Consequences of using front drive in a delivery vehicle and positioning the engine transversely, as is the case with modern passenger cars, they are numerous and mostly positive. They can be analyzed in turn by considering the following issues.
Number and quality of seats in the cabin.
The transverse positioning of the engine in the cabin allows for a flat floor in the leg area of the driver and passengers and for the front cabin wall to be moved. Thanks to this, the cabin becomes cruising, all three places are fully fledged, ensuring a comfortable position for the driver and both passengers. In previous solutions, the seat of one of the passengers was very uncomfortable due to the extended engine cover
Thermo-acoustic insulation of the cabin
The experience of soundproofing vehicle cabins shows, that the condition for obtaining a low internal noise is to ensure the tightness of the cabin walls adjacent to the noise source. The best results, meeting the requirements of the relevant standards and regulations even with a certain margin, is obtained in cabins without any removable covers. The location of the engine across the car makes it possible to resign from accessing it from the cabin side, which creates the conditions for obtaining a low internal volume. It goes without saying, that the tight front wall and the floor permanently connected to it provide good thermal insulation and effectively protect against the ingress of exhaust gases.
Access to the engine and its accessories
The engine is located in a separate compartment with a large cover. This ensures good access to individual engine nodes during maintenance and current repairs. The removable front body wall also serves this purpose, and the tilting of the engine forward or backward, according to its construction.
Body crush zone
From the point of view of a frontal vehicle collision, creating the necessary body crush zone must be taken into account in new constructions, the lateral positioning of the motor is therefore advantageous. The width of the engine is much smaller than its length. This makes it possible to obtain the space required for crushing while keeping the engine compartment short.
Driving force
A characteristic feature of front-wheel drive cars is the high pressure of the driven wheels - favorable due to the possibility of transferring the driving force. It is especially valuable, that there is a high pressure even with an unladen vehicle. This feature, even to a slightly greater extent, also occurs with the engine located transversely.
Compact and simple drive system
The drive system driving the front wheels of the vehicle located longitudinally or transversely has a similar degree of compactness, with a slight advantage in favor of the transverse block. Also in terms of technological simplicity, the transverse system is more advantageous mainly due to the replacement of the conical main gear with a pair of cylindrical gears and the possibility of using cheaper bearings.
The length of the car
Indicator of the compactness of the structure ,the vehicle may be the ratio of the length of the usable space to the total length of the car. For cars with a transverse engine, the value of this indicator is, depending on the variety, 0,56 do 0,62. It is comparable to the values found in other front-wheel drive cars.
The shape of the usable space
Front-wheel drive vans, thanks to the grouping of drive mechanisms in the front part of the vehicle, they have a useful space (a small sheer of the floor, large interior height facilitating reloading work, flat floor, relatively large length and volume of the zone intended for the placement of loads). The positioning of the engine alongside or across the car does not have a significant impact on the advantages discussed above.
Vehicle braking problems
The location of the engine and drive mechanisms in the area of the front axle of the delivery vehicle makes it, that the axle load distribution is not favorable, especially with an unladen vehicle. On the front axle there are over 60% vehicle weight, and during braking, the front wheels are further loaded and the rear axle is relieved. Thus, the problem of such a vehicle design emerges, when driving empty, but with three people in the cabin, the rear wheels did not come off the road even during the sharpest braking. The transverse position of the engine aggravates the situation, because it is in front of the front axle and slightly higher than in the longitudinal position. However, the appearance of a delivery vehicle with a transversely located engine in series production proves it, that this problem is solvable.
All-wheel drive of the vehicle
In a car with a classic drive system and in front-wheel drive vehicles with an engine located longitudinally, obtaining the all-wheel drive variant is possible, although at the cost of expanding the drive system. With the transverse arrangement of the engine, all wheels can also be driven, but in relation to the basic solution, the scope of changes is greater. In particular, it is necessary to introduce two pairs of bevel gears into the drive system, which significantly affects the cost of the vehicle. However, now, when road cars (with one driven axle) are produced in large series, and off-road cars are created as separate structures in specialized plants are produced in incomparably smaller quantities, a condition for easily obtaining a variety 4 X 4 with each base car it is seldom required and is not economically viable.