Best foot forward
Long before engines were invented, road vehicles were pulled rather than pushed because the horse always went at the front.
When cars came along, the early convention (with one dramatic exception which we’ll be looking at shortly) was to make the rear wheels do the pushing while the fronts looked after the steering.
As time went on and designs improved, front-wheel drive became more common, and eventually dominated most classes of car.
Front-wheel drive had a wild ride through the 20th century. Here we’re taking an alphabetical run through 30 of the most memorable, significant or just plain interesting vehicles from up to the year 2000 with that layout.
1. ADO16
ADO16 was the internal codename for the small family car introduced in 1962 and marketed under the brand names Austin, MG, Morris, Riley, Vanden Plas, Wolseley and – for versions built in Italy – Innocenti.
It wasn’t BMC’s first front-wheel-drive car, because the Mini was, but it was the first of the larger models with this layout.
It was also a huge success. It sat at the top of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders’ annual list of most-registered cars in the UK almost every year from 1965 (when records began) to 1971, dipping to second behind the Ford Cortina only in 1967.
2. Alfa Romeo Alfasud
Alfa Romeo had considered a front-wheel-drive car back in the early 1950s, but the first production model did not arrive until 1971.
The Alfasud – so named because it was built in the south of Italy to generate business in the area – was powered by a flat-four engine whose low centre of gravity contributed to its very fine handling, as was the case with Jowetts in the past and would be with Subarus in the future.
3. Audi Front
Audi and Wanderer were two of the four German car manufacturers incorporated into Auto Union in 1932 at the suggestion of the state bank of Saxony, which feared economic collapse in the region if this didn’t happen.
Wanderer created a 2.0-litre (later 2.25-litre) six-cylinder engine which it used in its own rear-wheel drive W22 and successor models.
Audi used the same engine for its new car of 1933, but mounted it the other way round so it could drive the front wheels. The model’s name emphasised this feature to customers, or at least to those who could speak English.
4. Berkeley Sports
Nearly every model produced by Berkeley Cars from 1956 until its collapse in 1960 had a tiny two- or three-cylinder engine driving the front wheels.
This layout was exceptional for a British sports car of the period, and so was the fact that the bodies were made of glassfibre.
It was an unusual combination, but it worked. Although power outputs were modest, the lack of weight meant that Berkeleys performed well for their time.
5. Cadillac Eldorado
Front-wheel drive was just about the only thing shared by the tiny Berkeleys and later versions of the Cadillac Eldorado.
Cadillac had produced seven generations of Eldorado before adopting the FWD layout in 1967.
Oldsmobile, another General Motors brand, had got there first the previous year with its Toronado, but the Toronado never had an engine with a capacity of more than 7.5 litres.
That was enough to be getting on with, you might think, but Cadillac went a step further. The largest V8 fitted to a front-wheel drive Eldorado measured a mighty 8.2 litres.
6. Christie
Well before the First World War, American engineer Walter Christie decided – very much against convention – that front-wheel drive was a suitable layout for a racing car.
After competing on home soil for a while, he took one of his cars to Dieppe for the 1907 French Grand Prix. At 19.9 litres, its V4 engine was (and probably always will be) the largest ever used in Grand Prix racing.
Unfortunately, Christie completed only four of the 10 48-mile laps before retiring, but better things were to come.
In 1916, the incomparable Barney Oldfield set a new record in a Christie at Indianapolis, lapping the famous oval at a previously unheard-of average of 102.6mph.
7. Citroën 2CV
Citroën was already familiar with front-wheel drive when it began to design the 2CV in the 1930s.
Its debut was delayed by several years due to the Second World War, but from its introduction in 1948 the curious little car became possibly the most famous and certainly the best-loved model Citroën ever devised.
Public demand obliged Citroën to persevere with it until 1990, long after the Ami, Dyane and Méhari derivatives had been discontinued.
The only non-FWD 2CV was the Sahara, which had an engine and gearbox at each end, connected only by a gear linkage and the road.
8. Citroën Traction Avant
Although it was only a nickname for a car officially referred to by the horsepower rating of its engine, Traction Avant made the front-wheel drive layout of Citroën’s 1934 model even clearer than Front did for the previous year’s Audi.
FWD was new to Citroën, and so was the Traction Avant’s unibody construction. The development costs ruined Citroën, which had to be saved by Michelin.
Despite that, the Traction Avant survived until 1957, by which time its once modern and attractive appearance had become very dated.
9. Cord L-29
The L-29 is credited as being the first production car blessed with what company founder Errett Lobban Cord colourfully referred to as the “pronounced exclusive advantages” of front-wheel drive.
Its transmission was similar to that of the earlier Miller 122 racing car, which wasn’t surprising because designer Cornelius van Ranst was a former Miller man.
The L-29 was problematic. It quickly developed a reputation for excellent handling, but the steering was very low-geared, and the 125 horsepower produced by the 5.0-litre Lycoming engine had little effect on a car weighing over two tons.
