A New All-Wheel-Drive vs. what I currently have: Old School Four-Wheel-Drive

[daveamkrayoguy]

Lease time is almost up in less than a month and I have to trade my 2021 Jeep Cherokee in, if I don't opt to buy...

 

I'm so used to having Four-Wheel-Drive for the capability I believe in and the fact I can turn on/off when I want to or when it's needed...

 

As in pulling out of a snow bank in front of the house when I park there during a snowstorm and my driveway has my wife's car in it and she has to leave first...  Or getting in or out of my driveway or out of a parking space, sometimes challenging my rear-wheel-drive/two-wheel-drive alone, then engaging the four-wheel-drive...

 

Should I get used to the new technology-driven all-wheel-drive, on an otherwise front-wheel-drive vehicle (which will be lighter and save fuel, as well as thanks to the elimination of the tunneled driveshaft will produce in the interior, a lot more room)...

 

As for make/models, a Buick/GMC dealer wants to me to lease with them... I, of course, want something in the same class as what I have now, as Chrysler/Jeep has discontinued its Cherokee...

 

In which I'm quite surprised a company like GMC specializing in SUV's would be mostly touting that design as opposed to more traditional four-wheel-drive, or perhaps I need a valid reason to get a Buick (I've always wanted that sort of prestige and my first GM that I've bought/leased driven as my own)...

 

 

 

-- Dave

 

[wayupnorth]

Yes, Buicks are nice, my niece has an Encore and is very happy with it. I prefer my own control of all 4 wheels. My Silverado has 2, auto, 4 hi and 4 low switch. And to be honest I switch just from auto to 2. In auto, it will easily plow thru a 3 foot snowbank without spinning a tire.

 

[jmm63]

I'm a big fan of AWD. My cars since 1999 have had it. (Subaru Forester, Subaru Outback, Chevy Equinox x2 and currently Mazda CX5) I don't want to have to think about when to turn it on or worse, miss the opportunity to turn it on and wish I had.
All of them have been outstanding in any amount of snow. Actually, the Outback was the absolute best and went through anything.
A friend has the Buick Enclave and what a nice ride!!

 

[appnut]

Jim, great. Glad to see your current ride being a CX5. I'm a big Mazda fan.

 

[Ultramatic]

All Wheel Drive Rules.

 

 

I'll never go back to anything else.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Well, all the rooting for AWD suddenly given the wider choice of vehicles with it I guess is making me lean towards there...

"Wouldn't you rather have a Buick?" that old ad saying goes?

Well, yes, but a GMC seems to be more obtainable at its figures than "my fellow David" puts his make just below Cadillac at, but I think what I get as far as what I want to drive goes, Buick aside from it NOT making CARS is a far more appealing make...

My sister drives an Encore, much to small and spartan for me... An Enclave is way to upscale, while a family friend seemingly got a good deal on an Envision...

Of which with its size and potential amenities close to my Cherokee aside from it unlikely to have a trailer towing package my keep has but has never in my three years leasing has ever pulled anything on it...

This brings an interesting and newly introduced Buick, the Envista... I've gotta check one out though it will only be FWD but maybe carry what sorts of features and options I want in a car and will fe almost like going back to a car with that wanted prestige of "that make"...

Gotta see what I'll get the next time and day I'm free to head to my local dealer...

-- Dave

 

[combo52]

I would definitely get an all-wheel-drive vehicle

Modern full-time all-wheel-drive vehicles are great for all kinds of normal driving.

On demand four-wheel-drive on pick up trucks and such are better if you’re going to do things like plowing snow and like.

I just bought my second all-wheel-drive minivan, I had a 94 Chrysler Town & Country, all-wheel-drive heavy duty minivan with the trailer tow package. It was the best vehicle I ever had, you couldn’t stop that thing kept it about 200,000 miles.

Last fall I just picked up a new 2023 Pacifica heavy duty all wheel drive with the maximum trailer tow package, it’s an amazing van it’s quiet it handles like a dream.

Two weeks after I picked it up I drove to Indiana for a memorial service for a cousin of mine and picked up a 400 pound 1956 Bendix Duomatic we strapped it down with Ty straps to the anchor points for the center seats. You didn’t even know that thing was in there the van handled it perfectly

Because of the greater safety of minivans because they don’t roll over an accidents often and the greater room in them, it makes the ideal vehicle for me, especially if you occasionally want to move a large, heavy Appliance along distance.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Maybe a minivan is what I should entertain getting, Chrysler's sole offering the Pacifica, I guess, though having been a former Honda owner should consider an Oddyssey and I'm sorry I missed the Element...

The newly-introduced Dodge Hornet is something else I should consider even though it's as Alfa Romeo-like as the threat of the Fiat merger and Daimler takeover of Chrysler seemed too overpowering...

Anything GM in this case seems to be where I might like to go, though it doesn't help the offering are as very small as the few divisions left...

A Cadillac Lyriq if I could handle those numbers?

-- Dave

 

[lakewebsterkid]

4WD

I love my 4Runner. Not sure I can go back to anything else.

John, congrats on the new van. I know you have been talking about it for a while.

 

[kb0nes]

Living in Minnesota where winter driving is usually 40% of the year I will state that AWD drive doesn't excuse the use of unsuitable tires. M&S rated tires do have the tread to deal with snow, but they lack a suitable rubber compound to be effective below 40 deg F. Tire manufacturers compete hard on treadwear ratings and because of that all season tires don't work in the winter.

