Cars
Any rear-wheel drive car can be drifted, most often with a Limited-Slip Differential, and some all-wheel-drive cars can also drift, often with less angle, but higher speed. Popular competition cars in the US include:
- Nissan 240SX
- Nissan Z33 350Z
- Toyota Corolla GT-S
- Mazda RX-7
- Honda S2000.
Recently domestic favourites have also been thrown into the mix, such as the Ford Mustang, Pontiac GTO, and the Dodge Viper.
In Japan, the top drift machines are:
- Nissan S13
- Nissan S14
- Nissan S15 Silvia
- Nissan 180SX
- Toyota AE86 Sprinter Trueno
- Toyota Corolla Levin
- Nissan Skyline (RWD versions, the ER34 4-door sedan and the previous generation of HCR32)
- Toyota Altezza
- Toyota Aristo
- Nissan Z33 Fairlady Z Nissan Cefiro
- Nissan Laurel
- Toyota Soarer
There is some debate over whether or not front-wheel-drive (FWD) vehicles can drift. By the technical definition (rear wheels slipping at a greater angle than front wheels), they are indeed able to drift. However, many consider FWD vehicles a poor choice for drifting, as the frequent use of the emergency brake (necessary to drift FWD cars) slows them down and makes them harder to control. Also since they use their front tyres for both steering and power, the car loses control after a single slide, while RWD cars can drift through consecutive corners. In this way, the definition of drifting is frequently challenged to say that FWD cars cannot drift, only powerslide.
4WD vehicles, such as the Subaru Impreza WRX STi, and Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution drift at a much different angle and are usually induced by power-over. As the front wheels are also driven on a 4WD vehicle there is a noticeable lack of counter steer.
