Go with all-wheel drive and you'll have plenty of road grip. Front-wheel-drive is easier to control but there's also that issue of torque steer (see: MazdaSpeed3). Then there's rear-wheel-drive, the enthusiast driver's choice but not always the easiest to handle. Anyone who cares about driving more than likely has their preference here, but there's something else that now needs to be taken into consideration: modern engineering. Because cars have computers running the show these days, FWD and RWD systems are now more capable than ever.

RWD in the winter can often now be solved with the right set of tires, for example. But then again, rally-inspired favorites like the Subaru WRX are hard to beat because of its AWD personality. XCAR gets behind the wheel of three cars for an AWD vs FWD vs RWD competition.