What really did for the L-29, though, was the fact that it was introduced at the time of the Wall Street Crash which set off the Great Depression. Sales of this fascinating machine were understandably very low; production was abandoned in 1932.
10. Cugnot fardier
The history of the car is generally believed to date back to the appearance of Karl Benz’s Patent Motorwagen in 1886.
Fine, but Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, creator of a self-propelled vehicle (which is basically what a car is) died 82 years before the Benz was unveiled.
His fardier à vapeur (steam dray), built around 1770, differed from the work of most other motoring pioneers in that its steam engine drove the single front wheel.
Difficult to drive, and suffering from terrible weight distribution and a very short range, the fardier was not a success, but it was a tremendous effort for the 18th century, and makes rear-wheel drive look like a modern invention.
11. DKW F1
Already hugely successful as a motorcycle manufacturer, DKW added cars to its repertoire in 1928.
It chose rear-wheel drive for its first model, the Type P, but switched to front-wheel drive in 1931 and stuck with it until the late 1960s.
The 1931 car was the F1 and, like all other DKWs, it was powered by a two-stroke engine.
Popular though these were in the early days, they later developed an awful reputation. When the first four-stroke car was launched, the company’s owner, Volkswagen, ditched the brand (by now associated with lots of noise and blue smoke) and called it Audi instead.
12. Dymaxion
Buckminster Fuller’s astonishing Dymaxion was revealed in the early 1930s, but it would have caused a sensation even if it had made its debut in the following century.
Drive went to the front wheels, which is why you’re reading about it here. One of the car’s many eccentric features was that its Ford flathead V8 engine was nowhere near them.
Instead, it was mounted just ahead of the single rear wheel, which looked after the steering.
Almost as out of its time as the Cugnot fardier, the Dymaxion was barely more successful, with only three prototypes built. But we’re glad it existed.
13. Fiat 128
The first front-wheel drive car with a Fiat badge had a feature which became standard throughout the industry.
The 128’s gearbox was mounted beside the engine, rather than above it as in the Mini and other BMC models.
Fiat had quietly tried this out earlier in the Autobianchi Primula, but it was the more mainstream 128 which really caught the imagination of other manufacturers and led them to adopt the same principle.
14. Ford Fiesta
Ford’s first supermini made its debut in 1976, powered by the Valencia variant of the Kent engine mounted transversely and driving the front wheels.
Well received on its debut, it has become increasingly popular in the UK over seven generations.
According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, it was the most-registered car for half of the 1990s, and then every year from 2009 to 2020.
15. Ford Mondeo
Ford of Europe persevered with rear-wheel drive for its large family cars for a remarkably long time.
It finally made the switch to FWD when the first-generation Mondeo replaced the Sierra in 1993.
That model was renowned for its excellent handling, a claim that could not be made for its increasingly large and heavy successors.
Mondeo production will come to an end in 2022 in response to the growing popularity of SUVs.
16. Lancia Fulvia
The Fulvia wasn’t Lancia’s first front-wheel drive car, but it was one of the company’s most famous models of the period thanks to the success of the Coupé version (pictured) in motorsport.
Its best year was 1972, when it won the International Championship for Manufacturers, the immediate predecessor of the World Rally Championship.
Lancia finished the season with 97 points, easily beating Fiat’s 55 and Porsche’s 53.
Admittedly, this was because Lancia acquired points in six rounds and its rivals in only four, but if you take away its two best scores it would still have won with 57 points.
17. Lotus Elan
The original Elan was of course rear-wheel drive, but the name was brought back in 1989 for an Isuzu-engined roadster, the only FWD model Lotus has ever produced.
Lotus marketed it for six years before selling the production rights to Kia, which continued building it until 1999.
18. Mercedes-Benz A-Class
Having been established as a brand at the beginning of the 20th century, Mercedes waited until nearly the end of it before launching its first front-wheel drive car.
The A-Class was a remarkably innovative compact car with a double-floor arrangement. In the unfortunate event of a heavy front-end shunt, the engine and gearbox were designed to slide between the two floors rather than penetrate the cabin.
Early versions showed a tendency to turn upside-down, but this was quickly – and expensively – sorted.
19. Miller 122
Harry Miller’s 122 race car of the 1920s (named after the 122cu in, or 2.0-litre, capacity limit) was available with both rear- and front-wheel drive.
The lack of a propshaft running under the driver meant the FWD version was several inches lower.
This advantage, along with excellent handling and a superb engine, made it very quick at Indianapolis and other American tracks, but other constructors were not convinced that this was the way forward. There would be no equivalent of the universal switch to rear engines in the 1960s.
20. Mini
In the two decades after the Second World War, many European manufacturers of small cars (such as Fiat, Hillman, Renault and Simca) favoured tucking their engines and gearboxes in the back.
BMC went the other way, following the DKW and Saab method of putting them up front.
