BMW and Mercedes-Benz are two marques that have touted for years the blessings of the rear wheel drive format -and stuck religiously to it. Fast skeptics quickly harp on poor foul weather traction and that gas mileage is typically better on most front drive vehicles.
Both Munich and Stuttgart have added all-wheel drive models to the market; BMW has the 3-Series and 5-Series with "xi" models; the Mercedes-Benz C, E, and S-Class have 4-Matic offers.
German rival Audi also offers all wheel drive models - in fact most Audis are Quattros.
That said, unlike BMW and Mercedes-Benz, Audi touts its Quattro cars as having handling benefits that outshine the competition. BMW and Benz merely use their all wheel drive models to answer critics' critiques of poor rear-wheel drive traction in wintry conditions rather than touting them as better handling cars.
In fact, the numbers generally support the evidence that there is little to no handling advantage in having four wheels driving as opposed to only the rear wheels.
Motor Trend's 2004 performance data on the BMW 745i vs. the Audi A8 is a case in point. In the 600 ft slalom, the rear wheel drive BMW beat the Quattro Audi at 66.1 mph vs. 64.1 mph. In the same test, the Mercedes-Benz S430 also out slalomed the Audi with a 1 .3 mph lead.
Doubtlessly, the latest figures show similar results on the 2006 model years.
The point? BMW and Mercedes-Benz can continue to feel justified. And Audi? A little less so.
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