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Ok I'll give you that Jeep option. it's still a AWD of some sort. You cannot disengage the feature. In a traditional 4x4 you can disengage the t-case and you have a 2wd 4hi 4lo option and more recent AWD (with possibly low high setting). You can run in 2WD. In some cars like my wife's I can choose 2WD, AWD or auto AWD or 4hi 4lo. (The auto AWD is basically 2WD until AWD is needed. The AWD setting makes it AWD all the time. Has a bunch f weird traction control no slip system. I don't care for it.
A FWD with a optional AWD feature is not a 4x4. You can't disengage the t case and regardless if you have a low range you are still AWD. Most systems just don't give the driver a choice. Jeep has always had done weird complicated AWD options on their cars. You may have some limited input in some systems. But that's a pretty new feature.
The point is that it's all marketing. Jeep labels their system "4x4." Even though it's technically a relatively advanced AWD system on all but the Wrangler. Some AWD systems are marketed as 4WD, which is technically accurate because at times it drives all four wheels. Then you have labels like All4, Quattro, i-Activ, etc etc. Even with AWD systems (like the Jeep ones as an example), you can't make assumptions, some let you lock them in AWD mode, some even have locking differentials, and not just brake-lock differential setups. The only way to know is to research it.
FYI Toyota and Nissan can also be locked into AWD mode but it cuts off after a certain speed and goes into default mode. GM's AWD system on the new Equinox is multi-mode, so it may also have AWD-override capability similar to the Jeep setup, there isn't a lot of info out there on it yet.
I've never seen technical definitions of 4WD and AWD that cover all scenarios. To me, 4WD implies off road prowess while AWD implies adverse weather prowess. Subaru isn't going to market a 4WD vehicle because they're not really interested in making a vehicle designed for pure off-roading even though I'm sure their AWD vehicles are far more off-road capable than the average vehicle. Likewise, the Wrangler will probably never have an AWD system because Wranglers are marketed as a pure off-road vehicle. That it's less capable in conditions like icy roads than an AWD vehicle is something Jeep is not concerned about.
I've never seen technical definitions of 4WD and AWD that cover all scenarios. To me, 4WD implies off road prowess while AWD implies adverse weather prowess. Subaru isn't going to market a 4WD vehicle because they're not really interested in making a vehicle designed for pure off-roading even though I'm sure their AWD vehicles are far more off-road capable than the average vehicle. Likewise, the Wrangler will probably never have an AWD system because Wranglers are marketed as a pure off-road vehicle. That it's less capable in conditions like icy roads than an AWD vehicle is something Jeep is not concerned about.
My 300 AWD was a beast in the snow, handling better than any car I had ever had before. It was my first AWD, coming from smaller FWD and larger RWD vehicles. The 300 handled off pavement like a champ. Not off-roading of course, but when the situation arose.
My 300 AWD was a beast in the snow, handling better than any car I had ever had before. It was my first AWD, coming from smaller FWD and larger RWD vehicles. The 300 handled off pavement like a champ. Not off-roading of course, but when the situation arose.
Yeah, my Cherokee has been a beast too. Not the first AWD car I've ever driven, but the first I've ever owned. Sure-footed like you wouldn't believe. There's this car wash/laundromat I visit regularly, and the exit is a decent 15-20 degree up-incline which is always wet for obvious reasons. Every FWD car I've had would always spin a tire on that, but the Cherokee never has a problem.
But the best part is the sport mode, where it switches to a default 40/60 front-rear bias. And you can feel it too. Feels good.
To me, 4wd means you have to manually select between 2wd and 4wd. It also usually means you can pick between high range and low range. Back in the dark ages, you also had to get out and engage the Warn hubs on the front wheels. I learned to drive in a 1957 Willy's utility wagon that was like that. My 1987 S-10 Blazer had done away with the Warn hubs but still had high range and low range. I had a Mazda Navajo (2 door Explorer) with a pushbutton for 4wd and no low range. I recall you had to get below 50 mph to engage 4wd. Everything I've owned since then was AWD of some sort.
I drive a current generation 6 cylinder Outback these days. The difference between Haldex-style part time AWD and the Subaru and Audi systems has already been beaten to death. An Outback does pretty well for a suburban grocery getter but it doesn't have anything like the off road capabilities of a conventional manual transmission body-on-frame 4wd car with a high/low manual transfer case. With good snow tires, it's a great ski car which is why I own it.
There is also AWD that NEVER engages both axles, merely dithers between the two very quickly. I call that simulated AWD, not AWD. The marketeers invent all sorts of obfuscatory terms instead.
But a big difference between 4WD and AWD is that the latter does not have a low-range transfer case. This is NOT a single low gear; it is somewhat analogous to the granny chainring on a mountain bike.
One must stop the vehicle and put the transmission in neutral before shifting into the low range, or out of it. I have known at least three people who had owned 4WD vehicles and didn't even know what the low range was for. Owner's manual, anyone? It ain't rocket science.
I've never heard of this but I would be interested to know which automaker makes such a system?
There are hybrid type 4WD vehicles that have electronic "Transfer cases", PTU, like the Jeep Patriot and Compass. Technically these vehicles are really AWD but the operator has a switch that initiates a 50/50 split between the front and rear wheels. Of course the brains will still move the power to the wheels than need it and it will disengage automatically when it accelerates over 35MPH.
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Owner's manual, anyone? It ain't rocket science.
