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Note: in North America, Australia and New Zealand the term “four-wheel drive” usually refers only to drivetrains which are primarily two-wheel drive with a part-time four-wheel-drive capability, as typically found in pickup trucks and other off-road vehicles, while the term “all-wheel drive” is used to refer to full time four-wheel-drive systems found in performance cars and smaller car-based SUVs. This section uses the term four-wheel drive to refer to both.

Main article: Four-wheel drive

Most 4WD layouts are front-engined and are derivatives of earlier front-engined, two-wheel-drive designs. They fall into two major categories:

Front-engine, rear-wheel drive derived 4WD systems, standard in most sport utility vehicles and in passenger cars, (usually referred to “front engine, rear-wheel drive/four-wheel drive”), forerunners of today’s models include the Jensen FF, AMC Eagle and Mercedes-Benz W124 with the 4Matic system and Suzuki Grand Vitara with/without 4 mode transfer case.

Transverse and longitudinal engined 4WD systems derived almost exclusively from front-engined, front-drive layouts, fitted to luxury, sporting and heavy duty segments, for example the transverse-engined Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4 and Toyota RAV4 and the longitudinal-engined Audi Quattro and most of the Subaru line.

For a full explanation of 4WD engineering considerations, see the main article on four-wheel drive