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all wheel drive (fulltime four wheel drive ) is very bad for gas mileage, the cars front end and the road surface. I suggest something w/ on demand four wheel drive. The Chevy Tracker is very small easy on fuel and some with 4x4. Honda and toyota make great small 4x4s. I personally have a Chevy s10 Blazer, it's a
little bigger so I can haul more gear and people.plus it gets about 20 mpg.
With the four wheel on the drive to Solar Collector is a breeze.

All wheel drive and 4 wheel drive are completely different.

4wd uses a TRANSFER CASE that can lower the gearing of a car or truck for low traction situations. 4wd vehicles usually also have locking front and rear differentials. In the vast majority of cases 4wd vehicles are 2wd and until the driver manually selects high or low 4wd, or sometimes other options.


Awd does not have a transfer case. Awd, depending on the system used, is on all the time, though they can have a front or rear bias. Instead of a transfer case and locking differentials it will use a combination of center torsen or haldx differential and hopefully front and rear limited slip differentials.

Unfortunatley Auto manufactures think that you are all dumb, well maybe you are. They often call their 4wd/Awd systems by the incorect names in order to make them sound good. Most importantly ALL AWD SYSTEMS ARE NOT CREATED EQUALLY.

Many/most AWD systems do not use front and rear limited slip differentials. All they will use is a center Haldex and open front and rears, combined with a Front Wheel Drive Bias. Many people find this hard to call real Awd.

Even subaru's Awd is not the same throughout their vehicle line up even though they call it the same thing on every vehicle. The same with Audi. The quattro they use on the A4 is inferior to what they put on the higher end models.

The majority of Awd drive cars and SUV's use a Haldex Awd system, which really isn't that good. Most are heavily front wheel drive biased, some even 100%, until they sense slippage. Unfortunatley this allows them to slip easier in the first place. I have driven a lot of Awd cars and SUV's in slippery conditions and the difference in the performance of the systems vary greatly. Never will you be so pissed to see your Awd vehicle spinning one front wheel and one back wheel becuase it doesn't have front and rear limited slip differentials.

The last thing I will leave you with is that I would take a 2wd vehicle with the right tires, over a Awd/4wd vehicle with crappy or ill suited tires. Unfortunatley most people think a tire is a tire, and put crap on their vehicle no matter what.

a tire is a tire. just like a tall, stupid ogre is a tall, stupid ogre.

Damn Andy where the hell did you learn all that?

I don't work in the summer and spend entirely to much time on the inernets, and I like cars and working on them, specifically turbo subaru's.

flashmaster wrote:I herd Dodge Diesel trucks can make it in and out of the southern region pretty well and get good mileage......for a full size truck. Not to mention they sound bad ass!!!!..Dodge parts

And in addition to that, Dodge trucks are really durable and all its parts are in good quality !! They have powerful engine too. And also they are stylish cars. Really bad ass!

Just go look at a bunch of cars that get 35 mpg on the highway, and then buy the one that has the most clearance.

Also, buying 1-2 year old luxury cars is a pretty good way to get a pimpin ride for the same price as a brand new economy car. Probably not best on the mileage, but if you are looking in the used category just remember that nearly all cars drop down to the price of a used base model after a year or two.

Isn't this post a little outdated? Didn't read to see if someone brought up again with same question.

as an update, since I am sure you are all wondering. I ended up driving that beaten pyle until I sold it for $50 to Frank at the used tire and battery store in slade. I then upgraded to a much newer 97 Escort station Waggon, after 2 years of that non air conditioned mobile home I ended up selling it for $100 to some auto mechanic here in Louisville. Now I went with a 2003 pontiac vibe, so far I like it, however it just started sounding really loud and sometimes smells like a fart, I am glad this upgrade came complete with power windows.

Andy, pretty good information overall, but one minor quibble. The Audi A4 DOES have what I call real QUATTRO AWD, same as in the A6 and A8. It is the A3 and TT that uses the Haldex system for their AWD. Not is good as real QUATTRO but it works. If it's fuel economy and decent traction one is looking for, we're pretty happy with our 2012 Focus. Just got 44.5 MPG round trip on our drive up to Big Sky ski resort for the off-road motorcycle races. Car handles and rides great and the dual clutch auto/manual is pretty slick. Number one pick in Automobile Magazine's small car comparison, beating out Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, and Mazda. Disclosure, I sell Fords.

ps - The focus is averaging 33-35 in daily driving around town.