The way I understand this.. [all wheel drive]

The dealer says 4 wheel drive is really if your stuck in snow, sand or mud or you're going to go over rocks. In my case that would be highly unlikely that I might need 4 wheel drive. The Lexus RX350 F sport has all wheel drive ,it applies the extra wheels to pull if needed. If there is black ice spots on the highways along with dry spots that would be a nice feature to have. I wonder why pick ups don't offer all wheel drive. Comments.

 

on power nation TV show they just took a 1980"s 4WD pickup and converted to all wheel drive....as far as your question,?

 

Honda Ridgeline is AWD if you consider it a pickup

 

Nothing that starts with “the dealer says...” ends well

 

Comment.

If the dealers lips are moving......

But maybe an AWD something would be a better choice for you, based on your usage?

AWD on trucks that some owners drive hard would kill sales. It will never do what 4wd will.

A Ridgeline could be a winner here. More comfy, better MPG, adequate for light duty HD work

 

The best thing I found to work in snow was a combination of a rear TrueTrac limited slip and a good set of tires like KO2s, Duratracs or what not.

Often times those two things alone will keep you moving even without 4WD/AWD.

 

You don’t need to be stuck to need 4wd... And awd isn’t always better than 4wd.

Do you want a truck or a Lexus. Start there first...

 

Honda Ridgeline has AWD

Chev Colorado/Canyon, Chev Silverado/Sierra, Ram 1500, F-150 all have an auto 4H setting that will send power to front axel automatically so in essence it's like AWD.

 

You could still implement full time 4wd like the 4Runners or FJs while also allowing for 4Lo.

 

Some do offer an AWD option. If I remember correctly, the GMC Canyon has an AWD drive option on their higher trim level models.

Good AWD systems will keep you moving through low traction situations, but I don't think they're as robust as 4WD system.

 

If you just need additional traction for the occasionally weekend ski trip or a bit of bad weather, then AWD seems like the better way to go.

I'm pretty sure there's a mechanical reason, relating to the diffs or something, about why there is no realtime AWD on the truck, but that's for the brains to answer.

 

Yea that's what I was thinking the T4R has full time 4WD. I believe we'd need a selectable center diff, which would definitely up the price

 

AWD vehicles don't have a low range like our part time 4wd trucks have, which might not matter for some but for others having a low range is essential.

The best of both worlds is having a full time 4wd vehicle (basically AWD with low range), like what the Landcruisers have.

 

You dont want AWD or full time 4wd. There IS a difference. AWD does not have a selectable high-low transfer case. Also on a truck that sees mostly street driving, full time 4wd is just a lot of rotating parts and more wear and tear.


I used to have an 80 series that was full time 4wd. If it was part time, like our tacomas are, it would have been more fuel efficient, had less moving parts, etc. The 80 series was built with full time 4wd because it is more of an off road oriented vehicle than the tacoma. At the end of the day, the tacoma leans more towards the side of a street truck, no matter how much you mod it. If our tacomas were built more to be serious off road vehicles (aka solid axles, lower transfer case gears, more torque, front locker factory, etc) you would want the full time 4wd because the sacrifice of fuel economy and wear would be worth the off road gains.



In the case of awd and full time 4wd, you would need a center differential, similar to your axle diffs, that would split power from front to rear, usually by using a viscous coupler or something similar. This center differential is expensive and would make the truck more expensive.

In a full time 4wd or awd car or truck, you engine output is split from your front end and rear end by the center differential. That power is then split from left to right on the axle by the axle diff.


Those conditions you listed for 4wd are very slim, and wouldnt really warrant it.


When to use 4wd... you would want to use 4wd on our part time trucks in any instance where traction is limited. So if you are driving in the snow, you would want to drive in 4high. Same goes for driving off pavement, on varying grades, rocks, mud, and sand. 4 high allows you to maintain high speeds.


You would use 4 low in a situation where you need torque to be multiplied and need to travel slow with maximum traction. This includes driving up very steep hills off road, driving down very steep hills off road, off camber situations, driving over large obstacles, sand, deep mud. 4 low requires lower speed


In situations where you need maximum traction, you would use 4 low and lock the rear differential if you have a rear locker.

 

We would get like 10 mpg if we had AWD, driving 4 tires all the time. Part time 4wd saves gas by using 2wd for most driving and you can switch to 4wd when you actually need it.

 

Technically it would be more like awd makes it so you drive in 2wd all the time (one in the front and one in the rear), an part time 4wd trucks are driving in 1wd all the time lol!

At least thats how I understand it.

 

That's why the Lexus GX and Land cruiser models are sweet, AWD all the time but 4HI and 4LO Center diff locked when needed from a shift of the transfer case!

 

An '08 T4R gets 16/21 mpg with the same 4.0 as my '08 taco and weighs more

 

The wife's Range Rover is AWD but not really, since it only sends power to wheels as needed when slipping. It also has several different terrain modes.
There also is however ZERO chance in hell I would take it off road but wouldn't think twice with my truck. I think it's not really a fair comparison. Both AWD and 4wd have a purpose, just depends what you intend to use it for.

 

Unfortunately the transfer case just selects high and low on those. Some of them come with teh button, but some of em you have to wire in a button. They use an electronic locking mech inside the transfer case to lock. Most of the time the wiring is already there for it. My 80 series didnt have a button, but had the wiring pigtail. I havent even looked at my wifes 100 series lol. Its pure soccer mom mode