Front,Rear and Full-wheel drive

Hello. This article I tell about difference between front, rear and full drive, which drive weels car is better to choose. 

Front-weel drive

Front-wheel drive - the design of the car's transmission, in which the torque generated by the engine is transmitted to the front wheels.

Front-wheel drive, Front engine (FF)

This layout is usually chosen due to its compactness. It takes up much less space than any other, and allows you to design much of the car more flexibly. Compared to the FR, this arrangement eliminates the need to make a central tunnel or a higher ground clearance to accommodate the PTO shaft that transmits power to the rear wheels.

Front-wheel drive, Front wheel drive (MF)

Engine in front wheelbase, front-wheel drive, MF (English Mid front-engine, Front-wheel drive). In contrast to the FF, the center of mass of the engine is behind the front axle. This arrangement is usually chosen for better weight distribution, because the heaviest component is near the center of the machine, thereby reducing its moment of inertia.

Front-wheel drive, Rear engine (RF)

Rear-engine, front-wheel drive, RF (English Rear-engine, Front-wheel drive). No car with this layout has been created, because it has no advantage: the traction wheels are unloaded, the steering wheels are unloaded, during acceleration they are unloaded even more, which further impairs the properties of the car.

Back-weel drive 

Rear-wheel drive - the design of the car's transmission, when the torque generated by the engine is transmitted to the rear wheels. It can be realized at various mutual arrangement of the engine and transmission units.

Rear-wheel drive, front engine (FR)

This layout is usually chosen through simple design and entertainment. Cooling the engine in this case is a fairly simple task, and the use of the rear axle as a traction gives enough space to accommodate the gearbox, and there are no mechanical problems with the transfer of power to the steering wheels. Also, due to the fact that the engine and transmission are located longitudinally, in general, they have more space, and this greatly simplifies the design and intervention in the bonnet space than the average FF-car. However, this layout requires a central tunnel, which somewhat reduces the freedom to design the interior of the car.

Rear-wheel drive, front engine in wheelbase (FMR)

In general, this arrangement is identical to the FR, but the engine is strongly displaced backwards so that its center of mass is behind the front axle. This improves weight distribution and reduces the moment of inertia, thereby improving handling.

Rear-wheel drive, wheelbase engine (RMR)

This arrangement is usually chosen because of the low moment of inertia, as well as favorable weight distribution - the heaviest part is placed between the axes. Has a tendency to heavier rear, which allows faster acceleration. This layout takes up a significant amount of central space, and is impractical for all cars except two-seater sports cars.

Rear-wheel drive, rear engine (RR)

In this arrangement, the center of mass of the engine is outside the wheelbase of the car. This should not be confused with the center of mass of the whole car - if it was also behind the rear axle, the front wheels could not be kept on the ground.

This arrangement has such a weight distribution that it is not very favorable to controllability. Therefore, a small number of cars were built in this configuration, and now there are few RR-cars - Porsche 911, Smart Fortwo. Problems of controllability of such cars - when the car starts to slide in a turn, it tries to turn further, especially during braking (excessive steering). This creates safety problems in racing and is also very dangerous for ordinary drivers, especially on wet roads, and during ice. Although, such behavior is desirable in drifting.

Full-weel drive

All-wheel drive (4x4, 4WD, AWD) - the design of the car's transmission, when the torque generated by the engine is transmitted to all wheels.

Front engine (F4)

Front engine, all-wheel drive, F4 (English Front-engine, Four-wheel drive). Typically, this layout is chosen for better control on many surfaces. All-wheel drive is an important part of rally cars (since the 1980s) as well as SUVs.

Wheelbase engine (M4)

Despite the fact that the engine in this arrangement can be located both in front and behind the cabin, use mainly a variation of RM4, ie the engine is located near the rear axle. Usually this layout is used only for sports cars, supercars and racing cars, because it is very complex and expensive.

Rear engine (R4)

This layout is chosen to improve the grip and control of existing structures using RR-layout. In fact, only Porsche is used: 959 from 1986, 911 Carrera 4 from 1989 (964 series) and 911 Turbo with the introduction of the turbocharged version of the 993 series in 1995.