Yeah, that's one of the reasons that FWD (or AWD) is worse than RWD -- what can you expect if you've got some driveshaft (even with a CVJ) behind the wheel? It still can't turn as far as one without (like any RWD car) without snapping off the joint.

Noteworthy, though, are Volvo's own specs for some of their models. I remember looking at those for the '07 S60 my daughter was ordering: it had a larger turn radius for the AWD version than the FWD version (as you compare your FWD 850 to your AWD V70). I can't understand why, though (not counting wheelbase, which does make a difference).

Shouldn't the shafts and joints behind the front wheels be the same for FWD and AWD versions of the same model cars?

I have also seen that the optional wider wheels offered on some models require "stops" that also reduce the turning radius -- this, too, I can understand, but not FWD vs AWD (all other things being equal).

I can only speculate (pure guess!) that perhaps, because the center diff of the system can't cope with drastic differences between front and rear wheels, as would happen in a very sharp turn, the AWD cars are also given those "stops" to prevent the operator from trying to make such a sharp turn. Okay, there's a lot of things wrong with this proposal, but what else could it be?

Regards,