Bumps and potholes - AWD vs FWD rear suspension

[Salwans]

I wonder how much of a ride quality difference will be noticed, between the FWD and AWD models, when going over speed bumps and potholes.

Per the spec sheet, the FWD models (both the hybrid and Ecoboost fwd) have a torsion beam rear suspension, while the AWD models have an independent multilink rear suspension. In my case I will be driving on paved roads 99.99% of the time. Hence ride quality over bumps and potholes are my only concern, and i’m not as much concerned about ride quality on dirt roads and gravel roads.

i’ve heard that independent rear suspension is more capable / better ride quality in certain situations. Will I notice a difference in my mostly urban driving?

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[NewBernWolf]

I wonder how much of a ride quality difference will be noticed, between the FWD and RWD models, when going over speed bumps and potholes.

Per the spec sheet, the FWD models (both the hybrid and Ecoboost fwd) have a torsion beam rear suspension, while the AWD models have an independent multilink rear suspension. In my case I will be driving on paved roads 99.99% of the time. Hence handling of bumps and potholes are my only concern, and i’m not as much concerned about ride quality on dirt roads and gravel roads.

i’ve heard that independent rear suspension is more capable / better ride quality in certain situations. Will I notice a difference in my mostly urban driving?

Who knows? Unless one person drives the two of the exact same vehicles - except one has independent rear suspension, and the other has torsion beam suspension, it's pretty hard to make an impartial comparison. They'll both handle potholes and bumps though. Otherwise, it wouldn't be safe to sell them.

 

[JASmith]

Torsion beam is basically a semi-independent suspension, so its not going to be as extreme a difference as IRS vs solid axle, and somewhere in between.

Here's a physics simulation program that can kind of show the same vehicle with two different rear suspensions, IRS and torsion:


The simulation shows the main difference is that it really only makes a difference when you have the passenger side impact something significant right before the driver's side does and visa versa, since some of the force is translated to the other side.

A Maverick is not a sports car, and most of the time you wouldn't notice a difference. I think the main reason they gave the AWD system a true IRS is simply because packaging a torsion beam with powered rear wheels is challenging. Mazda somehow pulled it off with a weird setup on the Mazda3, but they probably have a patent on it.

tl;dr: You'll be fine w/ torsion beam and not notice a difference on road under most circumstances, except maybe on big cracks in the road while turning at speed, so like a really poorly maintained twisty road.

 

[alexcrg]

This is the kind of thing Im trying to learn about the truck, and less about those cubicular pockets in the mavericks bed

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