Question for the mechanics or Passat experts

acharris

acharris

acharris

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Joined
13 Aug 2004
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830
Hi all, I have a curious question about a VW Passat. I seen a 53 plate Passat and I noticed that the engine is straight, as in the timing belt or chain (which ever it is) is at the front of the engine bay. So I would guess that the gearbox is at the back of the engine pointing towards the rear.

I thought that it was a rear-wheel drive, but I was told that it is front-wheel drive. Now I always thought that straight engines meant the gearbox is attached to a prop, going to the rear wheels. I just can't see how a box in that location could be driving the front wheels via the driveshafts as they would have to run a funny angle.

I am not clueless about cars and engine and I couldn't get under the car to look for the driveshafts to see where they are running, so I was wondering if any experts could give an explanation to this strange set up? Thanks in advance.
 
Old Audis were like this too, and some Saabs I think. The engine is usually mounted quite far forward with the gearbox and diff just behind. They tend to be quite nose heavy.
 
There are 4motion options for the passat and it's the same layout as the Audi A4 which has quattro options.
I guess it's easier to fit the gearbox behind a longitudinal engine than it is to have different layouts for the 2wd and 4wd models.
 
They are odd as they are longitudinally mounted for FWD, but it ready the car for AWD and the car is design with the appropriate proportions to package it, namely as larger front overhang. It has a transaxle gearbox for the front wheel power. They come straight out of the gearbox to drive the front wheel with the power take to the rear 'blank'.

Better approach to integrate if your entry model is FWD as you don't need a transfer case, front prop or front drive unit. Better with a Subaru as the flat 4 is only 2 cylinders long rather tha and Audi 4.
 
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Thanks for all the replies guys. That makes sense now. I just couldn't get my head around how a longitudinal engine configuration could do FWD. I thought AWD, but what messed up my thinking was seeing a Jag with a Transversal engine on the 2.5 4WD X Type.

Thanks all for helping with my curiousity of that mystery.
 
acharris said:
Thanks for all the replies guys. That makes sense now. I just couldn't get my head around how a longitudinal engine configuration could do FWD. I thought AWD, but what messed up my thinking was seeing a Jag with a Transversal engine on the 2.5 4WD X Type.
Click to expand...

If you think about it, an AWD has to have driveshafts to the front wheels as well with the same space for gearbox/diffs. So FWD is probably not much different, just without the rear connected up.
 
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