> Say what you will about Subaru engineering, they are no less subject to the need for marketing doublespeak; witness their Symmetrical All Wheel Drive.� What the heck�is that supposed to mean?� Are we to infer from that name that other manufacturers' systems are other-than-symmetrical and, if so, what difference does it make?

Most FWD cars have transverse engines. To simplify things they have a
normal engine with the drive taken off the end of the crankshaft; this
requires the gearbox to be beside the engine ie offset to one side;
hence the driveshafts are of unequal length. Subaru's boxwers being
inline, the crank is north-soputh and the trans lies centrally, hence
symmetrical driveshafts.

Of course transverse-engined cars are designed this way to shorten the
car too; if the trans was centered behind the engine and driven from a
midctrank gear or chain, the drivetrain becomes longer, necessitating
a bigger vehicle (just as front-engined vans are longer per unit of
cargobay floorlength).

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Regards
Andrew Grebneff
Dunedin, New Zealand
Fossil preparator
Mollusc, Toyota & VW van fanatic