If you ask the chief seller of Jeep (Fiat-Chrysler) in Geneva, which of his cars are front-wheel-driven with additional rear drive or (classic) rear-wheel-driven with additional front drive, you will get no satisfying answer. All these cars are presented during the yearly motor show und you can only open their hoods. But modern engine rooms are completely covered, so that your question remains unanswered.

What's going on there? In simple words, there is a SUV boom. But the buyers want (really absurd) a four-wheel-drive for heavy duty, but almost never use it. In addition high-speed tires, which are not suitable for difficult terrain.

It's not the task of a manufacturer to educate his customers. He strictly offers what they want. And he has firmly in mind the extra price rate of such SUVs. However he does remain inactive, reflecting how he can achieve the same result with less effort and cost. By this he can leave behind annoying competitors or overtrump them.

To date, SUVs have always been expensive special cases. Now they are integrated into the platform of the manufacturer. This then gives the Jeep family more and more a transverse engine with additional rear-wheel drive. There is now a Fiat 500 four-wheel model, too. Thus do almost all, now even the French manufacturers.

VW goes one better. They equip inexpensive models with torsion beam axles instead of multilink constructions. In this case torsion beam axle has no advantage in saving space. It is only a question of reducing costs. So it happens that buying a new Golf you get a worse rear axle. There are cars with the disadvantages in space without the advantage of an all-wheel-drive, called 'Cross over'.