driven a stock SRT4 (and probably never will) but all of the ones I've driven are fairly raucous.

It's not as the factory built it, but my 1gn Neon with an SRT4 swap is pretty rowdy.

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: My impression is that the Fiesta is more rowdy than the Focus.. Focus felt like a Saab... Fiesta felt like a terrier on crack.. always ready for more throttle.

I've driven both, and even owned a Fiesta (for about 6 months), and I found the Focus much friskier (more tail-happy) and faster on an autocross course.

Of course, the RS tops that by a significant margin. I drove home from work last night in Sport mode with the traction control off, and I can honestly say I've never had so much fun on a daily commute.

I autocrossed a friend's ~300whp Supercharged SC2 and it was a handful.

Any FWD car can be made rowdy. My experience with DWB integras and civics certainly proves this. However, more relavent are cars that come from the factory like that. To that note, I' say Speed3, mkIII GTI VR6, Fiesta ST.

Gen 1 and 2 Taurus SHOs are quite potent, but they're still family cars. The engine is a riot though.

Forced induction in a FWD car is fun in a maniacal way, especially with the boost turned up.

Common concerns to look into when considering a FWD boost monster are:

How much power can the gearbox handle?

Are there limited slip differentials available for the application?

ECU tuning capabilities for the platform application?

Does the ECU allow codes to be read from a basic OBD2 scanner without a manufacturer specific one needed?

Reliability, support and parts availability to correct issues that can pop up on the particular vehicle, especially with output levels exceeding OE spec. The service and support for these issues will likely come from an aftermarket supplier or shop, is there a good one that you can trust for a particular application that you can trust, i.e. are they honest and open with information as opposed to just pushing whatever earns them the highest profit margin.

My own 1st gen Probe GT seemed remarkable composed and balanced - unless you lifted off the throttle at the wrong time; then it would try to swap ends on you. It was, however, way down on power from when it was new; I could see it being rowdy if it had more power.

Chrysler turbo cars were also pretty noisy, raucous, and could be had with a suspension tuned more for handling than comfort.

However, the most rowdy-feeling FWD car I've driven myself would have to have been a Saturn Ion Red Line.