I'm not telling you or anyone what kind of drive they should have on their car.
Neither of those two options you mention have the road manners, handling or mileage of my AWD Ridgeline.
Why are there so many AWD cars now?
- Thread starter Elkins45
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I'm not telling you or anyone what kind of drive they should have on their car.
Neither of those two options you mention have the road manners, handling or mileage of my AWD Ridgeline.
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The Ridgeline’s AWD system is no joke. It’s very very good.
I own a FWD Traverse and a AWD Enclave. The Buick is a beast in the snow Traverse goes but no beast but I never got stuck. My fwd beater with snows traveled all sorts of snow storms in 16 years not stuck once. Snow tires drive smart and alert is the ticket
The "average" new vehicle consumer in the USA is an idiot with a predilection to falling for advertising fluff.
That's why the vast majority of vehicles that didn't used to have AWD at all now all have been redesigned to include AWD.
Additionally, the US market contains places that have mountains and snow, so manufacturers understand that if two vehicles are sitting on the lot next to each other in a place like CO, or northern NH, and one has AWD, while the other is either FWD or RWD only, then chances are it will take longer to sell that non-AWD car at that lot.
AWD is popular, it keeps the government from maintaining roads, so bad roads, AWD to the rescue. Pushes up prices of vehicles, and allows your road commissioner to be lax at road maintenance..
After driving the awd and fwd versions of the same vehicle, no way Id buy the fwd.
I bought my (now my MIL's) AWD Subaru Forester because, by Ned, I needed AWD for these snowy Alabama winters, and also because it came with a complimentary REI membership and a free puppy.
AWD means you can drive 80mph on a twisty road in snowy conditions. It allows you to out brake F1 cars in the rain. Just ask any Texas resident visiting Colorado for a ski trip.
4WD
$50 site donor 2024
Stupid
The only AWD system I'm familiar with is Subaru. I've seen some CRV's get out of some snow that they were struggling in but those systems are not the greatest and are too reactionary. Subaru's 60/40 torque split keeps traction going. Of course tires are always the biggest factor. Subarus are little tanks with snow tires.
People are always going to be idiots and you see this when they drive their first 4wd or AWD car in a snowstorm. They are way too overconfident and end up in a ditch anyway.
Subarus are one of the few AWD vehicles that can drive on the beach successfully. Most of the others get stuck.
Maybe the other manufactures just jumped on the bandwagon due to Subaru?
People are always going to be idiots and you see this when they drive their first 4wd or AWD car in a snowstorm. They are way too overconfident and end up in a ditch anyway.
Subarus are one of the few AWD vehicles that can drive on the beach successfully. Most of the others get stuck.
Maybe the other manufactures just jumped on the bandwagon due to Subaru?
Buster… there’s no Subaru system that is a fixed 60/40; the closest would be the STi’s DCCD but that is variable; the manual cars are 50/50 fixed, and the 4EATs vary between 50/50 up to 90/10. The CVT cars are a little different, but I’ll leave that up to our friend Jason Fenske:
Hmmm. The 50/50 in the manuals I knew about but I thought the CVT models were 60/40? I think the 90/10 was proven to be not true?
He says it's 60/40, for most of the Subaru models:
The CVT was the one I didn’t remember, because I’ve never personally owned one of those but have all the other methods. I can tell you from experience with the Subaru version of ForScan (FreeSSM) that the 4EAT most definitely falls off at highway speeds to the 90/10… you can watch the engagement % of the center differential solenoid. You can also technically make it solely FWD by pulling the tow fuse under the hood, but who would want an FWD-only Subaru??
Yeah I heard that too. But all the CVT models, which is most on the road today, are 60/40. I have found that the Subaru CVT AWD system outperforms the other AWD systems, even the Mazda. I could get the Mazda to slip the front wheels before it kicked power to the rear. Not the Subaru which is 60/40 at all times.
Honda has a good AWD system too.
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I’ve had two awd vehicles it’s definitely a pleasure on that evening commute home and it has begun to snow. My last few years up in NY I had only fwd vehicles when it snowed I would stay home or leave work early before the white stuff would accumulate. But yes I feel awd is a waste of money if the vehicle opts to be available without it and of course you live in a region it’s not necessary. I’ve gotten through 5-6 inches of snow just fine on all seasons many of times, key is don’t get the chassis hung up. 
Subaru has so many variants of AWD there is no central statement you can make in generalities. The specific model and transmission it differs along with trim line.
I loved my 2005 Legacy GT wagon with 50/50 split with manual transmission and LSD all mechanical bliss. No electronics , just oil and viscosity and engineering making it go.
What about this?
Manuals with the viscous coupling are not fixed 50:50. The default split is 50:50, and the coupling can go up to around 70:30 or 30:70 depending on which axle has slip.
The "Sport" AWD (minus the STI) was more like 45:55, like the WRX CVT, the old Legacy GT (with the turbo motor and 5-speed auto), but when loss of traction occurs it goes down to 50:50
