Topic: Test Drive: 2016 Chrysler 200S AWD

[bluelines]

OK, then please explain how AWD has any affect on grip. AWD helps with acceleration. It does not magically stop you from sliding if your tires lose grip on ice or snow. In the specific example the OP uses, sliding 25 feet into a guardrail, there is nothing that AWD can do to stop that happening.

AWD is not going to make any difference if you get into a slide. AWD doesn't help grip in any way. If you're sliding, it's because you've lost grip, which is about tires not which wheels are driven.

AWD will help with traction for getting moving on a slippery surface, but 99.9% of people will never see any benefit from an AWD system. It's purely psychological / marketing benefit, and in a lot of cases is probably more dangerous because people the average person thinks they don't need winter tires. All of these people are lugging around useless hardware, whether it's a well engineered or poorly engineered system.

Needless to say, this delay on an ice/snow slicked road is hardly of much use if you're tootling along at 60 klicks and get into a slide. In half a second you've covered 25 feet, right into the guardrail. Clever. Also most of the time you're lugging around several hundred pounds of useless hardware.

By contrast, the Legacy AWD is always on the job. It might give a little less fuel economy, but you presumably did not buy AWD in the first place for it to sit on its hands 99% of the time. I believe the Cherokee and Renegade are similarly lumbered with this mistaken philosophy AWD in some models. A Haldex it is not.

Incorrect on all counts, entering the slide is one thing....controlling a slide in an awd is simple, keep feeding a little gas and point the wheels kind of where you want to go. FWD are very snappy when it comes to sliding and RWD take some skill.

[dirtyjeffer]

OK, then please explain how AWD has any affect on grip. AWD helps with acceleration. It does not magically stop you from sliding if your tires lose grip on ice or snow. In the specific example the OP uses, sliding 25 feet into a guardrail, there is nothing that AWD can do to stop that happening.

as someone who has driven plenty of FWD and RWD vehicles over the years, i can give you an example.

you are driving around a curve, and in most of these vehicles, about 80% of the torque is applied to one wheel...if you hit a slippery patch of snow/ice/slush, it is quite possible (happens many times, actually) that the wheel that has most of the torque loses grip...in a RWD vehicle, the rear end will swing out...in a FWD vehicle (if rounding a right handed curve), you will understeer into the oncoming lane of traffic...it is quite possible that an AWD vehicle (like a Subie), instead provides a more even amount of force to each wheel, so you are less likely to lose grip in the first place.

see this for example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P21lwEYY-D0&list=FLFZoU3TKVBLzCjj1FjV97QQ&index=29

[tooscoops]

the delay for the awd "turning on" can be overcome by either temperatures being below 7, wipers on, or the driver turning the dial to snow...

... so if you are in snow... but don't turn the dial to snow... and then the snow makes you slide because the awd was a touch too slow to react... that is hardly the cars fault. the way i describe it is like a rally car... they could still get around a course with just a driver, but a navigator telling them what to expect ahead really helps them be in the right position. be the navigator to the awd system and warn it if you are going to need it to do something...

[rrocket]

the delay for the awd "turning on" can be overcome by either temperatures being below 7, wipers on, or the driver turning the dial to snow...

... so if you are in snow... but don't turn the dial to snow... and then the snow makes you slide because the awd was a touch too slow to react... that is hardly the cars fault. the way i describe it is like a rally car... they could still get around a course with just a driver, but a navigator telling them what to expect ahead really helps them be in the right position. be the navigator to the awd system and warn it if you are going to need it to do something...

Or you could just be like other companies and have a proper working AWD system where it doesn't require you to pick what condition you're driving in?

[tooscoops]

and use more gas.

it's a trade off.