Two wheel drive vs 4 wheel

I'm not the best at these things but was wondering, if a lot of power/energy is lost through gears and diffs etc would a 300 hp 4x4 be faster if you disconnected the prop or whatever folk do to make Rs 2 wheel drive? May be a stupid question but who better to ask it and it keeps the site busy lol

Alot faster with 2wd the loss is alot less. I would love the audi conversion with the haldex controller to swap between 2 n 4wd

One of my future purchases is carbon prop dont make massive difference but every little helps

Cant remember how much transmission power loss it is but its quite high iirc ...you could pop the front drive shaft out and give it a go

40% ish some say 25 but mine was alot more and it had all fluids changed etc but runs uprated box

Do you get less with an oe box compared to a qauife then ???

What would happen if you just removed prop?

Interesting read

http://www.superstreetonline.com/how-to/engine/modp-1005-drivetrain-power-loss/

And rear drive shafts. May not have been as stupid a question afterall

nomad wrote:Do you get less with an oe box compared to a qauife then ???

i think so due to the cut on gears more so again on straight cut. I no expert on this subject

It really depends on what you mean by faster.
A 4x4 300bhp Gtir will beat a fwd Gtir off the line, but if you do a rolling start it will possibly be the fwd Gtir that will edge in front due to less transmission losses.
We will know for sure once my project is completed.

Had a fwd Gtir turbo back in 2007 running 307bhp and beat a mate of mine running a 4x4 300bhp Gtir from second gear rolling start.

There does seem to be alot of variables to consider especially comparing 2 separate cars.

Doesn't seem to be much difference. Not enough to loose 4 wheel drive anyway

The weight difference is also a big factor, all those exta drive shafts and diffs for 4wd weigh a fahookin tonne

Your not wrong there bill i wonder how much in total wieght all the 4wd stuff is ...

well
n14 gti curb weight 1110kg
vs rnn14 gtir curb weight 1220kg

just to give a ball park.. say around 110kg for transfer, prop shaft, rear diff, subframe, axles, extra bracing/metal

I reckon that would sound about right?

Obviously the main difference would be the handling and I'm sorry to say it but as much as I live 4wd is actually a disadvantage in most circumstances, yes you've got a lot more grip but that only comes in handy when your launching or getting the power down hard coming out of a tight bend.

4wd is only good if your off road or in poor conditions, in every other way 2wd is technically faster and handles better.
Having said that converting a gtir to RWD might be a bit Leary lol and fwd would spin like feck if you tried launch it hard