The advice provided by the Car Talk site does not differentiate between rear, front, AWD or 4WD drive. In the mid 1970s I bought four new Michelin X tires for our small rear drive car. Michelin said in their literature that rotation was not necessary. There were almost no front drive cars then.
Now with mostly front drive cars, rotation is necessary or the rear tires will wear oddly on the outer tread row until the rear tires becomes noisy. This is not dangerous and the tire life is not reduced much unless you consider a noisy tire worn out. Moving the tires to the front may make the noise even louder or may reveal noise where there was none before. Moving the tires to the front as per a rotation may slowly reduce the noise or may not at all. Rotate on time!
Your best advice for your AWD vehicle will be found in your owner’s manual and will apply to your particular vehicle, not someone else’s opinion from experience with a front or rear drive vehicle.
Rotation is an easy Saturday morning DIY task. You need two jacks and a lug wrench.
