Over the years different engines have been setup in a variety of ways. Not every car that has a front wheel drive setup has a transverse engine and every rear drive car doesn’t have the gear box mounted behind the engine. Over the years there have been a wide variety of powertrains that have been developed that are not conventional, at least the way we think of them. If you’re an engine nerd you should really enjoy this little tour through a variety of engine setups that have been used over the years.

Ferrari Berlinetta Boxer/ Testarossa – This is a setup that used a flat V12 engine layout and was one of the first Ferrari mid-engine cars. using the F1 car by using the flat engine layout meant the engine could be mounted lower than the other variations but this lower mounting wasn’t taken full advantage of by Ferrari because they put the gearbox under the engine. This compact configuration is why these early Boxers have a short rear deck.

Volvo S60/V60/XC60 – The previous versions of the Volvo 60-series models used a transversely mounted inline six-cylinder engine, which is a variation from anything that has been seen in the automotive world to date. this long engine extends the entire length of the vehicle and is being replaced, but was one of the most interesting setups we have ever seen.

Nissan GT-R – This car has power sent to all the wheels in a variety of ways. There is a twin turbocharged V6 engine that is set up front but sends power to the back of the car and the dual clutch transmission then returns some of the power back to the front. This gives the GT-R a full AWD system and makes the rear wheels the primary drive wheels in a unique fashion.

Ford RS200 – This car has the engine mounted in the middle and the gearbox up front. Essentially its backwards of the GT-R and gives you a car that is AWD by sending the power to the front and then returning it to the rear wheels. This makes for a powertrain that is mostly FWD but offers the added power you need for AWD driving.

Lamborghini Miura – This was the first mid-engined road car that was ever made and it made use of a transversely mounted V12 engine that was inspired by Mini’s inline four-cylinder version. This was an engine setup that was only used for the Miura and was eventually abandoned by Lamborghini for the next version they made which was the highly lauded Countach.

Cizeta-Moroder V16T – In this car, which you may have never heard of there are two eight-cylinder engines that are both mounted on one enormous block and mounted transversely behind the driver of the car. This makes for an extremely wide car that has sixteen cylinders of massive power to give us a great drive and one of the most unique engine setups we’ve ever seen.

Dymaxion Car – There wasn’t anything conventional about this car at all. This car had the engine placed in the rear and the drive up front while a single rear wheel handled all the steering. It’s not hard to see why this car never made its way to production, but it’s still a pretty cool setup to think of and one that actually worked the way it was.

Ferrari F50 – This is a road car that was setup like a race car. The F50 used a mid-engine layout with the gearbox behind the engine which is normal, but the powertrain were part of the chassis to help reduce weight. This does add noise and vibration to the car, but it can really perform well on the road with the lighter build.

Citroen Traction Avant – This was one of the first mainstream cars that offered FWD. Because it was still in the experimental stages the setup had the gearbox up front, the differential behind that and then the engine behind that to give us an advanced form of thinking for an FWD car that was part of the early 1930s.