Nissan NV200 (London taxi) weird driveshafts

The Nissan NV200 was a bog standard MPV on the Nissan-Renault B platform.
Nissan wanted to get the London taxi market, but the NV200 is FWD.
So they added an extra universal joint to driveshafts, allowing the wheels
to turn more. This reduced the turning circle from 11 m to 7.6 m !!!!!!
Now I have not found any photos of this amazing front end. Only from
reading their press release that suggests that the section of driveshaft
with the extra joint is quite short. Even then I would think something
with an extra joint will sag and vibrate like ****, no matter how short
it is.

On 09/15/2013 05:54 AM, wrote:
> The Nissan NV200 was a bog standard MPV on the Nissan-Renault B platform.
> Nissan wanted to get the London taxi market, but the NV200 is FWD.
> So they added an extra universal joint to driveshafts, allowing the wheels
> to turn more. This reduced the turning circle from 11 m to 7.6 m !!!!!!
> Now I have not found any photos of this amazing front end. Only from
> reading their press release that suggests that the section of driveshaft
> with the extra joint is quite short. Even then I would think something
> with an extra joint will sag and vibrate like ****, no matter how short
> it is.
>

vibration at what rpm's? what's the average speed of a london taxi?

if the knuckle stub is short and stiff, and the secondary joint is
mounted close to it on another short and stiff shaft section, there's no
reason it's going to be a problem. especially not at low loads and low
speeds.


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fact check required