Topic: Day-by-Day Review: 2013 Cadillac XTS; Day 1

[tpl]

Well 'Cab Forward' or not...transverse makes for more inside space. That's a good thing surely. Why do transverse and then wreck this advantage with a useless wall.

Yeah I had a cab forward 'T' drive...seems to me it was windshield forward with the cab in the usual position.
The transverse Fiat Abarth and 500T have equal length drive shafts but those vehicles are manual trans.

I think a Taurus SHO had equal length also.

Perhaps the same effect could be obtained by making the drive shafts a slightly different diameter so that the torsional deflection would be the same for both lengths...If that is what causes the torque steer. I can't say that I have ever experienced it.

That was tried...I don't remember the car off hand but it was in the late '70s early '80s.  Didn't really work.

[mixmanmash]

Well 'Cab Forward' or not...transverse makes for more inside space. That's a good thing surely. Why do transverse and then wreck this advantage with a useless wall.

Yeah I had a cab forward 'T' drive...seems to me it was windshield forward with the cab in the usual position.
The transverse Fiat Abarth and 500T have equal length drive shafts but those vehicles are manual trans.

I think a Taurus SHO had equal length also.

Perhaps the same effect could be obtained by making the drive shafts a slightly different diameter so that the torsional deflection would be the same for both lengths...If that is what causes the torque steer. I can't say that I have ever experienced it.

My Audi had the engine pointing the right way and it still had plenty of cabin space....plus the engine was a hell of a lot easier to work on as 1/2 of it wasnt smushed up against the firewall.

Yup, it's always fun changing the back spark plugs in a transverse mounted V6, especially if it's pushrod or SOHC.

[Rupert]

Cadilac drivers never change spark plugs come to think of it neither do I. Nah...does'nt matter about smushing your passengers for the sake of being able to do something that you never do.

[Fobroader]

Acutally the longitudinal motor offers more crash protection as it can be used as a crash structure as well when it slides under the car.....

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Longitudinal engines are fine, but have packaging issues. The power pack either intrudes into cabin space, or pushes the engine ahead of the front wheels, making the car more prone to understeer. Audi seems to have it sorted out fairly well now.

The flat 4 and 6 in the Subarus are pretty short engines and help mitigate the packaging issues.

[Rupert]

   Fore and aft also needs an extra bevel gear set which results in a loss of efficiency. Not much but on a large scale significant.

   The problem for a long time was not being able to get enough HP from straight fours. Then the V6s came out that were short enough to fit sideways and HPs increased to more than enough. Now CVVT, DI and turbos...more HP again. It's enough.

[mixmanmash]

Longitudinal engines are fine, but have packaging issues. The power pack either intrudes into cabin space, or pushes the engine ahead of the front wheels, making the car more prone to understeer. Audi seems to have it sorted out fairly well now.

The flat 4 and 6 in the Subarus are pretty short engines and help mitigate the packaging issues.

Not necessarily true.  Nissan's applications of longitudinal engines has most of the engine behind the front wheels.  Even in their AWD (read G35X & G37X) it is setup this way.

Audi has most of the engine ahead.  They basically are using torque vectoring in the back to compensate for the understeer.  Only available if you opt for the sport differential.