Wow, I'm pretty surprised at the tone of this thread.
I'd have thought by now that someone would make this simple point:
4/AWD is vastly oversold ... in North America and around the world.
Having all wheels turning with power is useful for only one thing: Acceleration. Now, this is essential if you are going off-roading ... and useful climbing slippery hills and driveways, if you drop a wheel off the edge of the road or are stuck in a snow drift.
But that's about it.
You see people in 4/AWD driving fast on the highway in a snow storm and they are just idiots. 4/AWD won't help yopu steer or stop ... and this is what people (often women) fear about bad weather. You also see people who would be frightened driving a $20,000 car in bad weather ... now driving a $35,000 SUV ... and they are positively
terrified (all the while getting 17mpg). This is progress?
Like someone here said, for the most part, it gives some people the
illusion of security ... and people with marginal skills who should probably stay home on bad days are tempted to go out on the roads ... and I think this is what the accidents statistics reflect.
The high center of gravity of SUVs is just gravy on top of the stats.
Want to navigate roads better in bad weather? Simple: buy snow tires and swap them on seasonally. I have for years.
