AWD VS $ wheel drive

AWD usually has a center differential(in transfer case), always engaged and no hi/low ranges. 4WD usually has the option no to use it and may or may not have a center diff and will have hi/low.
 
I don't think AWD is really all wheel drive. It was explained to me that the center case transfers power to which ever axle it thinks needs traction. Similar to a limited slip differential. Not actual 4 wheel drive. They had an article on that recently in a magazine I read. They tested a Subaru Forester, Toyota RAV4, Honda CRV. and a Camry. In their test, the Camry performed as well in snow as any of the AWD vehicles. Their conclusion was that AWD is a waste of money. Too many car sales people sell them as 4WD. I have a neighbor who bought a CRV recently and told me it was 4WD. I told him not really.
 
Depends on the vehicle.

Some are full time 4wd or AWD. Usually these you can put into 4 low, but cannot take it out of AWD.

Some only direct a percentage of power to the front wheels when slippage is detected. Typically these are FWD and you have no selection as far as 2wd, 4wd.
 
AWD is a tweaked 4WD for high speeds. Good traction for the road. 4WD is for slow speeds off road. Good for plowing your driveway.
 
My soon to be wife's new Ford Edge is awd and there is a setting on the dash where you can watch it and it's pretty cool. When accelerating or braking all wheels are engaged but as you increase speed the rear trickles off until it is fwd only. Kinda neat to watch when I worked construction a guy I worked with awd was malfunctioning in his escape and I had to drag him out of a tightly packed gravel lot with the backhoe then he got on the wet road (it was raining) and it would hardly take off. I don't know about all of them but when that one failed it was a complete failure
 
The wife's old Jeep Cherokee had an optional transfer case which I think was called "Selectrac". It had positions for 4WD, as well as a "hard surface" AWD, which employed a differential in the transfer case, between the front and rear axles. It was overall a good vehicle, but the problems we had with that were- the transfer case didn't work properly, and my wife had to be thinking ahead to shift it properly.

Then I got her a Chevy Colorado, as she was always using the Cherokee as a truck. This had push button shift on the dash, which worked, but she still had to think about shifting. (And the four door Colorado took WAY too much room to turn around).

We recently got her a Jeep Patriot. Now, with AWD, she no longer is spinning on wet grass, then shifting into 4WD, then lurching around corners on a hard farm lane.
There is a switch to lock it in 4WD, which we haven't used yet. So far, so good.
 
Mostly, it is a word game. ANY system that delivers power to all 4 wheels or is capable of that IS 4 wheel drive or a variant of it.
AWD really means that they have taken away any control that the driver had and delegated that to a computer through the anti-lock and traction control sensors. Any way that you look at it, it is a variation of 4 wheel drive. Add enough smoke and mirrors, and the voodoo and black magic takes over!!!
 
AWD is just what it says...any of the four wheels are capable of delivering power. Typically, they will be front wheel drive or rear wheel drive systems with input from the opposite axle according to sensor inputs. Todays AWD systems are meant to be mindless... no driver input is needed, and the computer directs the power flow.

4WD is simply all wheel drive with provisions to lock the front & rear axles together so at least one wheel from each delivers power. With a positrac rear axle it's possible to have 3 wheels delivering power.
Different manufacturers accomplish their AWD in different ways, and some are more effective than others. In all the years I've been selling transfer case and axle parts, it seems that the true 4X4 systems are dying out in favor of more sophisticated AWD systems, even in the full size pickups. It will probably take awhile more though, before they're completely gone. There will always be a small market for manually locking transfer cases (even if electrically shifted), but future increases in technology will probably make them a niche market some day.
 
When we bought our Durango, it was explained to us the full time awd provided 65% power to the rear and 35% to the front. Knob on the dash locks in 4wd like we're used to. I'll never go back to a 2wd vehicle for my wife if I don't have to. We love it. It's ten years old and works like the day we bought it.
 
4WD mechanically links an axle to provide power to the driveline. AWD does not and engages a drive axle when enough wheel spin is created by an axle. AWD is normally disengaged until slippage (friction) in the unit causes the clutch plates to apply and provide additional drive. They are not computer controlled from my experience. Subaru uses them quite a bit.
 
What ever magazine you were reading didn't know their arse from a hole in the ground. For paved road driving which is what 99.9% of all miles driven the AWD systems are superior to 4X4 for the mere fact that you can be in AWD all the time, but if you try that with a 4X4 you'll be replacing differentials and transfer cases.
 
I guess I see it differently.

