What is the advatage of AWD over 4WD and vice versal?

AWD is same as 4X4. The only difference is that one is expressed in words why the other is numerically expressed.

Siena:

No worries, bro. How's Waffi these days? Been a while I had the pleasure of being there. You Omo Urhobo?

you should come visit wafi sometime. afterall, east or west home is the best.

me, omo urhobo? i'm afraid not.

lucky u, IM A CAR FREAK!

4wd means that u have the option of selecting all four wheels OR the REAR wheels only in proppelin the car
eg most jeeps have auxillary gear for the change(auxillary gear selects wich tyres move the car, back or all 4)

AWD means the car is propelled by all four wheels no compromise
no aux gear bcuz d 4 wheel drive is standard

2wd means only either the front wheels(fwd)or the rear wheels(rwd) will propell the car

fwd(front wheel drive) rwd(rear wheel drive)
-toyota,nissan -bmw
-honda,mitsubishi -mercedes benz
-mostly japanese cars wit weak tiny engine eg 4cyl or V6 -mostly german or big engined cars e.g V8

usually rwd r the best as they r strong bcuz they dont use frnt wheel wich use shaft, shaft is wat allows the car to be propelled at the same time allows it to be steered, 4wd (not AWD) is even betta as they are rear wheel drives but add use of the front wheels wen u select it wit d aux gear, rememba frnt weel use shaft as it propells and steers the car plus added repair costs, just buy a benz, hard to spoil expensive to fix,

If u see 4matic on a Mercedes benz it is AWD, not 4 weel drive oh as it has no auxillary selector
If u see X on a bmw that means it is all wheel drive.eg 325iX,735iX, hence the X in X5, its an AWD
if u see 4motion on volks wagen,that means it is all wheel drive
if u see quatrro on Audi(four in spanish) that means it is 4wd as it has auxillary gear
now bmw simply call it Xdrive, go coscharis u go see am untop most of their cars

AKHOZEM:

What is the advatage of AWD over 4WD and vice versal?

4wd means that u have the option of selecting all four wheels OR the REAR wheels only in proppelin the car
eg most jeeps have auxillary gear for the change(auxillary gear selects wich tyres move the car, back or all 4)

AWD means the car is propelled by all four wheels no compromise
no aux gear bcuz d 4 wheel drive is standard

Good topic all,

For so long i have tried to get a bombproof definition of what 2WD, AWD & 4WD all mean and the differences among them but it just gets more confusing every time

My major headache is the difference between AWD & 4WD. My headache before now was decoding the difference between part time and full time 4WD. Only for me to then find out that there's also "permanent" 4WD. Its all enough to give one a migraine.

Sadly, there's no industry standard for these concepts as such, so any car maker can pretty much call its system by any name it wants to, AWD, 4WD or whatever. Unfortunately, for some of us here in Naija, getting the drivetrain right and knowing exactly what you are buying is actually a very serious matter. The chances are, in Nigeria, regardless of where you live, work and play you WILL go "off road" at some point, whether you like it or not. Happy and content is the man (or woman) who understands that the lines between 'on road' & 'off road' are quite thin here, and are heavily tilted towards the 'off' part, There are some parts of Lagos that could hold their own against any sand dunes that the Gulf States could offer . And then there are the rivers, bogs and swamps that the 'roads' turn into (once the rainy season starts).


Those who know more should correct me if i'm wrong, but i don't think AWD and 4WD are one and the same. I think there is a key difference between them - true 4WD vehicles MUST have a low range gear (which must be engaged by the driver in the vehicle, either through a 2nd gearshift/lever or through a dial/switch/knob on the centre console) while AWD vehicles do not have low range gears. It is the low range gears that enables true 4WD vehicles to power through really rough terrain (deep mud, etc) that would cripple AWD vehicles. This low range gear is not the same thing as the differential lock switch which a number of AWD vehicles come equipped with these days.

