I have some special affection for the front-engine rear-wheel-drive (FR) layout because of my childhood experience with a BMW E34. A front-engine front-wheel-drive (FF) layout is never a proper premium setup to me due to several reasons. Nowadays we do see various kinds of chassis layout, but FR and FF remain the two major categories for road cars. This time I am creating some biased dualism between the two.
Before jumping into the FR layout, we have to know that FR is only a setup of RWD. The RWD layout family includes MR and RR, but they are mostly for sports cars today. FR has a long history in the automobile industry. Almost every car used this layout at a very early age of automobiles. The reason is quite simple: it is inherently more balanced and robust. True premium cars always had FR layouts throughout history. Surely FR is not perfect. It is more costly to build due to the long driveshaft to the rear and eats up more rear-seat space. On some RWD performance cars, the power could spin the rear wheel easily, and the vehicle would lose control if not driven properly. Before the 21st century, only FR cars were considered properly prestigious. That was why LEXUS produced R6 GS300 and V8 LS400 and NISSAN produced R6 Skyline GT-R and V8 Cima.
How about the FF? More precisely, the transverse FF? From its very beginning, the transverse FF was designed to be a cost-efficient alternative for smaller cars. With both the engine and the gearbox in front of the front axle, it saves the cost of constructing the driveshaft to the rear, and creates more interior space within the same dimensions, but is inherently unbalanced and easier to under-steer. Due to the limited mechanical space between the two front wheels, transverse FF is not suitable for superpower cars with big engines. In the past, FF at most made its way into hot hatches, but never a single proper sports or luxury car.
In the modern automobile industry, Audi remains a unicorn in chassis design. From the beginning of the brand, Audi has been using longitudinal FF and subsequently its famous “quattro” AWD. Longitudinal FF looks like the FR layout with the engine pushed to the front. The front axle position is right between the engine and the gearbox. Since the front axle is closer to the gearbox compared to the FR, longitudinal FF is better to be made into an all-wheel drive. Audi is more famous for its AWD system “quattro” rather than the FF layout on models above A4.
Longitudinal FF is unbalanced because the engine is totally beyond the front axle, and the problem is even worse on V8 and W12 models. The RS7 Sportback showed slight under-steer around corners even with lots of electronic assistance. On AWD quattro models, interestingly, the default power ratio is actually 60% to the rear end, so it can somehow drift like FR. Audi’s components and structure are similar to that of FR, using the same ZF 8HP that on BMW models. This structure does not save the interior space, though, as the chassis already saves the space for quattro system even on FF models. As a personal recommendation, get an AWD quattro if you’re buying A4 or above.
It was a gorgeous era in the 1980s when BMW was making E30 3-Series and Mercedes-Benz was making W201 190E. Consumers had easier access to proper premium FR cars with great driving quality. Compact FR cars were the niche for luxury brands. The market witnessed the success of the 3-Series and C-Class, followed by the Japanese LEXUS IS and Infiniti G35. The R6 E46 320i 2.2 as well as the R6 IS200 is always a classic FR compact sedan.
The trend has changed. Under the downsizing and obesity movement in the industry, the engines are getting smaller but the cars are getting larger in size. Now we get a G20 3-Series, which is larger than an E34 5-Series, together with a turbocharged 330i, which is only a 4-cylinder 2.0L.
For smaller entry cars all luxury brands are introducing transverse FF as the substitution of old compact FR models. The market has shown that entry-level cars should be cheap and spacious rather than sporty and sharp. Even the once-FR BMW 1-Series has to obey the FF campaign. We see MFA from Mercedes, UKL from BMW, and MQB from VAG. Even LEXUS replaced the GS with the ES and introduced a bunch of FF models as entry options. Volvo is the one who pushes everything to the limit, deploying 4-cylinder FF even on flagship products.
It is not that bad to drive an FF, nevertheless. With the aid of electronic systems, FF cars can be impressive to handle. Furthermore, many transverse FF are made into transverse-front-engine AWD to improve the handling, such as AMG A45s and BMW M135i xDrive. Aside from the inherent weight distribution problem, transverse AWD cars, as well as Audi quattro models, can still be considered great performance cars.
In the Best Handling Car 2020 filmed by German journalist Sport Auto, Audi S7 TDI Sportback, Renault Megane RS Trophy-R, and AMG A45s were all presented as one of the best-handling cars of their respective classes. To be picky about these non-traditional high-performance cars, the problem would be that they are not pure enough and that drivers can always feel electronic interference.
We do see some attempts to revive the FR. The Korean brands Hyundai and KIA are diligently working on FR cars to boost their image. So far they have introduced the Genesis sub-brand and the highly-debated KIA Stinger. Surely they have a long way to go before catching up with Germans, but seeing some FR newcomers is always delightful.
