automotive design Automotive design is the process of developing the appearance (and to some extent the ergonomics) of motor vehicles - including automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, buses, coaches, and vans. The functional design and development of a modern ...

, an F4, or front-engine, four-wheel drive (4WD) layout places the

internal combustion engine An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal co ...

at the front of the vehicle and drives all four roadwheels. This

layout Layout may refer to: * Page layout, the arrangement of visual elements on a page ** Comprehensive layout (comp), a proposed page layout presented by a designer to their client * Layout (computing), the process of calculating the position of ob ...

is typically chosen for better control on many surfaces, and is an important part of

rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event Spor ...

racing, as well as

off-road Off-roading is the activity of driving or riding in a vehicle on unpaved surfaces such as sand, gravel, riverbeds, mud, snow, rocks, and other natural terrain. Types of off-roading range in intensity, from leisure drives with unmodified vehicl ...

driving. In terms of racing purposes, whether it be on-road or off-road, can be described as follows,

A team that pursues the Weak LS4WD architecture will minimize the development cost of the
front-wheel drive Front-wheel drive (FWD) is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, where the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel drive vehicles feature a transverse engine, rather than the conventional longi ...
system at the expense of having a larger rear powertrain. The Weak architecture produces a vehicle with a large powersplit between the front and rear powertrains, while the Strong architecture recommends a vehicle with more similar power and torque requirements for the front and rear.

Most four-wheel-drive layouts are front-engined and are derivatives of earlier front-engine, rear-wheel drive, or front-engine, front-wheel drive designs. The first origins of it were introduced in the 1820s from steam coach builders Burstall & Hill. This was then re-created by many other manufactures, such as "British engineer Joseph Diplock patented a four-wheel-drive system for a traction engine, while in Vienna, Austria,

Ferdinand Porsche Ferdinand Porsche (3 September 1875 – 30 January 1951) was an Austrian-German automotive engineer and founder of the Porsche AG. He is best known for creating the first gasoline– electric hybrid vehicle ( Lohner–Porsche), the Vol ...

developed an electric vehicle that also had all wheels driven, with an electric motor at each corner, as early as 1899". This layout is designed for off road vehicles to have the most traction in strenuous situations without losing too much cargo space at the same time. However, the 1903

Spyker 60 HP Spyker or Spijker was a Dutch carriage, automobile and aircraft manufacturer, started in 1880 by blacksmiths Jacobus and Hendrik-Jan Spijker. Originally located in Hilversum, the company relocated to Trompenburg, Amsterdam in 1898. Notable produ ...

was the first car built with an F4 drive layout. This layout is also the drive train of choice for off-road

pickup truck A pickup truck or pickup is a light-duty truck that has an enclosed cabin, and a back end made up of a cargo bed that is enclosed by three low walls with no roof (this cargo bed back end sometimes consists of a tailgate and removable covering) ...

s and

SUVs A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. There is no commonly agreed-upon definit ...

. It allows these vehicles to get the most traction without sacrificing cargo or passenger room. Part-time four-wheel drive vehicles frequently have a

transfer case A transfer case is a part of the drivetrain of four-wheel-drive, all-wheel-drive, and other multiple powered axle vehicles. The transfer case transfers power from the transmission to the front and rear axles by means of drive shafts. It also s ...

and no center differential, meaning, in many cases, the 4WD mode does not allow any difference in front and rear axle speeds. For normal road driving, these vehicles are shifted into

2WD Two-wheel-drive (2WD) denotes vehicles with a drivetrain that allows two wheels to be driven, and receive power and torque from the engine, simultaneously. Four-wheeled vehicles For four-wheeled vehicles (and by extension, vehicles with six, eig ...

mode, to prevent damage to the transfer case. Full-time four-wheel drive systems, on the other hand, cannot do without some kind of center differential. The purpose of four-wheel drive is to maintain optimal traction when manually selected. A vehicle has four-wheel drive when the front and rear driveshafts can be locked together to move at the same speed and send the same amount of torque to all four wheels. Several four-wheel-drive vehicles have been built without a drive shaft between the front combustion engine and rear wheels; instead the rear wheels receive power and torque from a rear

electric motor An electric motor is an electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a wire winding to generate forc ...

. This setup has been mainly used by hybrid electric vehicles, although some conventional vehicles had also adopted the system.

Examples

File:Willys Jeep 1943.jpg, 1943 Willys Jeep File:troller (uncropped).jpg, A Troller T4 jeep File:2nd Jeep Liberty -- 08-16-2010.jpg, 2008–2009 Jeep Liberty File:1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo - Blackberry with Crimson interior 17.jpg, Center transfer case sending power from the transmission to the rear axle (right) and front axle (left) File:Hmmwv-036.jpg, The HMMWV is a 4WD/AWD that powers all wheels evenly (continuously) via a manually lockable center differential, with Torsen differentials for both front and rear. File:Berlin Bicentennial Parade (7359013180).jpg, First-generation Dodge Power Wagon File:Land Rover Series 1 HT.jpg, Land Rover Series I File:Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 V Spec II.jpg, Nissan Skyline GT-R V Spec II (BNR34) File:2017-04-24 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X MR SST 17 (cropped).jpg,

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X is the tenth and final generation of the Lancer Evolution, a sports sedan produced by Japanese manufacturer Mitsubishi Motors. By September 2005, Mitsubishi introduced a concept version of the next-gen Evolution ...

MR File:Subaru Impreza WRX STI - Blue (cropped).jpg, Subaru WRX STI File:Ferrari FF Newport Beach (8387695594).jpg, Ferrari FF; with a front mid-engine, four-wheel-drive layout File:Terenure, Co. Dublin - Ireland (6017584315).jpg,

Audi Quattro The Audi Quattro is a road and rally car, produced by the German automobile manufacturer Audi, part of the Volkswagen Group. It was first shown at the 1980 Geneva Motor Show on 3 March. Production continued through 1991. Background The wor ...

File:GT-FOUR ST205.jpg, Toyota Celica GT-Four (ST205)

References

{{Automobile layouts Four-wheel drive layout