Am I the only one completely over AWD?

Like I am seriously over it. I had it on both of my Subies, my X3 and now the CR-V. The CR-V, the most not AWD AWD I have ever been in is the most liveable. The other three were just reasons you couldn't put different tread depth tires on.

I get that some people need it. Like in the North during every day but 4th of July. Things like stability control, traction control and abs just either hit the brakes or cut the throttle, but AWD jacks with the feel of the vehicle so much, especially when it is transmitting torque, and the fuel economy, and the tires. I remember this a few times on my X3 and it really presented its self on the turbo Subies.

So is it just me or are there others that think AWD is the latest and greatest PITA not needed thing?

I wish my rallycross car were AWD. STU Subarus are a ton of fun. Other than that I don't have much desire for it.

I agree. Honestly, even living in the north, I'll take a RWD DD over AWD or FWD any day. It just feels better to drive. If things ever get really nasty, I can drag the Jeep out and throw it in 4wd. But even in snow, that thing spends 99% of its life in 2wd.

I think my X3 would have been a phenomenal RWD vehicle. 3.0, 6 speed. Thing would have been great. I know there are defeat kits and you take out the front axles and the front drive shaft, but still.

Oddly I have no interest in AWD for track or for rally/rallycross (which is why I have a WRX as a DD and an e30 as a racecar).

But for a DD, I love it. I like being able to punch it in the rain out of a side street into traffic without being sideways or spinning the front wheels. I like the thoughlessness of it being "point and shoot" with well over 300hp and never giving a thought to the car getting out of line. YMMV/.

After having a vacuum leak in the 4x4 system in my Sonoma, a few years ago, I came to accept that two [rear] wheels can adequately propel a vehicle equipped with proper tires, Blizzaks, in this case. Four wheel drive wasn't needed, but it makes hooning in the snow a lot more fun.

Daily driven on clean roads, the merits of AWD are debatable. But climbing a Pennsylvania hill covered in snow and slush, AWD (or 4WD) is a hands-down winner. Yes, you need decent tires and traction control can help, but I have seen many times where AWD was the only way to get from point A to point B.

My relatives who live in the lake-effect snow belt use AWD to get up their driveway for months every year. I have tried with snow tires and traction control and FWD and it was useless. Their Subie on all-seasons scooted right up.

Thing is, global warming being what it is, I have not seen a situation locally in years where I couldn't take another route or wait for the plow. So I am fine without it.

After an A6 bi-turbo 6sp quattro, I'll take a proper rear wheel drive car.

Now, my '14 Grand Cherokee has the right amount of awd-y-ness but its not meant for fun.

Not over it, sorry I'll take twice the traction over traction control any day of the week.

I love that we have 2 awd cars and a 4x4 truck for winter if only for the fact that I don't have to bother shoveling or plowing the driveway anymore. Plus wrx on snow is just a blast.

RWD with an AWD option would be great. Still a weight and complexity penalty though.

I'd love to re-live those New England winters with a 2wd 4cyl 5spd Ranger. I cannot remember ever getting stuck save for one year on a frozen pond and slid into a snow pile from a track that got plowed on it.

What I do remember is being sideways most of the time but that's not a bad thing

Keith Tanner wrote: Not over it, sorry I'll take twice the traction over traction control any day of the week.

Its not and either or thing.

It's a "We complain about these, but this is worse" thing.

When we lived on flat land, I had no interest in AWD, even in the 'great white north'. Living on not-flat land, I find it advantageous to keep one AWD/4WD vehicle in the fleet.

This is the first year in 9 years ive owned a 4x4. Didnt use it once, ive always said it was a waste for what i do. I cant wait to go back to a 2wd truck.

Overly complex driveline with more E36 M3 too break. No thanks.

FlightService wrote:

Keith Tanner wrote: Not over it, sorry I'll take twice the traction over traction control any day of the week.

Its not and either or thing. It's a "We complain about these, but this is worse" thing.

Well, it is a bit. If your choice is AWD or some sort of traction control, then I'd go with AWD. I don't even know if my parents' Subaru had traction control, it just had traction. Rarely do I prefer traction control over anything else, actually. But even if you take traction control out of the equation, I'll still take the drive type that has more traction in the first place.

I'm guessing your complaint is with the implementation. I've not found that any AWD cars I've driven have "jacked with the feel of the vehicle". Ironically, the lest effective AWD implementation (which also had some terrible traction/stability control issues) that I've driven was a CRV.

We don't need AWD on a daily basis, but in the winter there's a good chance you'll be dealing with a snowed-up pass if you try to go anywhere. We run snow tires on everything that goes into these conditions, but I like having all four paws clawing at the ground as well as the car generally feels more stable. I haven't been without an AWD vehicle since I moved to Colorado, when I think about it.

I have to put the truck in 4WD pretty much every time I need to extract one of our trailers and it's been raining

I'd much rather have a 2wd car with good suspension engineering and a LSD than AWD. Unfortunately, AWD is more profitable/easier to sell, even if it's a mediocre system with little real advantage.

Owned many many fwd/rwd cars/trucks living in canuck land and did mostly ok in the winter......I'm actually over owning a rwd yr round anything and love being able to go where I want when I want with only mild planning ahead.

Rwd ice racing sucks,fwd is ok but awd is where its by far the most fun even if my fwd tercel ice car is actually faster then nearly all the awd cars.

I'm not. Here in NY's rough winters it's a godsend. AWD with snow tires is like playing a video game with a cheat code in. Took a '16 WRX for a few fun runs at an autocross last year where we had light rain, and where I had struggled and tiptoed around in my Miata all day, the ability to just dig in with the WRX, mat it and feel it dig for traction and GO was great. Now, FWD, I'm totally over FWD. I'd prefer to never own another FWD car for the rest of my life.

I was never on board with AWD cars. Maybe if I decided to move someplace it was possibly going to snow, otherwise nope.

In missouri I made a lot of money driving my subie delivering pizzas in the occasional heavy snow or ice. Outside of that I don't think it was needed. Now a subie or other AWD animal with all the differentials set up nicely is loads of fun. The diffs are $$$ tho and times 3. Now that I'm back home in FL I'll probably never have another AWD just for AWD sake. Maybe another subie just because I like them.

I have a 2007 Passat 4motion while my brother has a 2007 Passat FWD. there is no comparison, mine is a FAR better car. More sure footed, more capable, more comfortable. So that's as close to an apples to apples comparison as I can make.

As said above, FWD just sucks and I'm over it, but AWD is the bees knees.

Modern computer controlled traction control, anti skid and snow tires merit it as useless

captdownshift wrote: Modern computer controlled traction control, anti skid and snow tires merit it as useless

Nope. Traction control can only let you use the traction that is available, AWD increases the traction that is available.

In reply to Keith Tanner:

True, but traction control is defeatable, AWD isn't