[NOS2Go4Me]

ZX3_2NV,Jan 26 2009, 03:36 PM Wrote:yup I am disapointed AWD can't switch from 2wd to 4wd not cool

I have no idea what that means, but I'll assume you mean the AWD Haldex system in the Escape/Mariner/Tribute. It's primarily a 100% FWD system until wheel slip is detected - slip is calculated in 5ms intervals, or 200x per second. It operates with the same seamless power transfer in recent Subarus in that torque is routed accordingly as required until a 50/50 lock is achieved, if required. It'll go further in the other direction (to the rear) I believe as well, but you definitely know when you have a 50/50 split going on.

We've had one of our worst winters yet here in North Bay (in recent memory) and I'll vouch for how well it works. It's also very tossable in the snow with RSC turned off :lol:

I've bombed through well over a foot of snow in places and the truck just takes it and goes. Crawling through plow furrows is that - a crawl if you want. No need to go bombing through to make it through.

They're not meant for serious off-roading. Get a frame-based vehicle if you want it for that. I will say that when I did take it crawling through the bush, literally, outside Mikisew Provincial Park it two-tracked and crawled through washouts and dried creek beds nicely. We went through more than one ghost town back in the bush on the old Nipissing Road (settlers' route to the north when you couldn't afford the train ride) and at that point I stopped dreading owning a small SUV. :)