This worked so well in the Mini that BMC adopted the same format for the larger ADO16, Maxi and 1800.
However, none of those cars had the Mini’s staying power. Launched in 1959, it was still being produced, updated but never fully revised, as late as 2000.
21. Mitsubishi GTO
Also known as the 3000GT and the Dodge Stealth, the Mitsubishi GTO was a large coupé with a 3.0-litre V6 under the bonnet.
It is perhaps best known for having four-wheel drive and four-wheel steering, but in some markets it was available with front-wheel drive only – a surprising option for a sports car with such a large and powerful engine.
22. Oldsmobile Toronado
The next North American manufacturer to try front-wheel drive after Cord was Oldsmobile, which used it for all four generations of the Toronado.
Toronados became more compact over those four generations, and had smaller engines, but the first model was fitted with the Rocket V8 engine in 7.0-litre and 7.5-litre forms. Only Cadillac went further than this, fitting an 8.2-litre V8 to the Eldorado.
In its third generation, the Toronado was available with Oldsmobile’s diesel engine, one of the most disastrously unreliable motors ever devised by a mainstream manufacturer.
23. Panhard Dyna
After the Second World War, Panhard specialised in innovative small cars – initially called Dyna – with the then unusual (though not unheard-of) feature of front-wheel drive.
Panhard also favoured boxer engines, with their usefully low centre of gravity, and saved weight by using aluminium bodies.
During the production life of the Dyna Z (pictured), Panhard was forced to switch to the much cheaper steel for its bodies.
This restored the financial health of the company, at least for a while, but it made the cars heavier and, in the view of some enthusiasts, less desirable.
24. Peugeot 205
Front-wheel drive had become the obvious choice for superminis by the time the 205 was launched in 1983.
Nevertheless, Peugeot did a brilliant job with this car, which remains one of the most highly respected of its type and era, and arguably the best-looking.
Of the regular models (which is to say everything except the mid-engined, four-wheel-drive T16 homologation special), the most desirable has always been the GTI, especially with the 1.9-litre engine.
However, according to one school of thought, the beautifully balanced 1.4-litre XS was even better.
25. Renault 4
From 1898 to 1961, nearly all Renaults sent their power to the road through the rear wheels. The only exception was the front-wheel drive Estafette van, which made its debut in 1959.
Two years later, the first FWD Renault passenger car was launched. This was a perilous time in the company’s history. Sales in the US had collapsed, and there was some doubt as to whether Renault would survive.
Of course it did survive, largely because of its latest car. The simple, practical 4 was a huge hit. Renault built a million examples in four and a half years, and kept production going for 35 years.
It might not be going too far to suggest that Renault exists today because it decided that front-wheel drive was worth a shot more than 60 years ago.
26. Saab 92
With no previous experience of car design to draw from, Saab adopted a radical approach for its first model.
The 92, launched in late 1949, had front-wheel drive, a two-stroke engine and a stiff, aerodynamically efficient body.
This car and its successors were exceptionally successful in motorsport. An 841cc 96 driven by Erik Carlsson remains the smallest-engined car to win the Rallye Monte-Carlo, which it did in both 1962 and 1963.
27. Trabant
Although the Mini and the Renault 4 both played a large part in making front-wheel drive acceptable to European buyers of small cars, they were preceded by the first model produced by Trabant.
Based in the then Communist country of East Germany, Trabant started out with the P50 in 1957. Front-wheel drive was still sufficiently unusual enough to make the P50 seem slightly modern, but the design hardly changed at all until the final car left the factory in 1991.
The longest-lived Trabant was the 601 (pictured), whose 26-year run was longer than that of all the other models put together.
Nearly every version had a two-stroke engine, but the last few were fitted with a 1.1-litre four-stroke.
28. Volkswagen Golf
The front-wheel drive Golf was effectively the replacement for the rear-engined Beetle, though it was going into its fifth generation by the time Beetle production finally ended.
The Golf was launched in 1974, and the high-performance GTI version arrived two years later.
This wasn’t the world’s first hot hatch, even though it is sometimes referred to as that, but it did popularise the concept.
Golf production has never stopped. The model is now in its eighth generation, and still going strong.
29. Volkswagen K70
Although the Golf is sometimes assumed to be Volkswagen’s first front-wheel drive car, it was actually preceded by the 1973 Passat, which in turn arrived three years after the K70.
The K70 was a Volkswagen in name only. It was developed by NSU, but that company was taken over by VW in 1969.
Even then, the plan was to sell it as an NSU, but the branding was altered before production started.
30. Volvo 480
While Saab committed itself to front-wheel drive in 1949, fellow Swedish brand Volvo did not produce a car with this layout until 36 years later.
Designed and built by Volvo’s Dutch subsidiary, the 480 had a 1.7-litre Renault engine which was later turbocharged and then joined by a 2-litre version from the same family.
Production came to an end in 1995, by which time Volvo had created a new front-wheel-drive platform used for the 850 and later models.
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