during my many years of driving I have
owned various cars with rear-wheel drive
front-wheel drive four-wheel drive and
now I own a Subaru Outback with
all-wheel drive
I bought the supermoon not because it
had all wheel drive but because it was a
nice looking car designed for country
and outback traveling which is what I
enjoy doing
but since owning it I've been wanting to
know what is the difference between
all-wheel drive and four-wheel drive and
here's what I found out four-wheel drive
is not on all the time under normal
conditions only the rear wheels drive
the vehicle forward while the front
wheels spin freely to activate a modern
four-wheel drive system the driver has
to push a button or pull a lever to
engage it but four-wheel drive isn't
meant to be on all the time so you have
to know when to turn it on and when to
turn it off but all-wheel drive is on
all the time and mostly used in cars and
the computer manages the system just
going down the highway the system will
send most of the power to the rear
wheels for maximum fuel efficiency if
the road condition changes such as rain
or snow the system adapts and evenly
distributes the power evenly to all four
wheels so you have maximum Drive grip
with little to no chance of wheel spin
in contrast on a normal two-wheel drive
car or even a four-wheel drive in
two-wheel drive mode the power
transmitted to the wheels will always
look for the path of least resistance
which is normally the tire that is
spinning and not propelling the vehicle
forward most people will be familiar
with this when it rains when they
accelerate off at the lights or at an
intersection and the drive wheel just
spins on the wet slippery road all wheel
drive cars do not do this
since owning my Subaru Outback I have
never spun my wheels on a wet slippery
road either taking off
the lights are turning at an
intersection when I drove my two wheel
drive cars and four-wheel drive in
two-wheel drive mode I would slip all
the time and I even spun 180 degrees in
- of patrol
so what advantage does 4-wheel Drive
have over all wheel drive well in
extreme surface conditions such as loose
stones dirt deep mud snow or water a
four-wheel drive system can provide more
traction and control for the driver but
vehicles still set in full drive mode
can be dangerous once back on dry tarmac
roads as axles are not designed to
rotate at the same speed in normal
cornering four-wheel drive is better for
offroad in extreme weather conditions
but is usually only turned on when
required for those conditions but
all-wheel drive stays on all the time
and is better for more general driving
conditions plus it gives the car a
sporty feel both systems add quite a bit
of weight to the vehicle and you will
end up paying for this at the fuel pump
as both types of vehicles and not very
fuel-efficient four-wheel drives because
they are usually big and heavy with
heavy complex drive systems and
all-wheel drive because it is always
active I've been driving my Subaru
Outback for two years now and I love it
it is less fuel efficient than my old
two-wheel drive car but I have never had
any wheel slippage on wet roads when
taking off at lights or at intersections
and it feels like a heavier and safer
car but even though you have all this
extra safety and peace of mind 90 to 95
percent of the time you were just
driving around your local suburb and it
does bug me that I'm not as
fuel-efficient as other cars to give you
an idea how bad it is
my old 94 Mitsubishi Galant v6
front-wheel drive got about 450
kilometers per 60 litre tank in City and
suburb driving my 2006 Subaru Outback
4-cylinder gets about 350 kilometers per
60 litre tank so two cylinders less and
I still get a hundred kilometers less
per tank it does make you think is this
constant all-wheel drive really worth
the extra money I guess it all depends
if you drive often in bad weather
conditions then I think you will agree
it does anyway that's the end of this
video thanks for watching and we'll see
you next time bye bye
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