Which engine/drive layouts have you owned?

[LotusOmega375D]

There's nothing that General Gassing likes better than a heated debate about the pros and cons of various engine/drive layouts. So how many of each layout have you actually owned and which one of them handled best in your opinion?

Here's mine:

Front engined / Front wheel drive (FF): 7
Front engined / Rear wheel drive (FR): 2
Front engined / 4 wheel drive (F4): 3
Mid engined / Rear wheel drive (MR): 1
Mid engined / 4 wheel drive (M4): 0
Rear engined / Rear wheel drive (RR): 2
Rear engined / 4 wheel drive (R4): 0

Best: Subaru 22B (F4) with DCCD variable diff set towards rear-drive bias.

[louiebaby]

In order:

NA I4 FF
Turbo I4 M4
NA V6 FF
NA V8 FR

[Meths]

Front engine, 4wd (2)
Front engine, fwd (3)
Front engine, rwd (2)

Mid engine, rwd (1)

That's about it.


Undecided which handles the best, Mgf is probably quickest down a country lane.

Edited by Meths on Friday 22 March 15:30

[n1cky]

front engine / fwd X3 (seat ibiza 09, audi a4 2005, audi a4 2009)

front engine / 4wd Audi A5 3.0tdi

Love the a5

[Eighteeteewhy]

FF = lots

FR = 3

Both current are FR

[300bhp/ton]

Back engine/RWD = 1 (The smart engine sits over the rear axle, not infront or behind it. Some places call it mid, some rear...)

Rear Mid engine/RWD = 2

Front engine/RWD = 7+

Front mid/RWD = 1 depending how picky you are

Front engine/4wd = 6

Front engine/FWD = 4

[LotusOmega375D]

louiebaby said:

Turbo I4 M4

What was that car?

[Presuming Ed]

Front Engine, FWD - 10
Front Engined, FWD - 3
Mid Engine, RWD - 1
Rear Engined, RWD - 1

[louiebaby]

LotusOmega375D said:

louiebaby said:

Turbo I4 M4

What was that car?

I wondered if anyone would bite. Not the exact one:



We sold the interior on ebay to make a camper van, and ran it on vegetable oil!

[GreigM]

Ignoring the plethora of FF daily drivers:
MR = 5
FR = 2
F4 = 1
R4 = 1
RR = 1

looks like I have a preference for a mid-rear..

[LotusOmega375D]

louiebaby said:

LotusOmega375D said:

louiebaby said:

Turbo I4 M4

What was that car?

I wondered if anyone would bite. Not the exact one:



We sold the interior on ebay to make a camper van, and ran it on vegetable oil!

Bah! I thought it was going to be something like a Group B car (eg. 205T16 or RS200)! How wrong could I be?

[RobM77]

Here's mine:

Front engined / Front wheel drive (FF): 2
Front engined / Rear wheel drive (FR): 7
Front engined / 4 wheel drive (F4): 1
Mid engined / Rear wheel drive (MR): 3

Best Handling: I couldn't possibly say! All of the above have their merits and do different things well and other things less well:

FE/FWD:
Citroen AX GT: Wonderful handling for a FWD car.
Racing Metro: The best handling FWD car I've ever driven. I'm still not a fan of FWD, though it was a good car to compete in.

FE/4WD:
Toyota Celica Carlos Sainz: A tidy handling GT, but didn't need the 4WD for the road. It either needed double the power or half the grip (I guess the rally car had both!). It was great on the loose, when I suppose it did have a lot less grip.

FE/RWD:
E36 325i and 328i Sport Coupé: Superb cars, only bettered by the latest E90 M3 for 1300kg+ saloons imho.
E46 330ci: fking awful - an absolute joke (2001 model).
E90 320d: Extremely good handling on its standard 16" wheels. I really enjoy this car on twisty roads.
Caterham Roadsport A Race Car: Utterly dreadful with two bad setups. Just before I sold it I sampled it with sorted handling and it was very good, although needed more power or less grip to truly be memorable. I only raced it three times - that was enough.
Caterham Roadsport VVC: A bit soft, but beautiful handling and really playful at the limit.

ME/RWD:
Mk1 MR2: brilliant.
Elise S2 111S: Awesome to drive - the best Elise actually of all the ones I've driven and the best practical everyday road car I've ever driven. In terms of actual handling though obviously not ideal due to the engine being mounted sideways across the rear wheels.
2-Eleven: as above just much more focused and much faster - the lighter weight makes it handle a bit better and drive a bit better though. I'm tempted to say its the best road car I've ever driven, but it's not really a road car and a bit impractical on the road, so that honour may truly have to go to the Elise or the new Exige V6.

Raced and tested a lot, but not owned:
1995 Van Diemen Formula Renault: Always understeered a fair bit and was a bit too heavy and underpowered. Still a satisfying car to drive though and always on your side with few vices.
1998 Ray FFord (ex Anthony Davidson and Antonio Luizzi) in F4 Spec: The best car I've ever driven. Not competitive, but just utterly lovely to drive. Click for a video onboard around the old Snetterton. The engine was a bit further back than the other two single seaters I raced, which gave a nice 'lever' to work with when cornering - I can imagine why people find 911s so absorbing. Sadly destroyed in a big accident a few years ago.
1998 Van Diemen FFord in F4 Spec: Really nice - not quite as good as the Ray though.

The single seaters in my opinion are the ultimate drivers cars. Sadly I've been too tall to fit in any of them properly to really do them justice, but if you do fit then I should imagine no other genre of car comes close.

[louiebaby]

LotusOmega375D said:

Bah! I thought it was going to be something like a Group B car (eg. 205T16 or RS200)! How wrong could I be?

Not much wronger...

[anonymous-user]

FF - 13
RR - 1 (If a Smart ForTwo counts)

[LukeSi]

MR(2) - 1

[cerb4.5lee]

Here's mine:

Front engined / Front wheel drive (FF): 6
Front engined / Rear wheel drive (FR): 6
Front engined / 4 wheel drive (F4): 4
Mid engined / Rear wheel drive (MR): 0
Mid engined / 4 wheel drive (M4): 0
Rear engined / Rear wheel drive (RR): 1
Rear engined / 4 wheel drive (R4): 0

FR is my favourite layout but I haven't tried MR & most sing that layouts praises.

[scottydd]

FF
MR
F4

[Vocal Minority]

2 x FF
1 x FR
1 x MR

[blugnu]

Front engine / rear wheel drive - 1
Vauxhall Viva HC

Front engine / front wheel drive - 7
Ka, Alfa 156, SportKa, Mondeo, Multipla, Leon, Xsara Picasso

The Viva was fun, and they all have their merits.

Not a very interesting list though!

[LimaDelta]

F4 FI
F4 NA
FR/4 NA
FF NA
MR FI
RR NA