All Wheel Drive pros or cons

[Jeetdawg]

I figured some of you guys have had experience with AWD vehicles and wanted to hear pros and cons of it. I have zero experience with one as my vehicles were either FWD or RWD. My wife is looking to downsize and the options are AWD or RWD. My inclination was to go with RWD as that’s what I know, but I wanted some real world experience, specifically longevity/maintenance issues I would be unaware of having never owned one. Thanks in advance for any wisdom you throw my way.

 

[oops1]

My wife’s current car is awd. It was our first and I was worried about poor mileage and extra maint. No issues so far 130,000 miles and it gets great mileage.

 

[Mars]

My wife has a subaru and they are all wheel drive. This had been my first experience with an awd vehicle but we have no complaints after 50K miles. 50K is relatively low miles for a longevity test but we haven't had any issues yet.

 

[NCHillbilly]

My wife has an AWD vehicle. I have a 4WD vehicle. There is no comparison when you need to get somewhere in a foot of snow, or through a bunch of mud. But I would take the vastly inferior AWD over the 2WD any day. Especially if you live somewhere where there is any snow or ice, ever.

 

[NCHillbilly]

My wife has a subaru and they are all wheel drive. This had been my first experience with an awd vehicle but we have no complaints after 50K miles. 50K is relatively low miles for a longevity test but we haven't had any issues yet.

When I was driving into work Sunday morning in a blizzard, I lost count of the Subarus spun out, stuck, and slid off into the ditches and abandoned on the side of the road. No comparison to actual 4wd. But still much better than 2wd. My wife has a Nissan Rogue AWD. It's nothing like my 4wd truck, but much better in snow than a car. I feel much better about her being out in an AWD when it's slick than when she had a 2wd car. It's worth the extra money.

 

[Railroader]

AWD is a very nice feature. My wife's '18 RAV4 is a very sure footed little critter. It has a little switch that sorta makes a low range, and 50/50 splits the front/rear and it is dang near impossible to make it spin a wheel. I've played with it off road a little bit, and it is way more capable than you'd think it should be...

She used to run a rural delivery route, and said it was the best thing ever...

I'm a strictly 4x4 with a transfer case guy, ain't had a 2wd since '88.

 

[transfixer]

AWD's are fine, but there are a few things to keep in mind, you need to keep check on tire pressure in all tires, if one gets low it throws off the speed sensor reading and can change the way the power is distributed depending on the make and model of vehicle, also always run matching tires on all four corners, I know I shouldn't have to even say that, but you'd be surprised how many vehicles I see come in the shop with 3 tires the same and one odd one, or one brand and size on the front and a different one on the rear, again it can throw off the torque/power distribution between front and rear. or even side to side,
Ford has a problem with their AWD vehicles , specifically the little power takeoff unit that sends power to the rear wheels, the lube they use in it tends to congeal, and not lube the bearings after x amount of thousands of miles, causing the pto to fail, quite expensive to replace,, its used in most of the Edge's, Explorers, and other AWD vehicles that are front wheel drive.

 

[Stang]

Something that I was told by a neighbor who is a service manager that you have to watch on an AWD is tire replacement.....meaning if you have to replace a single tire at a certain percentage of wear, you may need to shave the tread to match the others. Can't confirm that but made me raise my eyebrows. I have a Honda Pilot 4WD (not AWD) that I would rather drive in snow around town than my F250 4X4. The Pilot goes unbelievably well in snow.

 

[transfixer]

Something that I was told by a neighbor who is a service manager that you have to watch on an AWD is tire replacement.....meaning if you have to replace a single tire at a certain percentage of wear, you may need to shave the tread to match the others. Can't confirm that but made me raise my eyebrows. I have a Honda Pilot 4WD (not AWD) that I would rather drive in snow around town than my F250 4X4. The Pilot goes unbelievably well in snow.

As I mentioned above, all the tires on an AWD vehicle need to have the same circumference , or within 1/4 in of one another, as they all need to turn at the same speed in order for the system to work correctly, a new tire is larger than a tire with 25 or 30k miles on it, the speed sensor on the new tire will register slower than the other wheels because of it.

 

[AceOfTheBase]

Do like my AWD Outback, its taken me in and out of places a RWD truck wouldn't go.
As far as Subaru's in the ditch - sounds like pilot error to me.

 

[acurasquirrel]

Another thing to take into consideration is resale. I’ve noticed that say AWD on a new car is $2000, 5 years down the road AWD models will be worth at least $1500 more than non AWD models. So it really doesn’t cost much more.
I recently had to explain this to dealer who couldn’t understand why I had to have AWD when I lived in the south.

 

[TomC]

I've owned a number of AWD Subarus as well as 4WD Toyotas, Jeeps and Fords. I won't hesitate to take an AWD Subaru into any nasty condition (snow. ice, mud) that I would have taken my 4WD Toyota Tundra or other 4WDs I've owned. In many cases I've taken my Subarus into places that would have been difficult in a larger and heavier 4WD truck. They are extremely capable in bad conditions and if an AWD Subaru is in a ditch its operator error. People with actual experience driving them in bad conditions that have some semblance of how to drive in bad conditions fully understand how capable they are in snow, ice and mud!

Good gas mileage and as reliable as any Honda or Toyota I've owned with basic service. Very pleasant ride on long road trips also!

