Transverse engine
The transverse engine is a type of the drive motor vehicles. The term refers to the orientation of the drive motor. The crankshaft of the engine being parallel to the axes of the wheels and transverse to the direction of travel. Most modern front-wheel drive cars are built cars with rear-wheel drive usually have front longitudinal engine. The first car with a transverse engine and front wheel drive in 1931 the DKW F1. This concept was maintained until after the Second World War with his followers and taken over in 1947 by Saab to the Saab 92. Also, the Goliath GP 700 and the Gutbrod Superior were built. NSU built up in the 1970s, vehicles with a transverse engine in the rear, Lamborghini introduced from 1965 with the Miura cross standing 12-cylinder engine ahead of the rear axle ago.
The Mini was one of the first produced in higher quantities cars with a transversely mounted engine. It was a modern one hand, cheaper small car with good use of space, the other hand, successfully participated in various races. At that time ( mid -1960s ) it became clear that cars with a transverse engine and front-wheel drive are cheaper to produce and better performance characteristics than the conventional design with a rear engine or standard drive ( front engine and rear-wheel drive ).
The Italian car designer Dante Giacosa designed in the mid -1960s for the Fiat and the model Autobianchi Primula the design until today the most widely used of the transverse engine with unequal length drive shafts are installed in the engine and transmission together and not have to share the oil. Between 1965 and 1980 represented almost all major car manufacturers at least one model before this pattern.
Due to the width of a car is in the engine compartment only a limited mounting length for the motor. Therefore, four-cylinder engines dominate these installation form. However, there are different approaches to use engines with more cylinders. BMC built in the 1960s in an ADO 17 (Austin 2200, Morris 2200 and Wolseley Six ) a transverse six-cylinder engine. There are five-cylinder engines, such as Fiat ( 2.4 - liter diesel, for example, in the Fiat Croma ) and Volvo (eg V70 ) that fit next to the transmission. VW uses an original VR6 called six cylinder only as long with an extremely small angle between the two cylinder banks like a V6, but at the same time only slightly wider than a series motor, and therefore fits into compact cars such as the VW Golf. Volvo developed a particularly small gear for use with an in-line six cylinder and could even fit a V8 transverse ( at Volvo XC90 and Volvo S80 ). Even before that a V8 engine was installed transversely in 1985 Cadillac Seville.
Even buses have today (2007 ) is often a transverse engine mounted in the rear, where it is easily accessible for maintenance.
In motorcycles, the transverse engine dominates except in the case of boxer engines (eg Hoffmann governor (IFA ) BK 350, Zündapps two-cylinder types, many BMW models); motorbikes with a V-type engine are longitudinal ( eg Victoria V 35 Bergmeister, Moto Guzzi, Zündapps two- cylinder models with 170 ° arrangement of the cylinder banks ) and transverse installation ( Harley- Davidson, Japanese creations ) been realized.
- Vehicle drive