If when rounding a curve and accelerating the rear wheels on a 1995 Crown Victoria seem to turn out and push the rear-end around the curve is this your imagination?

Answer 1

A CV suspension is set up to "understeer" if you are coasting or off of the throttle, this means that the car tends to go where the wheels are pointed. This is a pretty safe, predictable way to pilot a car. If you apply enough power to the rear tires to cause them to skid slightly, allowing the rear of the car to swing out, applying a little more power will "push" the car into the corner that the car is following. It's a fine balance with the average passenger car. A Crown Victoria with a Police Suspension Package will handle this kind of abuse better than the standard model with soft steering, soft suspension.

This characteristic is actually a feature of high-performance rear-wheel-drive cars that can allow them to corner better than a similar size/weight front-wheel-drive car. Of course, all-wheel-drive cars behave better than either.

The best way to get a handle on skidding and sliding steering is to take a closed-track high-performance driving course. They'll have Caprice/CV and Z-28 Camaro/Mustang GT's to drive with an instructor. This is NOT your high school drivers' ed course!