Originally Posted By: supton
Originally Posted By: ejes
We have a '07 Rav4 V6 with the AWD and the transfer case "4x4" low. It was my wife's car before the Cherokee and then we gave it to my daughter last year for college. I liked it for my wife because it was simple (just push the button for 4x4 low) and it automatically turned off once you hit 20mph or so. Basically simple enough of a feature that it might prevent me from having to come push her out of a ditch or snow bank if she ended up there and I didn't have to worry about her ruining anything with having to manipulate 4x4. However, in all the years we've had it in pretty good KS winter snows, we never had to use it. The AWD system is so good you really had to screw up to get it stuck. I drove it down in a ditch with a foot of snow one time just to try to get it stuck; the crazy little thing was like a billy goat and crawled right up and out of it; no 4x4 low needed. The Rav also had hill descent; never used it either except going though some steep paved twisties in the Rockies one time. It, too, worked like a charm. I would think the Renegade would be even more capable than that Rav4, save the lower HP engine.
AFAIK RAV4 never had 4Lo. The switch on the dashboard just "locks" what would be in common parlance the center differential, changing from a heavy front-bias to a 50/50 split. AFAIK the button is 4Lock or Lock.
[Reality is that the RAV4 lacks a center differential / transfer case altogether--it runs the rear drive shaft just like the missing front drive shaft (it's a traverse engine setup, so no front driveshaft, but you get the idea). Inside the rear diff is a clutch which engages the rear axle. Hitting the button--or if commanded by traction control--operates the clutch.]
No, you are correct, it is not a "low". Its really just a term I use for it because of how it won't work past those low gear, high revs due to the automatic disengagement. Didn't mean to confuse things.