Why is this important? Well, the true 4WDs with low range gears (Toyota Prados, Sequoias & Landcruisers, Range Rovers, Nissan Pathfinders, Land Rovers, Mitsubishi Pajeros etc) tend to deliver when the going gets tough. Its quite entertaining watching them navigate a notorious stretch of quicksand along the coast of the Atlantic between Victoria Island and Epe, this is something I have seen a number of times - these 4WDs usually power through the sand without problems. Unfortunately, the 'pretenders to the throne' (i.e. the likes of the Toyota Highlander, the Honda CRV, the Lexus RX 350, the Hyundai Santa Fe/Tucson etc) usually bite the dust when they try to navigate the same stretch, and the unfortunate drivers of these cars have to shell out a king's ransom to area boys for their cars to be pushed to safety. And there's often a '4WD' badge prominently displayed on the rear of these cars, but they just don't have the drivetrain and the ground clearance to do the job,

This is not to say that the 4WDs mentioned above are invincible. Far from it. On that same stretch i have seen the Land Rover Discovery, Range Rover Sport, and the Toyota Prado succumb to the sand. Surprisingly, a number of Jeeps also beached themselves, despite that marque's formidable off-road reputation, Huge disappointment to the owners of all these cars who were rushing to work early in the morning. Which makes things even more confusing - we'd all be better off going to work on horseback or the camel express. At least with horses and camels, you know where you stand. Feed them and water them and you are good to go,

2wd=bike, power bike
4wd= cars and estate etc
awd= lorries, catapilla, tipper etc.

Good points Gr8Animash - your post got in just before mine so there was some overlap btw some of your points and mine. I don't think all Audi quattros have auxiliary (low & high range) gears though - it seems most (if not all) of them are AWD (although they are some of the best AWDs on the market it seems). I do not know if Audi's QX7 has low range gears? Perhaps anyone familiar with them could let us know. The VW Touareg does have low range, but i'm not sure if it shares the same platform with the QX7.

Another example of the point i was making earlier on about each carmaker doing its own thing has been confirmed by Siena's list of vehicles. As can be seen from his list, Fiat markets its Panda (in Europe i am told) as a 4x4. But i am not aware of this model having low range gearing, which i guess means its AWD, and not 4WD or 4x4.

what ,

Siena:

My mistake bro. It's all good though, I was thrown by the Warri in your profile.

it stands to reason, doesn't it?

warri is where i live (at least for now)

i couldn't claim to be living in london when all the while i'm in wafi?

yeah s60 ur ryt, sum audis dnt ave aux gears, i meant 2 say 4way electronic diffs, to choose btw back fnt all wheels, not low or high range gear speeds, confuses me smtimes 2, wats wit the s60 tho, usd 2 b a volvo fan, had a 96 850 wagon, felt like drivin a g-class tourer by volvo, bulky box shape nd strong chasis

Siena:

Modern AWD passenger cars seldom come with auxillary transmission, electronics takes place of all the old manual stuff.

Audi Quattro models are permanent AWD, older ones had manual lockable differential, by 1988, they became TORSEN (torque sensing) and varied the amount of power each wheel received according to road conditions. Current ones are even better - combining TORSEN with EDL (electronic differential locks) and ESP (electronic stability programme). My Audi A4 Avant Quattro 3,0L can vary the power to the front and rear axles 25/75, 50/50, 75/25 (%) etc.

yea but more technical sports specs do have manually changeable diffs.such as porsche carrera4S

Siena:

Could you be more specific? As far as I'm aware, Porsche uses the same intelligent TORSEN system as in all current Audi Quattro models, with longitudonally mounted engine / transaxle. Not referred to as Quattro, for obvious reasons, or TORSEN. It is referred to as PTM, (Porsche Traction Management) and is clutch-based. It varies the amount of torque to each wheel, to prevent slippage, without any driver input, pretty much like Audi's TORSEN system.

