Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
When the engine is in front of the driver, but fully behind the front axle line, the layout is sometimes called a front mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive, or FMR layout instead of the less-specific term front-engine; and can be considered a subset of the latter. In-vehicle layout, FMR is substantially the same as FR, but handling differs as a result ...
A front mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout (FMR) places the engine in the front half of the vehicle but behind the front axle, which likewise drives the rear wheels via a driveshaft. Shifting the engine's center of mass rearward aids in front/rear weight distribution and reduces the moment of inertia, both of which improve a vehicle's handling.
The mid-engine, rear-wheel drive layout (abbreviated as MR layout) is one where the rear wheels are driven by an engine placed just in front of them, behind the passenger compartment. In contrast to the rear-engined RR layout, the center of mass of the engine is in front of the rear axle.
The earliest front wheel drive cars were mid-engine, front-wheel-drive layout (MF). The engine was mounted longitudinally (fore-and-aft, or north–south) behind the wheels, with the transmission ahead of the engine and differential at the very front of the car.
The drivetrain design closest to RF in actual series production vehicles is the mid-engine, four-wheel-drive layout, typically seen in high end sportscar designs, and which, with the use of power-split centre differentials or hybrid drive systems, can be set up to send a variable amount of the total drive to the front wheels, in some cases up ...
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.
The front-engine front-wheel-drive layout also has this advantage. Since the engine is typically the heaviest component of the car, putting it near the rear axle usually results in more weight over the rear axle than the front, commonly referred to as a rear weight bias. The farther back the engine, the greater the bias.
Traditionally, the term mid-engine has been reserved for cars that place the engine and transaxle behind the driver and in front of the rear axles [citation needed], as in the Lamborghini Countach or Ferrari Testarossa, but an engine placed in front of the driver's compartment but fully behind the front axle line also qualifies as mid-engine.