Bah I forgot Awd or 4x4

Picking up a SUV this weekend for some beach driving. Do I get the jeep compass 4x4 or rav4 AWD? The sand is pretty soft up here. For got what the better drive system.

Neither of them have a great system, although as long as whichever one you choose isn't FWD until slip, it'll work well enough that driving technique and tires will matter more. If it's a FWD until slip system, getting moving from a stop on sand is going to be a problem as even a small amount of wheelspin up front to start the power transfer can dig you into the sand a good bit.

Rav4 it be!

Check out the Mazda CX-5. It's not a slip-and-grip, much more effective.

A little research indicates the Rav4 has a center diff lock, so yep, that's the one I'd pick.

Yeah, something that can be locked in, in some way, is definitely better. Why not an old school quattro wagon. They are unstoppable.

Those two my only choice sadly.

If you are driving in soft sand, the tires and tire pressure seem to be as important as anything else. Avoid spinning your wheels so you don't dig your self in. When I used to take my TJ wrangler out on the beaches in the outer banks I would always see people stuck but they were usually in an something like an X3 that is not really designed to be off road. Turns out stickyish low profile tires aren't the best for sand.

Yea outterbanks is where I'm going actually

You're renting I assume? Any possible way you could swing a Wrangler? I think I've seen them in rental fleets before...

We drove my girlfriend's JK on the beach when we were down in the outer banks last month. If you're on the hard packed sand down near the water, you should be fine in just about anything. It's the soft stuff further up the beach that can be a problem. Where we went, up north of Corolla to the VA border basically, you could pretty much keep to the hard packed sand the whole way if you so desired. But that's no fun

Anything with real 4wd should have no problem in the soft stuff, and I even saw a few "cute 'utes" going through it no problem. We didn't even bother to air the tires down even though I'd brought my portable compressor along for that exact purpose. The only two people we saw stuck were both meat head looking guys in semi-brodozered pickups that had buried their rear wheels up to the axles, BECAUSE MORE THROTTLE!!! Just don't drive like a meat head and I think you'll be ok.

It's a LOT of fun, btw

I used to drive on the beaches in NJ. Wet sand is hard and drivable. Dry sand is sugar sand and 4x4 alone will not save you. Used to watch newbies in 4x4s drive straight for the wet sand w/no problem. However, when they attempted to get off the beach across the sugar sand, heavy acceleration/inexperience had them up to the frame in seconds. Take a tire pressure gauge and reduce your tire pressures to 8-10 lb. and try it close to the entrance point before venturing beyond the point of no return/calling tow service. A shovel and old carpet pieces for sand mats as plan B. Beach fisherman run regular all season tires w/low tire pressures on their 4x4s all the time. They also carry air tanks or compressors to air back up after leaving the sand.

Have fun

Get two cheap roll up yoga mats at Walmart to throw in the car. They work pretty well for getting moving on sand if you aren't too buried and are gentle with the throttle. And they take up no room or can be used to sit on when not needed for extraction.

I remember seeing home movies with my grandfather and his fishing buddies driving on the beaches in New Jersey in the late forties or early fifties. The beach buggies those guys had all looked like striped down prewar cars with tall skinny tires. They seemed to go across the sugar sand pretty darn good without getting stuck, so 4WD isn't the absolute last word and Beach driving, technique counts just as much.