Been reading about the differences in AWD vs.4WD.
Seems theyre (AWD) mostly full time FWD with a clutch
that sends power to the rear wheels when the front
ones start to slip.
That clutch tends to wear out really quick in real off
road conditions.
AWD is primarily for slick roads, light muddy situations,
light snow, etc.... not for true off road where all 4 wheels
need to pull most of the time.
I did not know this.
i also didn't know that.
i wouldn't worry too much about the clutch wearing out, i think if it was a real issue, we would be well aware by now.... it would be common knowledge after years and year of people driving AWD cars all over, and i had never heard of the AWD clutch going out on someone.... i would at least do more digging before accepting that as true (if you are on the fence)
we'll see how this subaru crosstrek plays out, but i did drive it home last night and it was a sucky drive in pouring rain on I5 with some periods of gridlocked traffic (man i despise the portland area!) all in all, first impressions were good, lots of standing water on the road, and the car did fine.... if i end up liking it long term, i will be putting a rear locker in it.... it will be handy regardless, because we have my colorado zr2 and a tundra, my wife drives the tundra, and we drive a lot, so having that car will be handy for our household.
when we are at our permanent house, i have an almost 600 mile drive (one way) to work, when my wife comes up the coast to our other house, it's only a 5.5hr drive home or to work, and a 5hr drive for her from our main house, so the crosstrek will relieve some of that fuel cost, and i hate not having an extra rig around.... my wife had to go into the ditch on Thursday morning to avoid a head on collision on hwy 101, so it's going to be in the shop for awhile (thank goodness it wasn't worse) but we were talking about getting something more economical anyways, so the timing seemed appropriate with the tundra getting banged up.... we had them put a 2" lift and some bfg ko2's on it (they specialize in modifying subarus)
it's a car, and i will miss my pickup anytime i drive the car, but it looks to get 25ish mpg with the lift and heavier/bigger tires, which is about twice the fuel economy as the tundra, and 7-8mpg better than my pickup, which adds up when considering our lovely Biden fuel prices..... it's not going to get much better until he's out of office.
will it actually pencil out and save money? probably not, but after a couple years, it will be pretty cheap to have a spare vehicle around.
i agree with those who approach this logically, that buying a more fuel efficient rig will never pencil out.... you can buy a lot of fuel for the price of that fuel efficient vehicle. my pickup will be paid off in 2 yrs, and we bought the subaru cash, so there is light at the end of the tunnel......