It's the same Quattro-based AWD system used in the Porsche Cayenne, which as we all know is based on the Audi Q7 / Volkswagen Tuareg platform. I believe you're referring to the PDK (Phi Delta Kappa) transmission used by Porsche from the 2010 MY onwards, which is a semi-automatic that gives the driver a degree of manual control, a twin-clutch system. It is exactly the same as used by Audi in the A3 / TT with the 3,2L V6 engine, though it's called DSG, (Direkt-Schalt-Getriebe) also used in the Golf IV and V R32 models.

It does not give the driver control over the AWD set-up.

what ur referin to has nothing to do with all wheel drive DIRECTLY, the above are more of traction control systems(TCS).like mercedes benz has esp,

Good points Siena (although my headache's getting worse  )

Hmm. I'm not sure of the bit in your post about AWD & 4WD being the same though. Do you mean that in basic form, these two are the same until other stuff (extras like centre differentials, low & high range gears etc.) is thrown into the mix? If we had to get down to the practical bits in choosing SUVs with significant off-road ability (e.g. can ford deep water and get through deep sand & mud/snow) what do we need to look out for?

I drive a Toyota RAV4 (autobox) which i initially thought was 4WD (some RAV4s do come with a 4WD badge on the rear). From my limited knowledge of how the car works, (i hope i've got my facts right  ) pulling power is largely routed to the front wheels in normal driving conditions (i don't have the percentage distribution figures though). Once road conditions deteriorate and the front wheels start losing traction, then more power is routed to the rear wheels to improve grip (all without any input from the driver). The only time the driver has a role to play is if he/she decides to split torque evenly between the front and rear axle (the story goes that a 50:50 split is best) and this can be done via a differential lock switch on the dash. But in practice, i'm not really sure if the diff lock isn't redundant. Several times i've been in challenging situations and the car's done fine on its own without my using the diff lock.

But that's it for the RAV4. No auxiliary gears, low range, etc. Nothing. To the best of my knowledge, there isn't a centre diff either. But there's clearly a difference between the hardware underpinning my humble car and that of big beasts like Toyota Landcruisers, Range Rovers, etc. So what does one need to look out for if one needs an off-roader which will be able to tackle almost anything you throw at it?

Gr8animash - yeah, i'm a big fan of the volvo s60 (2001 to 2004/5 model). I think the styling of that model was exceptionally beautiful. Unfortunately, i don't have one  , and have never driven any. Maybe someday.

Siena has never hidden his love for all things VW/AUDI.  . I'm not a VW/AUDI fan myself, but i've seen a few you-tube videos which made me sit up and take notice. Don't know if the road tests on these videos were 'rigged'   (Naija elections style) but a late model Audi Allroad (probably early 2000s model?) in that road test had the kind of traction in deep snow that all 4WD vehicles SHOULD have. The other cars in the test (BMW 5 series, Nissan Patrol, Volvo etc.) all came to a halt at a point, but the audi just kept going! Don't know how or why - one time i thought it was the centre diff that made the difference but other car makers have models with centre diffs, so that couldn't be it, could it?

@Siena,

Noticed your reference to Dangel and its conversion of PSA cars - i didn't know that.

Aah - the 'venerable' 504. I've had a long, turbulent, sometimes violent history with this car. Will discuss that in full some other time. Its enough to say that there were good times and bad times - although the bad times were so bad that i questioned my own sanity sometimes. There were things which that 504 did to me which made me actually want to beg the Good Lord to call me home . But if there's one car I can say was made for this country, it would have to be the 504. Indestructible. Sometimes headstrong, noisy and quarrelsome (just like my countrypeople ) but built to last. Damn. They don't build them like that anymore.

I'm even more interested in the other member of the PSA group - Citroen. If only french cars had the reliability of the Japanese then perhaps more buyers would have bought Citroens and the company would have found it profitable to set up shop here. I've overheard conversations among people who i would have said had absolutely no interest in cars, only for them to amaze me with vivid descriptions of the DS and CX of years gone by. That oil and gas suspension was definitely something to get people talking - its a pity the new models no longer drop completely after the ignition has been switched off. There were few things more fascinating when i was growing up than watching a DS or CX slowly rise prior to ''take off".

