QOTD: What's Your All-Wheel Drive Value?
We picked a few value rides with all-wheel drive for y'all today. Did we miss any?
I suppose this QOTD might not apply to you Sunbelters/Smile state residents, and I personally don't want to think much about AWD during the summer months, but I figure it's worth asking. Hey, winter is coming soon enough.
So, what do you think? What would be your pick?
Sound off below.
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Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
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Under $20,000? I guess my $500 '03 Explorer counts. It did need some repairs, but I was able to drive it home. I came with a new set of snow rated all terrains. It still looks decent, interior is great, and it doesn't have the dreaded chain slap. I live near Mt. Baker, and the snow doesn't bother it at all. Oh, and it has a great stereo with a CD player. Listened to Soundgarden on the way in today.
My ZR2 has an all wheel drive setting. It is handy under light winter conditions with patchy ice. Anything more extreme and I go to locking out the T-case in 4x4 Hi.
AWD clutch packs, depending on the system used, don't like abuse. You can overheat and/or fry your centre differential.
I've encountered one instance of overheating in a Cherokee Trail Hawk. They don't call them "soft-roaders" for nothing.