Quote:
Originally Posted by Ryland
4 wheel drive tends to get you in more trouble as it makes you feel invincible while driving up to that point that you roll over in to the ditch and die, if the roads are bad enough to need 4 wheel drive then you should stay home! 4 wheel drive is a crutch for bad drivers.
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I agree, my experience always was if you could get stuck with a rear 2wd you would also get stuck in 4wd, only difference was one tire in front would spin in addition to your one tire in back. Only reason to have 4 wd is if you also have posi's and plan on going off pavement, never had a situation on snow and ice where 4wd would help (maybe hurt actually because I would end up in the situation faster)
And in fact I would argue my 1982 2wd positive traction diesel suburban was better than the 4wd variety, in fact I did pull my uncles suburban out of the mud in michigan with it.
I think people have lost the concept of being prepared with a small spade, air pump some salt and sand in the back of their car during adverse weather.
Oh and I have never been stuck in over 1 million miles and I have never owned a 4wd. Almost always rear 2wds with the occasional Front WD.
I strongly believe being trained on glare ice w/ rwd (my drivers training) helped me be a lifelong better driver.
Also add to the fact that 4wd tends to fail in horrifying ways that cause accidents. One of my coworkers had a mid 90's blazer that started randomly shifting to 4w low (electronic shift) he brought it in 3 times to be fixed last time it "seemed" to be fixed and he went up on the highway and totalled it when it dropped to 4w low at 75mph. I am afraid I have to say that isn't the only one, anyone who has owned 4wd for any length of time usually has had to make some sort of overpriced repair because of it, especially if they actually use it. My uncle is one of those who always owned 4wd's and he certainly has had to pay for it repeatedly in the form of bills.
Good Reason to leave the overpriced 4wd hobby to off roaders.
Oh and if they MUST have an SUV, get her a 6.2ltr diesel vehicle, preferably a 2wd 1992+ model or an emission controlled model. They are dogs so she can't speed too much, they get 20mpg without trying (only 2wd) and can actually be usefull if you need to move furniture, trailers, etc. They also can be setup to get close to 30mpg with a manual transmission.
Cheers
Ryan