@VolvoS60
I'm really impressed by your vast knowledge of 4x4. Im interested in Toyota fj cruiser review . I don't know what you have to say about  the different versions:
The six speed manual shift ( I was told it's full time 4x4)
The automatic with manual auxiliary
The automatic with electronic button auxiliary .
Which one is best among them?
Thank you

@ Siena.

Not all RWD lose traction or slip on the propelling wheels. Peugeot 505 GTI & V6 (Non Teves MK II ABS) all have LSD (Limited Slip Differential). Thier differentials takes care of the 2WD slips problem.

RWD autos will always have greater advantages over FWD autos, especially, if you are considering buying a high performance auto (V6 or V8). RWD ensures front-rear even weight distribution while on highspeed. Such lacks in FWD autos.

Some RWD autos have drive shafts with CV Joints at both ends. But their CV Joints are trouble free, unlike FWD that are prone to frequent failures due to pressures on it while turning the steering and accelerating at the same time.

Some would say RWD autos consume more fuel. Unfortunately, the difference in the consumption btw FWD & RWD is insignificant.

AWD can be handy atimes in Nigeria, because of the nature of roads in our villages. But 2WD RWD Peugeot 505 V6 5speed auto trans takes care of that for me.

Choose wisely while purchasing. Buy what you need. Dont follow Bangwagon Propaganda " EVERYBODY DOES IT"

Ikenna.

Ikenna351:

@ Siena.
Not all RWD lose traction or slip on the propelling wheels. Peugeot 505 GTI & V6 (Non Teves MK II ABS) all have LSD (Limited Slip Differential). Thier differentials takes care of the 2WD slips problem.

Every drive configuration will lose traction at some point, the laws of Physics decree it. LSD or other forms of traction control will merely raise the threshold at which the "break away" point is reached. I'm a member of several automobile clubs, and regularly take part in track days, and hill climb events. My car is AWD, and also incorporates ESP, but I've still broken traction on loose gravel or snow.  It just happens a lot later than with a comparable 2WD car.

Ikenna351:

@ Siena.
RWD autos will always have greater advantages over FWD autos, especially, if you are considering buying a high performance auto (V6 or V8). RWD ensures front-rear even weight distribution while on highspeed. Such lacks in FWD autos.

I agree with this - I stated as much in my earlier post.

Ikenna351:

@ Siena.
Some RWD autos have drive shafts with CV Joints at both ends. But their CV Joints are trouble free, unlike FWD that are prone to frequent failures due to pressures on it while turning the steering and accelerating at the same time.

On older cars, especially those with "TRIPOD" outer constant velocity joints, yes, failure was common. However, modern cars with "LOBRO" joints rarely suffer this. I have never had failure on any of my Audi's. I've owned 33 till date. Even on older cars, failure is more due to driving around with torn CV rubber boots, so of course, the lubricating grease dries up, and grit combined with water will soon destroy the joint. The boots are meant to be lightly lubricated with oil during service, to preserve their elasticity. This prevents them from going hard and brittle. So, maintenance plays a crucial role here!

Ikenna351:

@ Siena.
Some would say RWD autos consume more fuel. Unfortunately, the difference in the consumption btw FWD & RWD is insignificant.

The difference in fuel consumption between a FWD and RWD cars, with similar capacities can be as much as 27%. If fuel economy's an issue to a user, then 27% is hardly insignififant. My car's AWD, and will use more juice than a 2WD when acellerating from rest. However, it's not an issue with me. 

Ikenna351:

@ Siena.
Choose wisely while purchasing. Buy what you need. Dont follow Bangwagon Propaganda " EVERYBODY DOES IT"
Ikenna.

While I can't speak for others, I can certainly speak for Siena. I run Audi Quattro models, because I'm an enthusiastic driver. I drive my cars hard and often, love powerful V6 and V8's. In the light of this, 2WD will be useless to me.