Yeah, but nothing gets you OUT of a sticky situation better than simple, transfer-case 4x4. Snow or mud, that’s what I want getting me back to pavement
I have a truck, TRD Tacoma with all the off road goodies including locking center differential, manual locking rear differential, off road traction torque distribution system (Atrac ) and down and up hill ascent system and none of these do anything for handling while on slippery snow and ice covered roads at speed. My wife’s AWD car is much better keeping us on road in slippery conditions. All these goodies on off road vehicles are absolutely useless for driving on paved roads on ice and snow over 35 mph. Getting back on, sure…then you shut them all off and drive slowly when conditions are bad, just like you would in any 2 wd vehicle. Over 35 mph, these vehicles become a handful to handle while AWD cars are safer, more stabile and handle wonderfully in snow.
Fwd cars with snow tires are actually safer for most inexperienced drivers then truck based systems when driving in moderate to light snow.
Gotta agree with @Missleman and @Dagosa and others. An AWD isn’t going to stop any better and which is better, stuck safely in snow or slipping on the highway. I’d rather see good winter tires and FWD.
Used to marvel at the amount of SUVs over the bank,during the first major snowfalls.What was scarey,was the amount of people driving on the jagged edge in heavy SUVs,conditions change,powder snow behaves differntly,then heavy wet snow. The older Jeep commercials would depict a Jeep SUV plowing through deep powder snow,you cant necessarily do that with deep wet snow,during one ice storm I cruised by parked 4wds in an old 2wd Ford pickup,(technique helps) but comes a time when you need the right equipment(some people with SUVs didnt even know how to engage 4wd) so probaly all around ,AWD is better for a lot of people
But all this aside I do not recommend used AWD.-Kevin
Kevin, just to reinforce your thoughts, I sold my 4Runner to a lady and her husband the other day in a private sale who had exactly the same one I had only with very high mileage and did not want a new generation but one like mine with fewer miles. I started to casually dismiss going over the multi mode 2wd/AWD/4wd drive train of the 4Runner and how to use each one and assumed because they had one for nearly 300k freak’n mikes, they knew what to do. The husband and wife, nearly in unison both spoke up and said "no, don’t stop telling us how it works…we never knew what those buttons were for. "
Good grief !
Wow!-Kevin
I agree with the others. AWD is wholly unnecessary for your son unless you guys live where the car will get stuck without it. If this is just to keep him from sliding into something, then skip it, because AWD won’t do that unless the driver is very experienced (think WRC rally racers). The tires are far more effective at keeping the car pointed where it should be than a fancy drivetrain is.
Even though I am in total agreement that given the $6500 restriction, a compact fwd car is far and away the best buy when equipped with two sets of tires for winter, let’s not loose sight of one simple fact. A modern AWD car ALSO equipped with winter tires when price is not an object, is far safer when driven sanely both for added control while accelerating and cornering and can be driven more slowly without fear of not making hills and getting through snow covered intersections or merging while driving in snow. When equipped with the right shoes, offers so much more potential safety then a fwd car with snow tires, it’s not even fair to compare them.
We do AWD cars injustice when we compare them without snow tires to fwd cars with. AWD cars with snow tires have no potential equal for safety when driven sanely compared to ANY 2 wd vehicle in winter conditions. AWD systems are no longer considered fancy or unreliable. They are the best way a car maker can offer control in slippery conditions. It’s then up to the driver to drive it correctly and put on the right tires.