[Undertoad]

Originally Posted by tw

Do not get deceived by an all-wheel drive myth. All wheel drive means getting started easier.

Or additional traction any time you notice slipping happening in a two-wheel-drive system. Or even if you don't notice it even though it's happening all the time.

Meanwhile you may notice that in your standard 2wd car there are often times you have to "get started". You may in fact notice that you have to stop all the freakin time. Stop signs, red lights, traffic, infant in the middle of the road. Remember, infant blood is more slippery than freezing rain. And evil states apply infant blood to finished roads to dedicate them to Satan.

To do that, all wheels must fight each other once you get moving; resulting in less stability and control at higher speeds. That means increased tire wear, less gas mileage, and higher costs.

Uh-oh, the 2014 Subarus get MPG in the 30s highway if they have CVT.

Some all-wheel drive models add expensive computers to reduce those problems.

ALL 2WD, 4WD and AWD cars have computers. It's 2013.

But mostly AWD reduces those problems through a gearing system called a center differential. If you've had 4WD without center diff, you know what it means. Without center diff you can't even turn the vehicle while in 4WD in dry conditions. With it, all tires can turn at different speeds, and turning is normal.

Marketing? Every FWD car since the late 80s has been marketed as having "traction control" to prevent slippage. Traction control is really a computer. (Not an *expensive* computer. Again, it's 2013.)

And traction control prevents torque steer, where the car actually turns when only one front tire has traction. In my 1985 VW, front wheel drive, the steering wheel once jerked right out of my hands when hitting a bad pothole in wet conditions. By 1988, veedubs had computers, and would apply ABS to individual wheels to avoid that problem. They still do. It's kind of barbaric to have your car hit the breaks on the wheels that are spinning harder, to avoid problems while you accelerate, but that's what all 2WD cars do these days.

If working the farm, then you might need all-wheel drive for the driveway. But all-wheel drive only increases safety and handling in advertising myths.

Mysteriously, these things apply to farm driveways if you're working the farm, OR if you're just visiting one.

A farm driveway, or really, any stretch of road that has mud, snow, ice, wet leaves, heavy rain, damp grass, sand, large potholes, or gravel. If you don't encounter those, feel free to avoid AWD. Perhaps you live in southern California, or maybe you only drive 2 miles from your garaged home to your garaged office, or maybe you got all your facts in the 80s and stick to them like a religion.