# Rear-wheel-drive leasing, delivered anywhere in mainland Britain

> Rear-wheel drive sends all the power to the back axle, so the front wheels only steer. That separation is why most sports cars, supercars and large prestige saloons are built this way: the steering stays uncorrupted under power and the balance of the car is adjustable with the throttle. The trade is traction in the cold and the wet. Six-month minimum term, 12,000 miles a year.

Source page: [https://performanceandprestige.co.uk/hire/rear-wheel-drive](https://performanceandprestige.co.uk/hire/rear-wheel-drive) · Updated September 2026

Ask somebody who cares about driving why they want rear-wheel drive and the answer will be about feel rather than about speed, and they are right. In a front-driven car the same two tyres have to steer and to deliver the power, and every time you ask for both at once one of the jobs is compromised — you feel it as a steering wheel that goes light or tugs under acceleration, and as a nose that runs wide on the way out of a corner. Separating the two jobs removes that entirely. The front wheels do nothing but point the car, so the steering stays clean and consistent whatever your right foot is doing, and the rear wheels do nothing but push, at exactly the moment weight is transferring backwards onto them and pressing them into the road. That is why the layout survived in performance cars long after front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive took over everything else, and it is why so much of what is worth driving in this catalogue is rear-driven. It is not a free choice, though, and a page that pretends otherwise is selling rather than explaining. All of the power going through two wheels means those two wheels can run out of grip, and in Britain that is not a theoretical concern. A six-month term will include cold mornings and a great deal of rain whenever it begins, and the biggest variable is not actually the drivetrain but the tyres: wide, soft performance rubber loses a startling amount of grip in low temperatures regardless of which axle it is attached to. What follows covers both halves honestly, including what to do if the term you are considering starts in October rather than in May.

## What we list in this category

0 cars. Cars labelled "in our fleet" are ours, with a confirmed monthly figure; cars labelled "we can source" are arranged through vetted partners, which means availability is confirmed with the partner before anything is agreed and no figure is published for them until it is.

## What does rear-wheel drive change about how a car feels?

Three things you notice within a mile. The steering is clean, because nothing is asked of the front tyres except direction — no tugging under acceleration, no lightening as the power arrives. The car squats and pushes rather than pulling itself along, and because weight transfers rearwards as you accelerate, the driven wheels are loaded at precisely the moment they are asked to work. And the balance is adjustable: a small lift, or a little more throttle mid-corner, alters the attitude of the car in a way a front-driven one cannot match. That adjustability is the whole appeal of the layout, and it is also the part that asks for respect in the wet.

## Is rear-wheel drive a problem in a British winter?

It is a real consideration in particular situations rather than a general handicap. Pulling away uphill on a wet or frosty morning is where you notice it, along with an unsurfaced drive, standing water on a roundabout, and anything approaching snow. In ordinary cold rain on a main road, a modern rear-driven car with its electronics on is undramatic. The dominant variable is the tyre rather than the axle: high-performance rubber goes hard and loses grip as the temperature drops, and a powerful car on cold tyres deserves a gentle first ten minutes whatever drives it. If the months you are booking are the difficult ones and the driving itself is not the point of the exercise, the all-wheel-drive cars are the more relaxed choice and we will happily point you at them.

## What do the electronics do?

Traction control limits how much power reaches the rear wheels once they begin to spin. Stability control goes further, braking individual wheels to pull the car back into line when it starts to rotate. Both work extremely well, and both are intervening far more often on a wet road than you realise. What neither can do is create grip that is not there — they manage the grip the tyres have, and once that is gone they can only limit the consequences. Leave them on. The cars here are supplied with their systems configured as the manufacturer intended, and a wet British B-road is not the place to discover what happens without them.

## Does the drivetrain change the lease?

Not at all. Six-month minimum term, two months up front and then one a month, 12,000 miles a year included, with the excess-mileage rate and the full cost stack on each vehicle page. Cars are supplied on their manufacturer-specified tyres, and changing them is not something to arrange yourself — if the weather during your term genuinely concerns you, raise it when you enquire rather than after delivery. Deposit, insurance excess and driver criteria are set per car and are provisional, and the insurance arrangement is confirmed with you before anything is agreed.

## Driver criteria for this category

Criteria are stated per car on the car’s own page. See [driver requirements](https://performanceandprestige.co.uk/requirements) for what is checked and why.

## Frequently asked questions

### Will a rear-wheel-drive car get me through snow?

Assume not, and plan around it. Snow is the one condition where the layout is genuinely limiting, and performance tyres make it worse rather than better. If you need to keep moving through it, an all-wheel-drive car on the right tyres is a different vehicle entirely. Tell us when you enquire if that is a realistic part of your term.

### Can I fit winter tyres for the colder months?

Not on your own initiative. The cars are supplied on the tyres the manufacturer specified, and changing them sits outside a standard agreement — so it is a conversation to have before the car is delivered rather than a decision to take during the term.

### Is a rear-wheel-drive car harder to drive day to day?

In normal conditions, no. Most drivers would not identify the layout blindfolded on a dry road, and the electronics handle the rest. What it asks for is restraint in two moments: heavy throttle from a standstill on a wet or greasy surface, and accelerating hard out of a tight corner in the rain. Treat those two with respect and the layout gives back far more than it asks for.

### Rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive if my term starts in autumn?

If the point of the car is the driving, take the rear-driven one and accept a handful of cautious mornings. If the car simply has to be dependable through whatever the winter does, take all-wheel drive — you give up a little purity and gain a car you never have to think about at a wet junction.


Related: [All-wheel-drive cars](https://performanceandprestige.co.uk/hire/all-wheel-drive) · [Sports cars](https://performanceandprestige.co.uk/hire/sports-car) · [Two-seaters](https://performanceandprestige.co.uk/hire/two-seat)

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*Performance & Prestige leases vehicles from its own fleet and, where a vehicle is not one of ours, arranges it through a vetted partner. Cars marked "we can source" carry no published figure and are subject to confirmation before anything is agreed. Monthly figures include VAT and are quoted with their minimum term. Nothing is booked or paid for through this website: a person confirms the car, the full cost and the delivery slot with you first.*