Nomenclature

Sir,

My Porsche is quite rightly described as a rear-engined car. By the same token a front-engined car would be one in which the engine lies ahead of the front wheels. A mid-engined car is usually taken to mean one in which the engine lies between the driver and the (rear) driven wheels; but assuming that the driver himself sits within the wheelbase i.e. (excepting dragsters and lorries) would it not he equally logical to describe a car such as my Renault 4 as mid-engined? I leave aside the question of those old-fashioned vehicles which have their engine at the opposite end of the car to the driven wheels!

Poole.
Conrad Fraser.