Rear Drive (front engine)

The principle of the front engine with rear-wheel drive is often still the best requirement for good driving dynamics, probably also because steering and engine are decoupled. Because a rear engine does not have many of these advantages, except in the braking, only the relatively complicated, longer and more weight-intensive method, from the engine in the front, to the rear axle remains. Other advantages compared with the front transverse engine:
- better weight distribution,
- higher towing weight,
- possibly a slightly smaller turning circle,
- possibly a little more leg room in front,
- more consistent crash behaviour.
In the truck-sector, only the light delivery vehicles (LDV) sometimes deviate from the front engine. The more load a vehicle carries on the rear axle, the higher the demands are on a rear-engined vehicle, and the lower they are on a vehicle with front engine.

With the development of the automobile, the front engine with rear-wheel drive was, for many years, almost without competition. This is also the origin of the term 'standard drive'. The start of mass production front-wheel drives was in 1931, nowadays, the number of front-wheel drives is far higher. Therefore, the term is actually misleading.The straight mounted front engine transfers the torque through a coaxial gearbox, a cardan shaft and a rear-axle drive with bevel- and crown wheel to the rear axle. The above figure 2 applies more to a utility vehicle with rigid rear axle. In the passenger car, the cardan shaft with dry joints, is more suitable because the differential is mounted to the vehicle floor.

Vehicles of this design have the disadvantage of lower traction, e.g., on snow or ice. This situation however, improves as soon as the gradient becomes steeper. With the engine in the front, the boot has become more usable through the meanwhile, more compact axle construction and through the relocation of the fuel tank to underneath the rear seating, but as a rule, it's still a little smaller than in a front-wheel drive. 09/08