I use my truck for towing, plowing and pulling. I like being able to engage 4wd with a tug on the lever for the transfer case and just as easy to take it out.

AWD is very fashionable and for taking young Philsbar to the dentist in the city it is probably a great thing.

However for doing work 4wd is the way to go IMHO.

Brad
 
I had a Eagle for a driver ed car for a season. It was impressive. If I remember right the transfer case had fluid coupling of the clutch plates. Could drive in 4 wheel on hard dry surfaces without problem. Was popular with rural mail carriers, but had other driveline issues that proved expensive.
 
AWD uses viscous couplers (transfer case and diffs) good accuracy in providing power to wheels that need it, and can run always engaged. Towing very limited, no plowing etc...

4x4 uses solid gears in t-case and diffs, good for working vehicles.
 
I don't see how we are seeing it differently. 4X4 works great for WORK, but as stated 99% of the people don't work with their vehicles - they are driving them on pavement that may or may not have ice, slush or water build up and that includes more than half the people driving 3/4 and 1 ton pickups. Our secretary drives a 2012 F250 super duty diesel to work and brags about locking it in 4X4 and leaving it there all winter while she drives 70MPH. I've told her its not good for the powertrain but what do I know. When the transfer case fails or she drops a drive shaft maybe she'll listen.


And the claim the magazine made that AWD is no better than 2WD is just plain stupid.
 
There are a lot of different versions out there. Hyundai used to have a system that was in "real" AWD all the time. They basically had a torque converter that absorbed the difference between the from and rear axle speeds but power went to the front and rear all the time. Other manufacturers had other versions too but the more common ones in use today utilize the ABS braking with a differential that may or may not be electronic. They work good for occasional use and won't destroy themselves at highway speed and for getting the vehicle through a rough patch of road, but they aren't what I would want to use to drag gooseneck cattle trailer down a mud road - but not many people are going to do that with a Ford Escape.
 
One big difference is with automatic computerized AWD, you can floor it on snow and go forward....do that with manual non-computerized 4 wd with posi rear end and you will slide to low side of road and into ditch. Power to all wheels all the time is only good at very low speeds and probably in mud / sand or plowing snow . (or truck pulling) With AWD automatic you can drive safely in 6" slush rows on highway without it pulling you off the road. My daughters AWD Toyota Matrix is proof. I did it when they test drove it in March 6" wet slushy snow. At 55 mph you could cross the slush rows and let go of the wheel and it went arrow straight! Needless to say she bought that car. 225,000 miles later and still going strong with zero rust. $ 40,000 trucks are rusting out at 6 yrs old. Just ain't right.
 
They had an article on that recently in a magazine I read. They tested a Subaru Forester, Toyota RAV4, Honda CRV. and a Camry. In their test, the Camry performed as well in snow as any of the AWD vehicles. Their conclusion was that AWD is a waste of money.

[color=red:a85c354fd8]You're reading the wrong magazine for sure!![/color:a85c354fd8]
 
Most new (all?) don't have power going to all 4 wheels. Some are optioned to have a LS rear axle, but I don't think you can even get LS on a front axle anymore. I do have it on my 1990 Bronco (factory) and that thing is a beast when it comes to getting around in sloppy ground - it makes my Jeep Liberty look pretty pathetic.
 
Recently had a Ford Expedition that had a plate on the tailgate that said AWD : but it had a switch in the dash to select between 2H : 4S (computer version ) : 4H : 4L. Sort of the best of both worlds.
 
I would agree, I have a Camry (front drive), and have owned a few 4WD and AWD vehicles including a Subaru Forester. I can say for certain that the Subaru would far outperform the Camry on snow hands down,
and it had excellent ground clearance to boot meaning it would be a lot more difficult to high center. The Camry has very little ground clearance, but with the correct tires it does ok (forget all season
tires, and go with a full on winter tire if you want to move - no comparison at all). My wife drove the Subaru, and she said it was excellent in snow. Subaru probably has one of the best AWD systems out
there. She traded it because it always seemed small, and cramped. She now has a Toyota Tacoma 4WD which has the electronic locking rear differential. Downside to the electronic locking differential is
that it seems as though you must be moving for it to engage, or at least one time I was on a icy hillside, and slid into a ditch before I got the 4WD or differential switched on. I had to somehow get it to
roll back more and it finally engaged, and pulled itself out, but lesson learned to switch it on if you even think you will need it, and before you end up stuck. For a 4WD I will not own another 4x4 truck
without an automatic locking rear differential. I have owned two, and it is night and day difference.
 

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