Advantage Of Engine Position And Drive Mechanism
Design with the engine at the front driving the
front wheels has a number of advantages:
● It provides protection in
the case of a front-end collision.
● Engine cooling is easier
because of the air flow.
● Cornering can be better if
the weight is at the front.
● Front-wheel drive adds
further advantages if the engine is mounted sideways- on (transversely).
● there is more room in the
passenger compartment.
● The power unit can be made
as a complete unit.
● The drive acts in the same
direction as the steered wheels are pointing.
A long
propeller shaft from the gearbox to the final drive, which is part of the rear
axle, is the main feature. The propshaft has universal joints to allow for
suspension movement.
Rear wheel
drive advantage
● Weight transfers to the
rear driving wheels when accelerating.
● Complicated constant
velocity joints, such as used by front-wheel drive vehicles, are not needed.
Four-wheel
drive combines all the good points mentioned above but makes the vehicle more
complicated and therefore expensive. The main difference with four-wheel drive
is that an extra gearbox known as a transfer box is needed to link the front-
and rear-wheel drive.The rear
engine design has not been very popular but it was used for the bestselling car
of all time: the VW Beetle. The advantages are that weight is placed on the
rear wheels, giving good grip, and the power unit and drive can be all one
assembly. One downside is that less room is available for luggage in the front.
The biggest problem is that handling is affected because of less weight on the
steered wheels.
Fitting the engine in the mid-position of a car
has one major disadvantage:
● it takes up space inside the vehicle.
● This makes it impractical
for most ‘normal’ vehicles.
However, the distribution of weight is very good,
which makes it the choice of high-performance vehicle designers. A good example
is the Ferrari Testarossa. Mid-engine is the term used to describe any vehicle
where the engine is between the axles, even if it is not in the middle.
