Ep 9 FWD vs RWD vs AWD vs 4WD

Understanding Car Drivetrains: Making the Right Choice

In this episode of Women Buying Cars, host Meredith Reynolds discusses the advantages and drawbacks of various drivetrains including front-wheel drive (FWD), rear-wheel drive (RWD), all-wheel drive (AWD), and four-wheel drive (4WD). Meredith explains the benefits of FWD for fuel efficiency and cost, the appeal of RWD for driving enthusiasts and heavy hauling, and the enhanced traction provided by AWD and 4WD. Additionally, she highlights the practicality of the Honda CRV and offers tips for choosing the right drivetrain based on individual needs and driving conditions. This is the episode for you if you have ever wondered, "Do I need an AWD?" "Does FWD get good gas mileage?" "What is the difference between AWD and 4WD?" "Is a RWD dangerous?"

00:00 Introduction: The Rise of All-Wheel Drive
00:30 Meet Your Host: Meredith Reynolds
01:01 Understanding Drivetrains: Front-Wheel Drive
03:11 Exploring Rear-Wheel Drive
06:55 Car Spotlight: Honda CRV
09:26 All-Wheel Drive vs. Four-Wheel Drive
13:10 Making the Right Choice for You
16:36 Conclusion: Final Thoughts and Contact Info

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Transcript

0:01

Is it just me or does it seem like everybody is driving an all wheel drive these days? Like if you're not driving one, you might be taking your life in your hands along with the lives of your children. It can feel that way, but all cars are safer now than they've ever been, all wheel drive has its place and has its benefits, but there are certainly benefits to the other drive trains as well. And today we're gonna talk about all of them on women buying cars. You are listening to women buying cars, and I'm your host Meredith Reynolds. I'm a former teacher turned used car dealer, and I'm here to teach and empower women to walk into a car dealership with confidence and walk out with the car that's right for them. Hi. Welcome back to Women Buying Cars. Thank you so much for joining me. I am Meredith Reynolds, my husband and I own Reynolds Automotive in Merriam, Kansas. We sell quality used cars, and we would be happy to help you if you are in the area. Today we're gonna be talking about drivetrain. In other words, where does the engine send power to the front wheels? The back wheels or all four wheels. So if we were first talking about. Power going to two wheels only. The drive train that is most sold in the United States is a front wheel drive. It's abbreviated FW. D. That F does not stand for four. It stands for front. In other words, the engine is sending power to the front wheels. They are pulling the car forward. The back wheels are there primarily for traction, and they're just being pulled along with the car. The benefits of a front wheel drive are fuel efficiency. The engine is in the front of the car and when it's a front wheel drive, the weight is over. The front wheels that are turning. This is an efficient way to operate a vehicle. It takes less weight because there's nothing sending power back to the back of the car. It's all right there on top of the wheels that are turning because it's going to be lighter. It will be more fuel efficient, so you will get the best gas mileage from a front wheel drive. Also, this is simpler than other setups. Because it's simpler and easier to build. It will therefore be less expensive, to purchase and maintain. So we're saving money upfront when we buy the car, when we're saving money as we maintain the car, we're saving money when we fuel up the car. So that is something to keep in mind if you are very budget conscious. Now, front wheel drives came into popularity in the eighties, so a lot of you may have grown up driving front wheel drives or. You may have been driving rear wheel drives. So let's talk about rear wheel drives. Just as the front wheel drive sends power from the engine to the front wheels, as you can imagine, the opposite happens with a rear wheel drive in order to send that power back to the rear wheels. There is what's called. A drive train tunnel that goes down the center of the car, and that's what causes that hump in the middle of the floorboard. So you have the mechanics that send the power back to the back wheels. This adds weight to the car. Extra weight means less fuel efficiency. However, this causes the weight to be balanced. The vehicle weight is more balanced from front to back, so it's going to handle better, especially at high speeds, you're gonna be able to accelerate quicker as well. If driving is a sport to you. If you love driving and if you're tuned into how a car handles. Then a rear wheel drive is gonna be more appealing to you. People who are just driving to work and hauling their kids around and use the car as utility, they are not going to care about those things. But this is why sports cars are often rear wheel drive because people who drive sports cars often care about how fast they accelerate and how it handles. And how it corners and the feel of the road beneath them. Those are things that matter. And so rear wheel drive is very common on sports cars. You also find rear wheel drive often on pickup trucks. If you think about the bed of a pickup truck, if it's empty, that is very light.

