As one Subaru Crosstrek owner recently learned the hard way, it bears repeating that all-wheel drive is not the same as four-wheel drive. A Subie owner posted a warning letter they received a month after driving on Colorado River Overlook Road in Canyonlands National Park to the r/NationalPark subreddit. The letter notes that this particular road is restricted to 4WD vehicles only, and the Crosstrek is equipped with AWD, not 4WD. It also warns that they may face serious consequences if they’re caught taking an AWD car on a 4WD-only trail again.
I feel like there had to be a personality issue with this one
“But officer, I pushed the X-Mode button!”
If you have 4 wheels, logically 4WD is AWD. Why not just say you need to have a locking diff?
Subaru has x-mode for difficult terrain, which is different gearing. They also have hill descent. https://www.sportsubaru.com/subaru-x-mode.htm
Why would you want 4wd with wasted energy then you could have a symmetrival awd and get all the power to wheels that have traction, skipping those that don’t have traction?
I only see awd outperform 4wd when it comes to a subie, but other awd systems from other manufacturers are probably not up to snuff.
I rode a one wheel drive motorcycle on that road. I wonder if there’s an exception for motorcycles.
My AWD Subaru Solterra EV has better 4wd than most 4wd vehicles. Dual motor AWD for the win.
It only needs to lock left and right as the front and rear are separate drivetrains. They (electric AWD vehicles) usually provide locking of a wheel with no traction by using the brakes on that corner
Soltera is a shit car, but I absolutely agree that dual or quad motor awd is better than 4wd. All other things being equal I’d even argue that basic awd with electronically locking diff is better than 4wd in most cases.
I think this rule should be changed to high penalties for pulling out stuck cars. Period. Take whatever you want, but if your Civic gets stuck, make the cost of pulling it out 50% of car’s value.
Unfortunately I did drive it. Easily one of the worst Subarus ever made. Pretty much every review and user rating online confirms this.
I agree, most of the problem is people putting rental civics where they shouldnt be. A subie with a lift is enough to get u through mosy of national park 4w only roads. It’s usually driver error that gets u stuck. Garuntee most people they pull out never had any kind of gear to get themselves out.
That said, it Def helps to roll with some one who does have 4w incase u get a little head strong.
Honest question from someone who has never owned either, but who once went camping with someone with an AWD Subaru and who, in turn, managed to get us stuck as fuck. Isn’t the difference not so much the drive as it is the clearance of the vehicle? The Subaru was a glorified station wagon and just wasn’t built to go through rugged terrain, regardless of how the wheels worked.
Clearance, tires, and open diffs are the big 3.
Most awd vehicles use torque sensors to brake the wheel that has no traction to push power to wheels that do. It doesn’t always work and most awd systems are clutch based so there’s slippage.
More of the basic 4wd vehicles these days come with electric lockers, more power, and better clearance. They still have road tires though so there’s room for improvement there.
I will say, most people that don’t do this stuff on a semi decent basis have ZERO idea on how to actually wheel. You can get pretty far in a base model but even the cheapest new bronco or wrangler are better equipped to deal with actual wheeling than a Subaru.
Driving Sports TV on YouTube shows how most of the vehicles work in light off-roading, and spoiler, most are terrible.
Tires are well and truly goofy. Black magic engineering. The things you could do in an astrovan with the right tires VS a wrangler with the wrong tires just doesn’t seem right.
Tires are just incredibly use specific, Usain Bolt would do terribly in a sprint with bowling shoes, and would hurt himself bowling in running shoes. It doesn’t matter what you drive if you’ve got the wrong shoes for the drive.
A truly skilled driver/rider might be able to pick a good line, but most of that skill will show when they go “nah. Ain’t doing it”.
Signed - an ADV rider who’s tires are and will forever be a compromise between dirt and tarmac performance.
