Mid-engine Mid-engine

Mid-engine - Definition

In Automobile design, an MR or Mid-engine, Rear wheel drive layout drives the rear wheels with an engine placed just in front of them, behind the passenger compartment. In contrast to the rear-engined RR layout the center of gravity of the engine is in front of the rear axle. This layout is typically chosen for its near-ideal weight distribution. The mid-engined layout does, however, use up a lot of space, making it impractical for any but two-seater sports cars.

Early cars using the MR layout included the Lotus Europa, Porsche 914, the Lamborghini Miura, and the Ford GT40. Its space-inefficiency means that it is still only used in sports cars such as the Ferrari Enzo Ferrari, Honda NSX and Toyota MR2.

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