Is it a coincidence that the malaise that’s besetting the car industry – annual sales are down by about 2 million annually from their peak of 17 million-plus back in 2017 – is at least in part due to the lack of fun that’s afflicted new cars for some time now? And part of that absence of fun can be laid at the feet of the near-standardization of all-wheel-drive.
AWD being – arguably – the fun-killing equivalent of a chaperone in the back seat of your car on prom night.
Where to start?
How about with the fact that AWD serves to make driving this car pretty much the same as driving that car. This especially includes powerful cars. The power is gelded, in a way – because powering all four wheels means none of them spin as they would if it were just the rear or front wheels that were turning under power. The point of AWD, of course, is to prevent wheelspin. But this results in a controlled – and boring – experience. It takes no skill to floor the accelerator pedal when the wheels don’t spin. It takes a lot of skill to control the spin and that is what makes it fun – because you never know exactly how the car will behave and so each time it is a new experience – as opposed to the same-old-same-old.
There is also the element of risk, which AWD greatly reduces. But risk is part of the fun. It is bracing to risk it, successfully. It get boring, quickly – when there is very little (if any risk). It is the difference between actually sky-diving and watching it on YouTube.
It is also why rear-drive cars such as the Mazda Miata and Ford Mustang are perennial favorites. You can steer them with the rear wheels, power sliding them through the curves. That throttle oversteer is fun. It is much less fun going fast in a curve in an AWD car because the car doesn’t give much feedback until you’re already too close to the edge of grip and then it’s no fun at all.
AWD has also served to assist the push to “electrify” everything, which has served to ruin everything that was once emotionally appealing – that is to say, fun – about cars. An AWD EV is functionally the same as an AWD not-EV, other than the silent-running and more-immediate responsiveness of the EV. To understand what I am trying to convey here, consider the difference in the way a rear-drive car accelerates through the quarter-mile vs. the way an EV or and AWD gas-engined car does. You have to feel the RWD car when the light goes green, pushing down just enough to not completely overcome the rear tires’ ability to maintain their grip on the asphalt. A little more, then a little less. As you do, your hands make fine adjustments to the wheel to correct for the slip. Then all the way to the floor.
That’s how it’s done, son – and it is a lot of fun.
It is also fun to torque-steer the front end of a powerful front-drive car, as for example the MazdaSpeed3 – which Mazda no longer sells. Instead it sells a gelded AWD iteration of what it used to sell that’s much less fun and so much less interesting.
This is not to say that AWD doesn’t have a place – including a place in the performance car market. The Subaru WRX is a fun car. But it is less fun when every other car is like the WRX (with less or more power). It was more fun when the WRX was one of the few AWD-equipped performance cars because that made it different, which – again – is a species of fun.
There is also a deeper critique to be laid at the feet of the bum’s rush to AWD everything. It is that AWD has served to dull the skills of the average driver by assuring they are never developed. The marketing departments of the car companies (and new car salesmen) have successfully persuaded many people that they must have AWD – because otherwise they will not have enough traction and that is dangerous.
Saaaaaaaaaafety!
Now many people are afraid to own a car that isn’t AWD, which is as ridiculous as being afraid to walk around in public without a “mask” on. It amounts to a variation of the same phenomenon.
Of a piece with ABS – and “advanced driver assistance technologies.” These have made people dullards behind the wheel as well as fearful and passive behind the wheel. They rely on the car to deal with weather and situations and so never learn how to deal with them. This includes driving faster than they ought to in a situation – my car has AWD! And too close on top of that.
My car has ABS!
It’d be better if they knew how to drive fast – and when not to.
. . .
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‘the malaise that’s besetting the car industry – annual sales are down by about 2 million annually from their peak of 17 million-plus back in 2017’ — eric
And it just got worse in occupied Deutschland:
‘Mass strikes by the IG Metall union come as Volkswagen announced on Monday it would close “at least” three of its ten plants in Germany, lay off tens of thousands of staff and downsize remaining plants in the country.
‘Oliver Blume, chief executive of the VW Group, has cited a “difficult economic environment” and “failing competitiveness of the German economy” as factors behind the decision.
‘The German Association of the Automotive Industry warned last year that the country was “dramatically losing its international competitiveness” due to soaring energy costs.
‘A recent survey by the VDA auto industry association suggested that the reshuffling of the German car industry could lead to 186,000 job losses by 2035, roughly a quarter of which have already occurred.’ — ZeroHedge
As if that weren’t enough, the German governing coalition collapsed yesterday. Who thought it was a great idea to close down the country’s nuclear plants, let the US bomb the Nordstream 2 gas pipeline, then try to build cars with flickering wind and solar power??
