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The powertrain layout of a motorised vehicle such as a car is often defined by the location of the engine or motors and the drive wheels. Layouts can roughly be divided into three categories: front-wheel drive (FWD), rear-wheel drive (RWD) and four-wheel drive (4WD).
Early cars using the FWD layout include the 1925 Alvis, 1929 Cord L-29, 1931 DKW F1, the 1948 Citroën 2CV, 1949 Saab 92, the 1957 Trabant P50, and the 1959 Mini.In the 1980s, the traction and packaging advantages of this layout caused many compact and mid-sized vehicle makers to adopt it in the US.
This layout is typically chosen for its better weight distribution (the heaviest component is near the center of the car, lowering its moment of inertia). Many early successful (and mostly French) mass-produced front-wheel drive cars used the MF layout, until the 1959 BMC (Austin / Morris) Mini demonstrated the layout and passenger car ...
A front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout (FR), also called Système Panhard [1] [2] [3] is a powertrain layout with an engine in front and rear-wheel-drive, connected via a drive shaft. This arrangement, with the engine straddling the front axle, was the traditional automobile layout for most of the pre-1950s automotive mechanical projects. [ 4 ]
R4 layout, the engine is located behind the rear axle. In automotive design, an R4, or rear-engine, four-wheel-drive layout places the engine at the rear of the vehicle, and drives all four roadwheels. This layout is typically chosen to improve the traction or the handling of existing vehicle designs using the rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive ...
It is a type of car powertrain layout. Although the term " mid-engine " can mean the engine is placed anywhere in the car such that the centre of gravity of the engine lies between the front and rear axles, [ citation needed ] it is usually used for sports cars and racing cars where the engine is behind the passenger compartment.
The configuration of a car body is typically determined by the layout of the engine, passenger and luggage compartments, which can be shared or separately articulated. A key design feature is the car's roof-supporting pillars , designated from front to rear of the car as A-pillar, B-pillar, C-pillar and D-pillar.
RMR layout; the engine is located in front of the rear axle. Rear Mid-engine transversely-mounted / Rear-wheel drive. In automotive design, an RMR, or rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout is one in which the rear wheels are driven by an engine placed with its center of gravity in front of the rear axle, and thus right behind the passenger compartment.