A couple of years ago the CEO of BMW made a comment that the majority of 1 series owners thought the car was FWD.
http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/mo...-think-its-fwd
That might not say much for the research that most people put into their choice of a new car but more people understand "There's less space than in a..." than "Unlike the rest of the class/segment the car is rear wheel drive".
I suspect there's a few people who if you said RWD to would think that's where the steered wheels were. To many it's what they can see and touch that matters rather than the oily bits underneath.
For cars where space is needed FWD can offer advantages in the packaging. BMW have been able to use the experience of MINI over the last decade to develop what should be an effective FWD platform from a handling viewpoint, although it will be interesting to see what happens with the weight distribution.