Think for a minute about all the aspirational cars there are out there. All the BMWs, Mercedes’ Aston Martins, Maseratis, etc. Now, think how many of those cars have come with a transverse engine in the front. Yeah, not too many. Even Audi, who started out with cars that were nominally FWD, had the good sense to hang their mills out long-ways. This positioning preference of course discounts sporty cars with their engines behind the seats. Okay, now think about all the cars that were intended to be high-end, but were saddled with transverse engines. Yeesh, I know. Acura (‘member them?) tried it, as did Lincoln with the ’90s Continental, and Cadillac with most of their ’90s offerings. Perhaps the most famous failure of a car pretending to be fancy but rocking a sidewinder was Jaguar’s Ford Mondeo in drag, the X-Type. At least the brand had the good sense to make the car all-wheel drive, but even that embellishment couldn’t save it from derision. I think only Saab and Volvo have been successful in passing off cars with transverse engines as fancy here in America, and you know how well those two are doing these days. That being said, there are a number of luxury car makers that are introducing cars with transverse engines. Cadillac has the new XTS, while Mercedes is presently pushing its new entry-level offering, the CLA. That Benz can be had with AWD, which, along with its size, makes it the titular successor to Jag’s unloved X-Type, albeit with a hot four instead of a somewhat lackluster six. What do you think about these new cars, do you think that their engine placement will have anything to do with their prospects? Can high-end cars have transverse engines? Image: Weisco