Dummköpfe!
‘There is also a deeper critique to be laid at the feet of the bum’s rush to AWD.’ — eric
Three more:
1. Typically, AWD adds ~200 lbs of weight.
2. AWD adds complexity (= repair bills) and cost ($).
3. AWD subtracts about 1 mpg.
For daily drivers in snowy climates, AWD might make sense. For more moderate climates, AWD likely is not worth the extra cost, weight and loss of mileage.
Keep it simple with the driven wheels: two wheels good; four wheels b-a-a-a-a-a-d!
To bring driving skill back, the car should be a “land yacht” from the 1970’s. No power steering, manual transmission and no power brakes. That alone would weed out the bad drivers when going to driver’s ed to get a license.
My ’89 Subaru XT had a 5 speed with the “ejector seat button” 4WD. This was really the best of both worlds. FWD for 40+ MPG (at the national 55 MPH speed limit), but 4WD on the snow and dirt. And it was a real go fast slow car, with air suspension and super light weight it was easy to flick it into corners, pop the clutch and power out at what felt like ludicrous speed, but probably was only a few MPH over the speed limit. Then go for a drive up that mountain road to the tower site, knowing that the airbags gave me extra ground clearance. Fun times in a fun car.
Today’s full-time AWD systems always drag on the drivetrain, pulling down economy. Most drivers really don’t need AWD, it just becomes another check-off for the salesman to sell. “And it’s got AWD, so it’s great in snow.” Doesn’t do much in the spot that drifted over between plow runs and is now a slush puddle, adding massive resistance to one side or the other and flinging you into the ditch at highway speed. Doesn’t help when hydroplaning either. In fact, AWD really isn’t all that helpful once you get past your un-shoveled driveway.
Let’s not forget that the newer cars seem to slow down a lot faster when you take your foot off the gas. As for AWD how many people bother to get snow tires on dedicated wheels? It’s no waiting when you do it yourself or combine it with a seasonal brake inspection.
Unfortunately, many 2WD cars, both FWD and RWD, have traction control, so you can’t spin their tires, either.
I’ve driven under unbelievably sh*tty conditions but with 4 good snow tires and driving such as to maintain forward motion I’ve never gotten stuck and that was with FWD and RWD cars without Posi-trac.
All this newfangled stuff seems to be designed to make up for the lack of skills of today’s drivers.
Winters coming so let’s get those cars rustproofed so they last.
All this newfangled stuff seems to be designed to make up for the lack of skills of today’s drivers.
That’s exactly right. Launch control, along with AWD, makes anyone able to get the 120 MPH quarter mile. What’s there to be proud of? Your pharmaceutical sales job paid a bigger bonus this year? Oh boy! You can actually fit your fat ass into the driver’s seat of your Corvette? Good job!
One could make the argument that it opens up sales to people who normally wouldn’t be able to handle the vehicle. Sort of a democratization of speed and power. OK, that’s fine, but is it interesting? Is the buyer going to take the time to go to the track on weekends and learn how to use all that power? Or are they just going to run out to cars and coffee, park next to the other Corvettes and pop the hood. All the while talking about how great the car is instead of driving it.
Or maybe they’ll join a Corvette club and go touring on weekends. Clog up the two lane roads with their gang of friends, take all the tables at the diner, and run 5 MPH under the speed limit, because potholes really hurt when your butt is sitting on the rear axle.
Further to show how dumbed down society has become is how they sell AWD for “saffeeetyy” Now correct me if I’m wrong Eric, but AWD is important when you’re putting power on the road…. The best use cases I see are when you happen to be taking off on the green light or when you floor it hard out of the bend, especially when it’s a bit wet. So basically when you want to go faster than you probably should….I dont get how AWD will help me stop if someone has stepped out in front of me or my car has slipped on ice or something. but somehow they’ve convinced the sheep you need it for “saaaffety”.
Is my assessment correct?
Indeed it is, amigo!
I have long argued that AWD (and ABS) egg on stupid/reckless driving.
All this, in addition to the increased sticker price, added maintenance and fuel costs.
Meanwhile, tire technology has been phenomenally increased over the past 30 years that for those in colder/snowy climates, FWD with an appropriate set of snow tires will outperform AWD with what most people run – all season tires.
Was looking into a new Lexus IS350 F Sport in NY. Dealer says an RWD one would need to be special ordered and take 3-9 months to get. They went on to say, Toyota/Lexus won’t send anything to dealers north of VA that isn’t AWD.
Ignorant and scared consumers and greedy OEMs all share blame in this largely useless and overpriced market.