10 Facts About Front-wheel drive

Front-wheel drive is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, where the engine drives the front wheels only.

Front-wheel drive promoted and demonstrated several such vehicles, notably with transversely mounted engines, by racing at various speedways in the United States, and even competed in the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup and the French Grand Prix.

However, the idea of front-wheel drive languished outside the motor racing arena as few manufacturers attempted the same for production automobiles.

The Cord L-29's Front-wheel drive system was again inspired by racing, copying from the Indianapolis 500-dominating racers, using the same de Dion layout and inboard brakes.

Front-wheel drive continued with the 1948 Citroen 2CV, where the air-cooled lightweight aluminium flat twin engine was mounted ahead of the front wheels, but used Hooke type universal joint driveshaft joints, and 1955 Citroen DS, featuring the mid-engine layout.

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In 1955, one of the first Japanese manufacturers to utilize front-wheel drive with a transversely installed engine was the Suzuki Suzulight, which was a small "city" car, called a kei car in Japanese.

Transversely mounted engine combined with front-wheel drive was popularized by the 1959 Mini; there the transmission was built into the sump of the engine, and drive was transferred to it via a set of primary gears.

The Subaru 1000 appeared in 1966 utilizing front-wheel drive mated to a flat-4 engine, with the driveshafts of equal length extending from the transmission, which addressed some of the issues of the powertrain being somewhat complex and unbalanced in the engine compartment - the Alfa Romeo Alfasud used the same layout.

Front-wheel drive layout had been highly impacted by the success of small, inexpensive cars, especially the British Mini.

The popularity of front-wheel drive began to gain momentum, with the 1981 Ford Escort, the 1982 Nissan Sentra, and the 1983 Toyota Corolla.