Is it a coincidence that the malaise that’s besetting the car industry – 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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I have a BMW X3M which is a perfect example of what Eric is talking about. Practical. Nicely appointed. Capable of performance far beyond what I’m going to do on public roads. “Checks all my boxes.” An impressive machine but, sadly, boring to drive.
[…] How AWD Ruined Everything […]
Why Im looking at rwd older cars. Awd definitely sucks out the fun, can’t slide around corner, cant burn out, etc.. not to mention with them fucking with the weather, we hardly get snow in Jersey as it is, and good tires offset that anyway
Side note, what are your thoughts on 05-12 Boxsters and Caymans, Eric? They seem solid and rare enough
The highway mayhem has already started here in WA. I90 spin outs in 1/2 inch snow at the pass. “I’ve got traction control & AWD what happened?”
Also is it still true on AWD if you have tires worn past a certain point and ruin one, they all have to be replaced? If not the AWD system can’t cope with the difference in rotation speed the one new “fatter” tire causes & will hasten system failure?
AWD is becoming a mandatory feature, like A/C or power windows. It’s a check box people who know nothing about driving need to check, since it makes a car “better”.
It is useful, in some situations, and that’s why people buy it. It definitely helps with accelerating in slick conditions, but what most people don’t realize is that AWD does nothing to help you with braking in those conditions, and it only helps cornering a little, so they end up going too fast for conditions and crashing. I drive in the sierras in the winter quite a bit, and i see a lot of AWD cars crashing. Almost everything is AWD in the winter in CA’s sierras because we have mandatory chain usage during snow, but an AWD car with snow tires (even bald snow tires) is exempted from chains. I used to enjoy driving around stuck SUV’s in my RWD 6-speed manual Infiniti with Blizzaks.
All that being said, one of the most fun cars I’ve ever owned was a Ford Focus RS. It had a trick rally-car derived AWD system which really enhanced its cornering, and launching in that thing was insane. It was primarily a FWD car with the rear wheels occasionally contributing based on what the computer wanted to do.
Most AWD systems are just a cheap addon onto transverse engines which aren’t meant to be used all the time; some clutch pack will overheat, or there’s no limiting slip side to side, and your odds of spinning a wheel in the snow in one of these are higher than with just 2WD. The good ones are incredible, tho. I have never sold a car, so I have too many right now, but I have a Subaru Outback and a Porsche Cayenne and both of these are unstoppable in the sierra snow.
“All that being said, one of the most fun cars I’ve ever owned was a Ford Focus RS. It had a trick rally-car derived AWD system which really enhanced its cornering, and launching in that thing was insane. ”
You made my day. I spent several of the best years of my career working on that AWD torque vectoring system.
Oh, nice! That thing was brilliant.
I sold the Focus RS because it’s a “digital” car, you feel the computers driving, but the overdriven rear wheels with per-wheel wet clutches allowed this car to do things other cars can’t. It’s better in snow than normal AWD (albeit, the car is too low), and at the track, it’s just comical how good it is (until the clutches get too hot and the rear wheels turn off). I’ve been tracking cars for almost 20 years and I’ve coached people for about 10, and I passed Porsches, Corvettes, all kinds of fast cars in this Focus. The look on their faces later was precious. Granted, they weren’t using their car to 100%, since those cars in good hands are much faster.
“I used to enjoy driving around stuck SUV’s in my RWD 6-speed manual Infiniti with Blizzaks”
LOL – I used to do the same thing with my Miata on Blizzaks driving to/from skiing.
Drive on OppositeLock!!!
One thing I haven’t yet figured out is why some AWD’s have CV axles in the back when the rear wheels don’t do any steering–or do they?
Because the suspension moves up and down independent of the differential, so you need flex in the axles.
I’ve never driven or owned an AWD. And honestly as a daily mover in normal conditions it seems like a solution looking for a problem.
To be clear, it’s a solution looking for a problem in my neck of Dixie. We don’t get a lot of ice or snow (if we did we’d be shut down anyhow). For others where normal conditions is ice and snow, it may well make sense.
I had a ‘07 A4, learned as a youth awd isnt flawless the fun way (fishtailing down exit ramps in the rain, getting stuck in the snow), and made it up snowy driveways in my old Mustang with Ultra High Performance All Seasons
These days, good set of tires are worth the price, save weight and gas vs adding a system that neuters the car.
Fan of AWD here!
There are some valid points made but ya’ all are just coming off as yelling “get off my lawn” while shaking your fists.
Don’t like AWD? Then don’t buy AWD.
Life is so simple sometimes! LOL!
Hi Burn it,
Yes, but the problem is it’s is getting hard to not buy AWD – because so many cars now come standard with it and because so many dealers only stock AWD-equipped models.
Remember when only Audi and Subaru sold AWD vehicles?
Indeed I do recall Quarto and of course Subi made its name standardizing AWD.
It may be getting hard(er) to buy a non AWD but that is more a function of cheap money and public stupidity that wants to buy loaded or top of the line – well, because cheap money.
Many of the downsides of AWD like mileage and parasitic drag have been addressed with AWD disconnect systems.
I agree that these just add more weight and complexity but they are good at increasing fuel economy if that’s your thing. But it also begs the point that if fuel economy was your thing, you wouldn’t be driving AWD in the first place. Disconnects were primarily in response to customers demand for AWD but OEMs desire to not have AWD drag down CAFE.
