Where did all the four wheel drive cars go?
Discussion
A mate and I were discussing this the other week. He and his wife want a dowdy, ahem, conservative 4wd car and we'd like a 4wd estate for 'the wife'.
They don't ruddy exist anymore! The niche twittering X factor ruddy car manufacturers have decided that you can buy a pretend off roader with fwd but you now can't buy an actual car with 4wd!
Think I am kidding?
What's the list of even remotely normal 4wd cars?
Legacy
Superb (in some trim levs)
Insigvectra which has a s
te system that eats flywheels
What else can you thing of that isn't a jacked up quasi soft roader with black plastic Add ons or an actual soft roader?
Even Audi seem to have little available
.... And all the focus sized cars seem to have moved away unless sporting
Ironically bmw seem to have noticed this true 'niche' ...
And don't even get me started on stupid options and how hard it is to buy a moderately basic car with xenons and heated front windscreen without getting a load of other "auto lights blue tooth fog light comes on whilst you go around the corner tat"!
They don't ruddy exist anymore! The niche twittering X factor ruddy car manufacturers have decided that you can buy a pretend off roader with fwd but you now can't buy an actual car with 4wd!
Think I am kidding?
What's the list of even remotely normal 4wd cars?
Legacy
Superb (in some trim levs)
Insigvectra which has a s
te system that eats flywheelsWhat else can you thing of that isn't a jacked up quasi soft roader with black plastic Add ons or an actual soft roader?
Even Audi seem to have little available
.... And all the focus sized cars seem to have moved away unless sporting
Ironically bmw seem to have noticed this true 'niche' ...
And don't even get me started on stupid options and how hard it is to buy a moderately basic car with xenons and heated front windscreen without getting a load of other "auto lights blue tooth fog light comes on whilst you go around the corner tat"!
4x4 raises emissions and fuel consumption, so harder to sell and increases the average CO2 output of the range (which manufactures can't afford).
But, that aside, they're still around:
Audi Quattros
BMW X-Drives
Subaru still make the Legacy
Volvo offer AWD with many of their cars
Skoda Octavia or Superb 4X4?
EDIT: Mercedes and Jaguar make some of their models (E-Class, S-Class, XF, XJ) in 4x4, just not in RHD format (too expensive to engineer for the low numbers they'd sell).
But, that aside, they're still around:
Audi Quattros
BMW X-Drives
Subaru still make the Legacy
Volvo offer AWD with many of their cars
Skoda Octavia or Superb 4X4?
EDIT: Mercedes and Jaguar make some of their models (E-Class, S-Class, XF, XJ) in 4x4, just not in RHD format (too expensive to engineer for the low numbers they'd sell).
what do they need a 'real' 4x4 for? They might be the rare souls living on forestry land but i bet most people would be fine with a soft roader.
i live much of the time in the alps with a softy Rav4 driving over ice and snow. Can't remember the last time the 4wd system actually kicked in without my provoking it ;-) and i've yet to lock the diff manually. Extra ground clearance comes in useful when mounting snow mounds at the supermarket too.
i live much of the time in the alps with a softy Rav4 driving over ice and snow. Can't remember the last time the 4wd system actually kicked in without my provoking it ;-) and i've yet to lock the diff manually. Extra ground clearance comes in useful when mounting snow mounds at the supermarket too.
We bought a 56 plate impreza wrx wagon at 2 years old with 4k on the clock for £10k.
This car is now 6 years old and there is nothing to replace it with like for like (small, quick, 4x4 estate)about 2-3 years old at anything like a similar price. Best I can find is either an S3 5 door or S4 avant but significantly more.
Older r36 estates are now 58 plates and Saab do a 2.8x 9-3 again 58 plate.
I'd like to see more of this sort of thing - it works for us.
This car is now 6 years old and there is nothing to replace it with like for like (small, quick, 4x4 estate)about 2-3 years old at anything like a similar price. Best I can find is either an S3 5 door or S4 avant but significantly more.
Older r36 estates are now 58 plates and Saab do a 2.8x 9-3 again 58 plate.
I'd like to see more of this sort of thing - it works for us.
I hate to say it but I don't understand the reasons for having a shonkily engineered four wheel drive system in a normal saloon. It was all the rage in the early nineties: see Peugeot 405, Mk3 Cavalier, Citroen BX, Mitsubishi Lancer, Mk1 Mondeo and so on but has been consigned to the dustbin marked 'so last year'.
Four wheel drive on the road does have advantages and gives extra grip in certain situations. I won't dispute its worth because I think it has a place but this is dubious in the family and fleet sector. I'd argue 4x4 comes in two flavours: high performance or high grip. The former is found on Audis, Volvos and the rest and is by and large to prevent the wayward handling caused by too much power in a primarily front wheel drive chassis. The latter is for cars used in gentle off road environments. Therefore you have the archetypal performance saloon and plastic clad soft roader.
Four wheel drive adds weight and complexity. A permanent system increases fuel consumption through parasitic loss, the Haldex style cut in on demand setups are dead weight most of the time. The car will almost never be required to send power to the secondary axle in town or on the motorway.
Handling has come on a lot since then too. The latest front wheel drives can cope with quite large amounts of power without pinging into the scenery at random so there is less need for it. In a 'normal' car there is barely any requirement at all under ordinary driving conditions.
I think four wheel drive is quite specialised, in that one should have a particular need for it. If so either the performance add ons or soft roader ambitions make sense.
Four wheel drive on the road does have advantages and gives extra grip in certain situations. I won't dispute its worth because I think it has a place but this is dubious in the family and fleet sector. I'd argue 4x4 comes in two flavours: high performance or high grip. The former is found on Audis, Volvos and the rest and is by and large to prevent the wayward handling caused by too much power in a primarily front wheel drive chassis. The latter is for cars used in gentle off road environments. Therefore you have the archetypal performance saloon and plastic clad soft roader.
Four wheel drive adds weight and complexity. A permanent system increases fuel consumption through parasitic loss, the Haldex style cut in on demand setups are dead weight most of the time. The car will almost never be required to send power to the secondary axle in town or on the motorway.
Handling has come on a lot since then too. The latest front wheel drives can cope with quite large amounts of power without pinging into the scenery at random so there is less need for it. In a 'normal' car there is barely any requirement at all under ordinary driving conditions.
I think four wheel drive is quite specialised, in that one should have a particular need for it. If so either the performance add ons or soft roader ambitions make sense.
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