I'll take a FWD vehicle with proper winter tires over a AWD anytime. Maybe if I lived in a rural area where I might contend with poorly plowed roads then I'd see more value in AWD. It is important to remember AWD only aids in the going, not the other more important aspects of vehicle dynamics. It is also handy for encouraging driver overconfidence. Winter tires also encourage overconfidence, but they help with steering and braking too...

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Well an AWD Buick Envision is what I decided to go with...

A good vehicle and handled well in a recent snow, even with a surprise stop,on a dime braking I gave it at a yellow light luckily it stayed straight stopping at the red...

Just the wrath of responsibility of a $50,000 vehicle with only leather interior and extra cost red paint I'm under but am enjoying...

-- Dave

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Now I’d really LOVE to go on that long ROAD TRIP!!!!

Well, here, then, are pictures of what’s basically the size of my Jeep Compass and I’m getting the hang of what’s really in almost a month of having been really fun to drive:

— Dave

 

[petek]

Congrats.

Very nice looking.

 

[neptunebob]

As Suze Orman would say...

Why, WHy WHY are you leasing a car!?!?!?!?!

Suze always says Never, Ever Lease!

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Because it's cheaper--not insurance-wise, I know, but I had to omit the panoramic sunroof, or hope when I'm no longer a lien-holder that I can go to my nearest Webasto installer for a single-pane moonroof...

As I did with one car, a USED one, which I did buy, just for the left front wheel to fly off and nose-dive when it approached that expected eight-year life expectancy and go to a Honda it took its entire twelve-years I could get out of it to get it finally paid for to need to be replaced, with no working air conditioning system and the heater needing two repairs, the first with the radiator going kaput...

The money I'm paying per-month, the stuff going wrong, with the first two,of three leases in a row going right to the shop shortly after I'd started the lease on each, and the last vehicle starting out trouble-free but having plenty of things in the end, after its three years going so out of whack, I just gave up on Chrysler and Jeep altogether...

Thereby deciding to get my first GM and making it a Buick albeit this is a leftover '23, no '24's of this model until almost '25...

And with the payments what they are, and too cash-strapped to put anything money-wise due at signing or any kind of down payment, just going with the sign of these times...

THAT IF YOU'RE GETTING ANY NEW CAR, BE PREPARED FOR YOUR NEXT NEW CAR,--YOU'LL NEED THAT SOONER THAN YOU THINK...!

-- Dave

 

[jamiel]

Neptunebob, the situation in SE Michigan is kinda unusual---your advice is good pretty much anywhere else but in and around Michigan. My husband's first lease (as a GM employee) for a 2016 Chevrolet Cruze was $119 a month for two years. The second was for a 2018 Chevrolet Equinox for $189 a month for two years. Nothing down---believe we wrote a check for about $500 to take each off the lot. Kinda cool to be driving a new car for the price of the cable bill...

To be more illustrative, most cars in Detroit are sold to people for fixed non-negotiable pricing (employee pricing) which further entitles you to get all the lease incentives offered at the time of purchase. You "buy the deal"--you make an appointment with your salesperson (who work for dealers for 10-20-30 years), you come in, ask "what's the deal" and they ask (essentially) "color? leather or not? sunroof? and give you a price (which automatically incorporates all the discount programs for purchase or lease. It is essentially the model which Tesla rolled out nationwide (except the Detroit 3 are usually better at price-protecting folks if they buy something and there is a MSRP reduction soon after their purchase.

So "never" leasing isn't universal advice. The second instance is that there are some edge cases on electric/hybrid vehicles which have Federal rebates which apply on leases but not on purchases. (Mazda CX90 was an example). Best deal on these is to lease, then buy-out the lease in 30/60 days (so you get the buy-out value after the $7500 rebate is done).

 

[vacerator]

Re; GM, etc.

The GM cuvs are all similar in platform underpinning. Regardless of the brand, we can't be sure of where the parts are made, so get the one you prefer. My brother in law didn't want one from China, so he bought, not leases an Acura. If leasing,it doesn't matter what you get, because after the warranty is up, it's a crap shoot for electronics to fail,etc. Screens are expensive, and control modules for the various systems.
Otherwise, the main powertrain awd difference is that most are front drive 60%/40% rear with a bias of variance based on conditions. The Grand Cherokee is rear drive predominant first, also the latest Explorer. Anything European which shares a rear drive design is also.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Here is my first fill-up seemingly taking a few weeks to need and seemingly cheaper and the second one I’d gotten along with a car wash yesterday being even less frequent…

Again, this is thanks to the shedding of pounds of my previous vehicle from its drivetrain of four-wheel-drive and the need for the differentials, driveshaft and rear drive axle, not to mention possibly the towing package as in those previous three years I had never even “toad a frog”!!!!

The miles-to-empty boasts over three-hundred miles I just couldn’t manage a picture of, but the ideal size of this being the size of the vehicle I’d had before and if I’m going to be driving nothing but SUV’s for a time, then thanks to it being more feature-packed than both of my previous ones, within my means, anyway, Big Things Do Come In Small Packages!

— Dave[this post was last edited: 4/6/2024-09:21]

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Actually have over 2K miles and somehow li'l red wagon still keeps her new car smell...

-- Dave