Like everything in life the story isn’t quite as simple as it seems.
Eric – you will find no stronger ally for the belief that vintage cars are more fun but the reality is that the average Joe just keeps signing up for more debt and isn’t bothered at all by a $900 – 1000 payment and has no concern for buying a 4WD or AWD vehicle when 2WD might just be fine.
But to say that AWD is ruining the automotive driving experience is a stretch. The simple fact is that in high HP situations, AWD gets the power to the ground. If you want smoking tires, that is what the Trans Am offers.
Personally, I’d just rather hook up the power and be launched off the line harder, and faster.
Living in the mountains – AWD is a game changer. My house isn’t easily accessible in winter with 2WD.
For me – my winter fun is trying to see how far up the road I can make it before I have to put the truck or Jeep into 4Hi.
With the AWD SUV, there is no drama and even the wife can drive up the hill.
Happy wife, happy life!
“because so many dealers only stock AWD-equipped models.”
I need to address this.
This is again a failure of Joe Public that demands instant gratification.
Stealerships stock what makes them the most money and what sells quickly.
Really want non-AWD? Order it. Wait for it to be built and arrive. It won’t kill you. Crazy concept.
The reality is the average car buyer basically wakes up that morning, wanders down to the Stealership, and buys a car. They will take whatever happens to be on the lot and rarely is the color, trim, or engine they really wanted. Gotsta’ have it today!
How pathetic is that to sign up for a monthly payment for a car that isn’t even what they really wanted?
Eric – I lived for a few years in South Dakota and we drove a 63 Mercury Meteor and a 2WD 65 chevy 1/2 ton truck that had three on the tree.
Good snow tires and a set of chains when necessary and we did just fine (couple of sandbags in the Meteor and some firewood in the truck for weight).
A new 4WD would have been nice, but not necessary. Never got stuck as long as the snow wasn’t so deep to get you high centered.
You did have to understand momentum and good throttle control – both things that you do not learn with modern cars.
Anon
We built a baja racer out of a Subaru wagon. It lapped the track every race, bouncing off the rev limiter and throwing rooster tails from all 4 wheels. The next season they outlawed it. Great racer, also great for ice racing.
Having said that, on the street I find that AWD and abs are both really nice for times when it’s too slick to be driving, and enable people to try who dont have the skill. The best winter car I’ve had in the last few years was a PT Cruiser with manual trans and blizzak tires. Absolutely nimble on bad winter roads.
‘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!
The 4WD Toyota pickup and the AWD Subaru are the go-to cars in our neck of the woods – the mountains of Colorado. They’re everywhere and have been for decades. I’d long had a 4WD pickup but we stuck with front wheel drive cars mostly. The better half knows how to use chains (or rather cable chains due to the tight clearances of unibody FWD Hondas and such, yeah, don’t love that either). We finally succumbed to a Subaru and frankly we love it. It’s not a performance version, just a plain grocery getter. The one thing is we had one absolute that it be a stick shift and in 2016 Subaru was one of the few still making them. Ours as a result came from Japan and not Indiana. That I hope pays off in longevity… So in this case I can’t say I totally agree with Eric. I rather see AWD as an improvement to FWD in practicality. I do completely agree with him on performance cars. And ABS. I hate ABS. And traction control. Yet I don’t hate AWD, in a daily driver anyway.
Yup — my brother in the Front Range drives a Subaru, as half the people in his little town do.
Since he and wife are skiers, the Subie totally makes sense for them.
Growing up 4WD and all wheel drive were fairly uncommon even in Colorado. But cars themselves were heavier and everyone knew how to use chains, shovels and sand bags. Plus the state highway people used cinder, gravel and sand, which blow away salt since it compresses and freezes into a surface with plenty of friction. Montana still does it that way. Honestly though while that was good for traction our climate and geography meant it melted and ground into a fine dust. Call me a bleeding heart liberal if one must but I do not miss the brown cloud that descended on Denver every winter and that dust was a significant part of the reason for it. I’m not sure salt and mag chloride is any more environmentally good. All the vegetation along the highways is dead from the salt runoff and rusty cars similar to Chicago are common, something you would never see back then. Our climate is generally very dry so things never used to rust badly. But in any case, down in Denver the ski drive argument is strong for a Subaru and has always been. Up here we already have about 2 feet on the ground around the house and it’ll be May or so before we can think about taking the snow tires off the car.
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.
This is spot on. I grew up using chains (and still do occasionally on my 4wd truck in big storms). But M+S and 3 peak rated tires do much better than years ago and dedicated winter tires have almost eliminated the need for chains when there’s snow plows working pavement. In fact I think they OVER work roads, certainly spreading way too much deicer. The compounds have also almost eliminated the need to stud our tires too. Some neighbors still do but my feeling is since they scrape down to pavement it’s more hindrance to stud them now. They use aggregate in the rubber, like walnut shell grounds, that works well enough on ice without the unsure feeling on dry pavement of studs.
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.
I found the same thing Flip. Of all the sedans I was interested in, that came w/ RWD or AWD, there were ZERO RWDs’ on the lots, only AWD. When I asked the dealers for RWD they would say the same thing, 3-6 months (all were europe or asia).
And why I ended up with a Chrysler 300 RWD only. However, the same problem, as all were AWD on the lots. The difference was they would order a RWD for me, 6-8 weeks. It was a great car.