# My recent experience with AWD



## CarolinaNemo (Dec 11, 2008)

I think this may have been discussed in the past, but I thought I would post up a recent experience I had. I was coming out the sound road at ramp 55. I came up on a new GMC mid size SUV stuck in the sand. Only the front was buried. Long story short, his computer decided it didn't need all the wheels pulling and switched to fwd. The guy didn't know if there was an override, so we tried digging, pushing, nothing. I was hesitant to pull him because the front bumper cover had already half popped off from sand building up behind it, and I couldn't pull from the front because the front was so low. We ended up removing enough sand so we wouldn't rip off the front bumper and I pulled him backwards to a hard spot where he could turn around and get out. I'm not sure how all awd vehicles are, but this made me very wary of using one in sand. I had driven ramp 55 from the entrance to the inlet in 2wd earlier that morning, but used 4wd on the sound road, so I'm not sure if the sand was worse there or not. Anyone else had any issues with awd vs 4wd?


----------



## jasonr (Mar 23, 2009)

In most cars awd is still mostly fwd. Usually it's a 60/40 split in power not 50/50.


----------



## atblis (Jul 20, 2003)

Sometimes there's a way to override the computer

I have reservations about using some of the jacked up fwd cars they are calling SUVs these days. It's not even that I think they'll get stuck. I am not sure they can hack the extra heat and wear and tear of off-roading. Most are simply front wheel drive cars with an auxiliary drive system going to the back. They work fine in the snow and on wet roads, but were never intended to go off-road and as said above many are not even capable of doing 50/50.

Interesting review of a Subaru in the sand. Subarus are not what I am talking about above. They are all wheel drive, but actually have a real equal drive systems front and rear ("symmetrical awd"). They would still not be my first choice in the sand.
http://reviews.carreview.com/blog/subaru-outback-vs-jeep-wrangler-finding-the-better-sand-machine/3/

When it comes down to slogging through loose sand you want; light weight, nice wide flotation tires, and good ground clearance. Modern SUV car thingies are; very very heavy, have low profile street tires on large rims, and no ground clearance, and are often not 4wd. Funny thing is, they'll still get you there most of the time.

I have taken a stock soft topped Cj5 with 33x12.50 ATs out on the beach. Aired the tires down to 9lbs. Almost unstoppable. Only needed to use 4wd when turning sharply up hill trying to park. Of course the 7 hour drive down to the beach was a mind numbing experience.


----------

