Talk:Front-engine, rear-wheel drive layout

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[edit] FM layout

I've added a note that the engine's center of gravity is moved behind the front axle. The wording before didn't qualify which center was being moved, and it was fairly easy to erroneously assume that the car's center of gravity was moved to behind the front axle; this would imply that the car's center of gravity was previously above or in front of the front axle.

I've never bought the idea of the "FM layout" being anything new. Surely nearly all pre-war cars are FM? Unlike the other 2-letter terms, it doesn't tell you which wheels are driven. For example, the Citroën SM had its engine way back behind the front axle, but drove the front wheels. Is this FM? Don't forget also that the early mid-engined cars (e.g. Auto Union and Cooper grand prix cars) were called rear-engined, indicating that the more fundamental engineering decision and psychological automotive classification is engine position relative to cockpit, rather than to axles. So perhaps we can have FR, FMR, FF, FMF, RR, RMR, MR to apply to all the layouts of two-wheel-drive cars — the last applying to the unusual designs where the engine is positioned within the cockpit area, typically under the seats as in the Toyota Previa). -- Hotlorp 19:29, 31 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] FM layout

Front-Mid engine placement is really nothing recent. It has appeared on classics such as Shelby Cobra and Ferrari 250 GTO. Fellow Wiki editors with more knowledge on FM should probably expand this concept into a stand-alone section. -- 911fan 02:52, Nov. 30 2005 (Pacific)

[edit] Nomenclature

As a redirect from Systeme Panhard, this page could help readers by indicating the origin of this "FR," "FM," etc. nomenclature. Is this standardized usage among Automotive Engineers? Automobile Historians note the difference between "carriage style" and "Panhard style" (See Flink's The Automobile Age for instance) automobile design. If "FR," "FM," etc. is engineering jargon, shouldn't this page should be clear about it? --RedJ 17 01:53, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

True but only if the information is readily available. I have not found anything close to conrete and it doesn't benifit a wikipedia article to put highly questionable or unverifiable information into an article.--Oni Ookami AlfadorTalk|@ 08:11, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Volvo Transaxle

This article mentions rear transaxle Volvos, something I do not believe exists. I suggest removing this unless anyone knows of an example. Daniel J. Leivick

[edit] Reintroduction of FR Luxury

"GM phased out its FR luxury cars after the 1996 model year, and its F-car (Chevrolet Camaro/Pontiac Firebird) in 2002. GM reintroduced North American FR luxury cars with the 2003 Cadillac CTS"

I believe this statement to be incorrect. The Cadillac Catera (the CTS predecessor) was a FR luxury car in production from 1997-2001. 65.42.26.190 (talk) 19:41, 2 May 2008 (UTC)

True enough, but the Cadillac Catera wasn't an American car. It was a rebadged Opel Omega made in Germany; saying that GM returned to FR luxury cars in North America with the CTS is accurate. But it still wouldn't be appropriate to say that the CTS reintroduced FR to North American luxury cars because the Lincoln Town Car was around for the whole time, and still is. I should like to re-edit this section so as to convey the reality that FR was largely (but not entirely) phased out in American vehicles but has been making a recent comeback among luxury vehicles. Chaparral2J (talk) 07:39, 5 May 2008 (UTC)
Agreed, with one minor change. The current version states "In North America, GM returned to the FR market with the Cadillac CTS". This seems inaccurate since the Catera was sold in North America under the GM Cadillac name (even though it was a rebadged Omega). "In North America, GM returned to production of the FR luxury car with the 2003 Cadillac CTS" seems to be a better fit. 65.42.26.190 (talk) 15:32, 7 May 2008 (UTC)