All wheel drive or 4 wheel drive?
 

What's your guys opinion on 4 wheel drive compared to all wheel drive which is better overall in jeeps?

If u are talking about just Cherokees they don't have AWD mode

My 2001 has "Full Time" and "Part Time " 4WD high.

That doesn't mean it's an all wheel drive. You probably have a 242 transfer case.

All depends on your usage.

Depends on what you're doing with it. I'll personally never buy an AWD or full time 4x4 vehicle. Part time is where its at.
AWD and full time are for the people that seem to think you need 4 wheel drive in rain, or a light dusting of snow...places where a 2wd can make it no problem. Just my opinion though.

Full Time is nice for those times you don't wanna have to worry about going from snowy/wet roads to dry roads. Great for the wives and girlfriends.

Yea thats what i was thinking too i made sure i was buying a part time one when i found my jeep

Well guys, when you get Fulltime, you also get Parttime........

AWD is for betting handling...like Subarus, luxury SUVS, and so on.

4WD for the offroad needs. And yet the Jeeps can make through alot in just 2wd

In Cherokees yes but not in Grands. Some only have 4hi fulltime and no low. ZJs and WJs with the AWD t-case have 4hi fulltime and 4lo part time but it's hard to count that when the part time is only in low range.

No AWD and Full Time are not only for people that think you need four-wheel drive in the rain or other weather conditions.

They're effective at increasing safety in these hazardous driving conditions. That's a fact, not what they think.

You can break your tires loose with the power of the 4.0L motor in the rain no problem. If you put it into Full Time, you're going to have a lot harder of a time doing this, and therefore, you increase the vehicle's reliability and safety for the driver. There are multiple accidents each year involving weather-related conditions because of traction loss.

A driver can manage in two-wheel drive just fine, but hey, seat belts must only be for drivers that get in accidents, right?

Four wheel drive is better for what we use our Jeeps for.

I'm an XJ/MJ guy and this is an XJ forum we're posting in.

True but there is also a Grand Cherokee section and the OP asked about AWD which XJs never had. This is a "Cherokee" forum and I'm pretty sure a Grand Cherokee qualifies since it has it in it's name. We even have a section for Grands on here so someone thinks they do anyway.

Yeah, I know...

Only thing i ever had full time 4wd was a blazer i had,Honestly only thing different about it was being harder on gas then my dads 4x4 s10 he had.I rather have part time so i can shift it how i want it.Now if we are talking awd in a yuppie suv/car some of those owners still can't drive in the snow lol.In snow ground clearance and driving slow works don't matter fwd rwd 4x4 etc etc its more driver then car.In the rain and slick roads slow down and give other cars more room.

thatXJguy...
Yes, you can break the tires loose in the rain in 2wd. My 2.5 will do that too. But my pickup will break all 4 loose in 4 wheel drive on a wet road, that still doesn't mean I suddenly need to put it in 4 wheel drive for rain. If you know how to drive, you won't be spinning the tires in 2wd in rain. Just like if you know how to drive, ABS, traction control, stability control, and all that other crap is just about useless, and I feel safer without any of that.

I learned to drive in older cars and i hate abs normally i unhook it lol.

When you learn to use those tools given to you, you'll realize how much safer they actually are to be used rather than not.

So back to the OP...
I'm a believer in 4wd because you have selection over how you want to drive. My 02 wj has full time, part time, and 4lo. I've driven a few AWD's in the snow and rain up in MD and PA as well as my dad's old Chevy which I've put in 4HI in some of the heavier snow. From MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE my dads Chevy did way better than my moms AWD Mercedes SUV. The Mercedes handled better 99% of the time with the AWD but that's probably just because it was a Benz compared to a 92 Chevy pick up :P
But if you're ever "stuck" off-road even on the side of the interstate because you lost traction in the rain I'd rather be able to just drop the SOB in 4lo and pop right out

ABS is not safe imo. I've had two separate trucks now, both different makes, where the brakes quit working altogether because the ABS system decided to go crazy for absolutely no reason, both times on dry roads and all it took was barely touching the brake pedal.
The only thing I have ever had with traction control got much better traction in all conditions when it was turned off.
And I've had many bad experiences with full time 4 wheel drive.
That's just my opinions, based on my own personal experience. There are reasons why I hate all those things.

242 gives you the choice, 241 doesn't.
It's funny hearing the views from the US because UK land rover owners look down on Jeeps for even having a 2WD option. They do 4WD all the time and "difflock" (Part Time in Jeep) for offroad.

Both views are a bit weird imo, you're better off choosing what you want according to what you're likely to be doing.

I agree. I wanna choose. And the full-time selsection on the 242 is great for my wife to drive to work on snowy days where there's snow and then dry spots.

Know what the difference is between a LandRover and a porcupine?

I would love to have full time. Winters suck here and roads can be fine and then my sphincter becomes the size of a grain of salt anytime I hit a snow drift or ice patch in 2wd. And yeah, the wives and girlfriends thing is a huge factor too. I see a swap to a 242 in the future

Exactly. How come things can be described with the sphincter factor and all of a sudden they make more sense? :cheers::cheers: