AWD Torquesteer?

[johninky]

I've never driven an AWD vehicle but am considering the 2010 Legacy.
Today I wondered if torquesteer is an issue?

Not possible with a Subaru because the front axles are equal length.

 

[Shaw]

I've never driven an AWD vehicle but am considering the 2010 Legacy.
Today I wondered if torquesteer is an issue?

 

[XR650L_Dave]

Not possible with a Subaru because the front axles are equal length.

As long as the wheels are straight and the road is not crowned, yes,
no torque steer whatsoever- as soon as the suspension deflects more on
one side than the other, or the road surface is angled differently
from side-to-side, even the subie pulls a bit.

Not much, though.

Dave

 

[weelliott]

I've never driven an AWD vehicle but am considering the 2010 Legacy.
Today I wondered if torquesteer is an issue?

There are many things that cause torque steer on cars that have power
delivered to the steering wheels. A few have been mentioned. Scrub
radius is also a big one. Basically the measurement between the center
of the tire's contact patch and the point where the steering axis of
that wheel hits the ground. Any car that has power going to the front
wheels will have torque steer to some extent. However, engineers have
worked on the suspension geometry of newer cars to quell it, and I
think it is not anything to worry about. You definitely will not have
to fight the wheel as it tries to pull you into the next lane. The
subaru does send some power to the rear, which lessens torque steer,
and under harder acceleration a higher percentage of that power goes
to the rear, so there is kind of a limit to how much power the front
sees. I think that torque steer should not be a concern for the 2010
legacy. The best thing to do is to drive it and see what you think. I
think that once you drive it, you'll want one. They're really nice. I
thought it was an ugly car in the pictures they released about 6
months ago. Now that I've seen it in person I really like it.

Bill

 

[Shaw]

There are many things that cause torque steer on cars that have power
delivered to the steering wheels. A few have been mentioned. Scrub
radius is also a big one. Basically the measurement between the center
of the tire's contact patch and the point where the steering axis of
that wheel hits the ground. Any car that has power going to the front
wheels will have torque steer to some extent. However, engineers have
worked on the suspension geometry of newer cars to quell it, and I
think it is not anything to worry about. You definitely will not have
to fight the wheel as it tries to pull you into the next lane. The
subaru does send some power to the rear, which lessens torque steer,
and under harder acceleration a higher percentage of that power goes
to the rear, so there is kind of a limit to how much power the front
sees. I think that torque steer should not be a concern for the 2010
legacy. The best thing to do is to drive it and see what you think. I
think that once you drive it, you'll want one. They're really nice. I
thought it was an ugly car in the pictures they released about 6
months ago. Now that I've seen it in person I really like it.

Bill

The issue of torquesteer just occured to me as I was researching the
Legacy. I've driven some FWD cars which were Hell to control and other
like my 99 Grand Prix which has less torquesteer than any other FWD car
I ever drove. A neighbors' Dodge Omni is the worst I ever drove.
I personally found the previous Legacy generations uninteresting but saw
the 2010 review in my local paper and its appearance alone piqued my
interest. The AWD would be a boon here in Canada too.

 

[XR650L_Dave]

The issue of torquesteer just occured to me as I was researching the
Legacy. I've driven some FWD cars which were Hell to control and other
like my 99 Grand Prix which has less torquesteer than any other FWD car
I ever drove. A neighbors' Dodge Omni is the worst I ever drove.
I personally found the previous Legacy generations uninteresting but saw
the 2010 review in my local paper and its appearance alone piqued my
interest. The AWD would be a boon here in Canada too.

In almost all conditions, you will experience no or almost no
torquesteer.


Dave

 

[Yousuf Khan]

The issue of torquesteer just occured to me as I was researching the
Legacy. I've driven some FWD cars which were Hell to control and other
like my 99 Grand Prix which has less torquesteer than any other FWD car
I ever drove. A neighbors' Dodge Omni is the worst I ever drove.
I personally found the previous Legacy generations uninteresting but saw
the 2010 review in my local paper and its appearance alone piqued my
interest. The AWD would be a boon here in Canada too.

I've never seen torquesteer in the years I've driven a Subie. However,
you will sometimes see it following the crown of the road a bit too
much. But that's not torquesteer, that happens to all cars.

Yousuf Khan