20 of the best front-wheel-drive cars ever built
Peugeot 205 GTi
Available with either a 104bhp 1.6-litre or a 130bhp 1.9-litre, the 205 GTi had McPherson front struts and a compact trailing arm setup at the rear, combined with communicative steering, allowing it to rival some bigger and more powerful cars in handling. The 1.9-litre offered suspension tweaks to reduce pitch and roll and combat the understeer that could be found on earlier 1.6 cars. It became increasingly popular because of its price-performance ratio and is still considered one of the world’s best front-wheel drive cars to this day.
Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport S
The Honda Civic Type R and Renaultsport Megane 275 Trophy-R were extreme but Volkswagen took it a step further when they upped their GTI and removed the rear seats, freeing up 30kg. 306bhp and bespoke damper tuning, more camber, a lightweight front aluminium subframe and bespoke Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres meant the Clubsport S was the quickest front-wheel drive Golf yet. A front splitter and rear wing generated a little amount of downforce which neutralized the 60kg of lift that was once produced by the GTI Performance. This gave the Clubsport S impeccable chassis balance and even promoted oversteer.
Ford Focus RS500
Just as everyone was getting used to the Mk2 Focus RS, Ford then added 45bhp and resurrected the RS500 badge which, as the name suggested, meant only 500 examples of the Focus RS500 would be built. Although the chassis remained untouched from the base Focus RS, an LSD was equipped to help manage the extra power and claw the car around bends, and it would even lift the rear wheel if pushed hard enough. By trailing the brakes toward a corner with the ESP turned off, you could encourage the rear into helping adjust the cornering line.
Ford SportKa
From the 90s the 2010s the compact hot hatchback market was booming, with cars like the Suzuki Swift Sport and Fiat Panda 100hp being vastly popular. Whilst the original Ford Ka lacked performance with its 1.0-litre and 1.3-litre engines, Ford extracted 94bhp from the 1.6-litre for the SportKa. It then underwent chassis changes such as a 22mm wider front track to improve road holding, stiffened bushes, extra bracing, a suspension drop of 14mm and an anti-roll bar that was stiffened by 60 per cent. This meant the SportKa was eager to respond to the slightest of input.
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