 

[earlthegoat2]

My Jeep Liberty has the Select Trac option that gives a “full time 4wd” option on the transfer case selector. Basically it allows the front and rear wheels to spin at different speeds from one another. This makes cornering in slippery conditions more predictable than with straight 4wd. Especially combined with open diffs front and rear. Though, limited slip rears in 4wd vehicles are very handy in snow at times.

Combined with open differentials front and rear, the full time 4wd option worked well when I recently drove the Liberty to MI. I didn’t really need it but I got to do a full on test of all the different modes and the full time option was much better than the normal 4wd for general driving down icy dirt roads.

I spent around an hour on my parents road messing with it. I couldn’t say how similar it is to true AWD as I am not as familiar with AWD as I am with the Jeep Select Trac and the very similar Toyota Land Cruiser FJ80 full time 4wd system.

 

[flyrod444]

I drive a Honda passport AWD when working as a fishing guide. While it works great backing my raft trail in and out of several sandy steep ramps I use and works well in a few inches of snow on my steep drive it isn't the same as a true 4wheel drive. The best thing is that it gets great mileage and rides great. Where they are lacking is ground clearance and wheel travel. Deep snow or mud is a no go for them. Lack of wheel travel cause them to lose wheel contact with the ground on uneven terrain. This is why I also have an old 4x4 truck with limited slip rear end for off-road use.

 

[pjciii]

I have a 2016 kia sportage AWD with a 107k on it. Only changed oil and tires, brake pads and rotors turned. It is better than rwd, fwd in a number of situations. Its not as good as 4wd but i have a little more confidence in it and can feel It shifting drive when i need it. I would buy another one.

 

[paulito]

My wife went from a 4x4 Jeep Liberty to the AWD Subaru Cross Trek. She immediately said she felt much more in control and safer driving in the heavy rain than she did in the jeep.

I personally have not taken it out in any bad stuff to give a comparison as to 4WD off road type stuff but the clearance on that crosstrek is low so i would have my doubts. It does handle well though and you don't have that "feel" that you get when driving 4WD on the pavement. Glad she's happy with it and it has been a good car.

As mentioned above, a lot of driving in "conditions" depends on the driver. Gone plenty of places others couldn't in a 2WD truck just by being smart about it and picking your spots

 

[transfixer]

My wife went from a 4x4 Jeep Liberty to the AWD Subaru Cross Trek. She immediately said she felt much more in control and safer driving in the heavy rain than she did in the jeep.

I personally have not taken it out in any bad stuff to give a comparison as to 4WD off road type stuff but the clearance on that crosstrek is low so i would have my doubts. It does handle well though and you don't have that "feel" that you get when driving 4WD on the pavement. Glad she's happy with it and it has been a good car.

As mentioned above, a lot of driving in "conditions" depends on the driver. Gone plenty of places others couldn't in a 2WD truck just by being smart about it and picking your spots

"Most" driving in snow ,ice or mud depends on the driver, a lot of people with 4wd or AWD think they can drive the same as they do everyday on dry pavement, I've pulled 4wd trucks out of a ditch in the past with a 2wd E250 van, because the 4wd drivers thought they could just drive anyway they wanted to, driving in adverse conditions requires a light touch on the steering wheel, and very light application of throttle and little to no use of the brake pedal. For some reason people with 4wd and AWD think when the vehicle loses traction they need to step on the throttle , which only makes the situation worse

 

[treemanjohn]

AWD is not 4WD. It really shines on wet pavement which is the majority of ugliness in Georgia. They also don't have that strange pulling/dragging effect like a front wheel drive.

I have a sports car with all wheel drive and it won't bark the tires. It just grabs and goes

 

[northgeorgiasportsman]

They also don't have that strange pulling/dragging effect like a front wheel drive.

It's called torque steering, endemic to many front wheel drives, and if you drive hard and fast, it's more noticeable. My wife's FWD Explorer will just about pull you into the other lane under hard acceleration.

 

[normaldave]

I think "cons" in the early days of AWD were cost, complicated repairs, and reliability. Today, I think those concerns in comparison are minimal and far outweighed by the "pros".

My Montero has both AWD and 4WD/low range in one system called Super Select. My 4WD Hi (no locked center differential) is AWD. I tow in that mode, when it's raining, or any other foul weather. When I switch from RWD to 4WD Hi on the fly, I can feel the front wheels "grip" just a bit. It handles better, is much more sure footed than in RWD mode, and there really isn't a penalty except maybe a tick of fuel mileage, but it's pretty much a bear in that category anyhow.

This writeup explains the system (Australia-style). So as far as AWD is concerned, 4H in this article w/o LC explains it. (Sounds similar to @earlthegoat2's Jeep system, I think it used to be called Quadra Trac in earlier days)
Mitsubishi Super Select 4x4

My vote is for AWD hands down. (And I wish they would still import their Pajero Sport which uses the same 4WD system today, except "fly by wire" instead of linkage control).

Side note: we passed a medium sized Nissan SUV nosed into the ditch last weekend on the way to the dump. No foul weather, driver appeared to have over corrected in the curve. It was an AWD and all 4 wheels were on the ground, but no matter what, it would not move out under it's own power, no wheel spin, tried to push, nope.

Went home, got my Montero and recovery gear, pulled him out easy-peasy, and he was on his way, after getting a phone "correction" from home for getting his wife's car in the ditch. I wonder if the Nissan CVT (transmission), just wouldn't apply power with the front end angled or lifted a bit from the ditch?