Understanding the Drive Layouts

The drive layout is the arrangement of thedriven axles are placed at the rear connected
engine, transmission, and driven axles. The typesthrough the driveshaft. With this kind of layout,
of drive layouts are Front engine Front wheelinstallation of more powerful engine such as V8,
drive (FF/ FWD), Front engine Rear wheel driveV10 and V12 is not a problem. Since the FR has a
(FR/RWD), Mid engine Rear wheel drive(MR), Reardriveshaft, central tunnel is present in this layout a
engine Rear wheel drive(RR), Four wheel drivelittle interior space is sacrificed. All of the
(4WD or 4x4) and the All Wheel Drive(AWD).disadvantages of the FF layout are the
Each of these layouts has their own performance,advantages of FR layout.
advantages and disadvantages.Mid Engine Rear wheel drive (MR) - The drive
Front engine Front wheel drive (FF/FWD) - Thelayout that consumes a lot of interior space of
Engine and the two driven axles are placed inthe car especially the seating capacity, the engine
front, where the power from the engine isis placed in the middle of the chassis and the
transferred straight to the front wheels. Thisdriven axles are at the rear. Although it has more
layout increases the interior space especially inweight at the rear, entering a corner makes it
small cars because there is no central tunnelmore difficult because the front tires have less
needed for the driveshaft. FF layout hastraction resulting to understeer and since the rear
advantage when it comes on low grip surfaces,is heavy, the car tends to oversteer when exiting
and its tendency to understeer reduces the riska corner. This kind of layout is commonly used in
of losing control. The disadvantage is the loadracing cars and sports cars because of weight
placed on the front tires. The front tires mustdistribution focused in the center of the car.
transfer all acceleration, steering, cornering, andRear engine Rear wheel drive (RR) - This layout
braking forces to the road. This kind of tasksplaces both engine and the driven axle at the rear
gives a lot of stress in front tires which may leadof the vehicle, even though the rear wheels
to wear and tear, while the rear tires have verybenefit from the additional grip due to the added
little load on them.weight given by the engine, the front wheels still
Front engine Rear wheel drive (FR/ RWD) - Thisneed grip in order to steer the car effectively.
is the complement of FF layout, where the engineThat's why RR layout car can also be prone to
is placed longitudinally at the front but the twoundersteer.