Meredith 5:01

If you were going down a very bumpy road, the back end could be bouncing all over the place. So by making it rear wheel drive, that's a benefit to balance out the weight. The big reason though is that a rear wheel drive is much better at hauling than a front wheel drive. The reason is the back wheels are the ones that are doing the work, and the back wheels are right in front of what you're hauling. So that heavy trailer or RV is right behind the wheels that are turning as opposed to the front wheels turning and having to pull the whole car, plus the rv. So pickup trucks, often rear wheel drive or all wheel drive, which we'll get to the negatives of a rear wheel drive, is that it's going to have less traction in bad weather. It is easy also to over steer. So if you think about a movie where there's a car chase and someone whips around a corner and the back end slides out and they fishtail around, and that's a rear wheel drive. And you can see how that move is best left to the professionals. So rain and snow, it can be very challenging to get around in a rear wheel drive. However, we were recently talking to a guy we know named Ralph. Hello Ralph. He grew up in Buffalo, New York in the seventies, so driving a rear wheel drive in ice and snow isn't something he worries about. He's got a little sporty car. He drives it year round here in Kansas City. During bad weather because he knows how to handle it. He grew up doing it and he knows what to do. I personally would not wanna get into one. Now, having not lived that my whole life. Now we've come to a part of the show. I like to call cars. I love the car. I love. Today is the Honda CRV. This is a compact SUV., It has two rows, which means there's a lot of cargo space. You can get them in a front wheel drive or an all wheel drive. There is a hybrid version as well. One thing that's great about these is that they are made by Honda. They have a Honda reputation, meaning they're expected to live a very long life and be very reliable. Gas mileage is great. The front wheel drive you can expect to get in the mid thirties. I will tell you that the newer models are heavier and so they are going to get a little less gas mileage. But if you're looking at something from 2017 to 2022, you can expect mid thirties on the highway. In the front wheel drive version, the all wheel drive will be a little bit less. The interior has plenty of leg room, plenty of head room, and when you put in a car seat in the back seat, there's still plenty of space for it. Without the driver or passenger having to scoot up an uncomfortable amount. Looking at the 2023, if you look at a quite new one like that, it has even more leg room in the backseat. One great thing about it is that an adult can easily get into the CRV without having to climb up into it, as you would some of the large SUVs that are out there, it has a lot of great safety features. It frequently gets a five star safety rating. This is a very practical SUV. If you want something that's going to last, that's not going to break down very often. That's going to get good gas mileage. That is a good value for the money. The practical Honda c RV is right for you. If acceleration is something that matters to you, well, it goes zero to 60 in about eight seconds. So nothing too exciting there. But for a lot of us, we're just trying to haul our kids around, get to work, and do that comfortably and safely. And for people like that, the CV is a great compact SUV that still feels quite roomy. So if you don't need a huge three row SUV, you should consider the Honda CRV. Now let's get back to talking about Drivetrains. Okay, what if power is going to all four wheels? Well, we call that either all wheel drive or four wheel drive, and there is a difference. Because you're sending power to all four wheels, just like the rear wheel drive, it's going to be heavier, and that means it's gonna be costlier as well. You're gonna get less fuel efficiency versus a front wheel drive. And the estimates I've seen is that upfront the vehicle could cost between 1500 and $4,000 more than a front wheel drive version of the same thing, depending on the make and model, of course, so it's heavier and costlier, but you are going to increase traction. Even though you are paying more upfront for the vehicle, whether it's new or used, they do tend to hold their value. So if you are reselling your all-wheel drive or trading in your four wheel drive, you should get a better quote than if it were a front wheel drive. Okay, so a lot of cars, like I was saying in the beginning, are all wheel drive these days. There's two types of all-wheel drive. There's part-time automatic and full-time. Most of the ones we see are part-time, automatic meaning it operates as a front wheel drive, but when. It senses that the tires are not getting enough traction. It kicks in all wheel drive. This is done by a computer system, and guess what computer systems can do? They can go out that does happen on all-wheel drives. The other type of all-wheel drive is full-time, meaning you are constantly in all-wheel drive mode whether you want to be or not. With all four wheels engaged, you are going to get along better in snow, ice, rain, sand, gravel, et cetera. A four-wheel drive is very similar to an all-wheel drive, but the difference is these are usually better suited for off-roading or heavy duty driving. Four wheel drive typically has a very low gear and a very high gear. The extreme low gear is for off-roading, pulling, climbing, descending down a mountain. Those are the times that you would need this extreme low gear. So if you live in Colorado on a mountain, you're probably going to have a four wheel drive and just a tip, anytime you are going down a huge hill or going down a mountain or something resembling a mountain and you're having to lay on your brakes the whole time, put it in the lowest gear possible because that's going to stop you from overtaxing your brakes. On the four wheel drive, you would have the extreme low gear and the extreme high gear for things like snow, ice, gravel, and sand. A lot of these are not automatic. A lot of four wheel drives. You have to put it into the gear you want though there are some that are automatic, similar to the all wheel drive, so not a lot of difference between the all wheel drive and four wheel drive unless you are doing serious off-roading or going over treacherous. Terrain of the vehicles we sell. Four wheel drive is most commonly in the Jeeps a Jeep Wrangler known for being an off-roading vehicle, and they're gonna have four wheel drive that you can shift in and out of. If you're concerned about ice, snow, and rain. And otherwise fairly calm terrain and all-wheel drive might be better suited for you than a four-wheel drive. If you can handle shifting in and out of four-wheel drive when you need it, when you don't going offroading going down mountains, then that would be the car for you. Okay, so here's a couple more things to think about. A lot of people pay all year for an all-wheel drive that they use maybe a handful of times. If you live in an area where you're constantly getting snow and ice. Then an all-wheel drive might be a no-brainer for you. Here in Kansas City, we usually get one or two fairly good snowstorms a year, and at that time, people are glad they have their all-wheel drive. However, they're paying for it all year. They're paying more upfront. They're paying more at the gas pump. And there's more parts that can potentially break as every part on a car eventually will. So is it best to have an all-wheel drive if you're using it a couple of times? I don't know. That's a personal decision. I grew up on a front wheel drive. I grew up in the country and then that's how I learned to drive. I've never really felt uncomfortable in Kansas City during an ice storm or snowstorm in a front wheel drive vehicle. However, I'm a former teacher and what happens to school during a snowstorm? It's canceled and I didn't have to go to work. So that's another consideration. If you are a hospital nurse or doctor, or anything else that has to go to work, no matter what, even when the city shuts down, then an all wheel drive or a four wheel drive. That might be something you really, truly need because your job doesn't shut down when the rest of the city does. If you live five miles down a gravel road, again, you may need four-wheel drive to be able to get out at certain times of the year. Here is one more thing to consider. Michelin did an experiment a few years ago. And found that a front wheel drive with winter tires outperformed an all wheel drive with summer tires or all season tires. Now granted this was done by Michelin, and what do they want you to do? They want you to buy two sets of tires for your car, so you always have to keep that into consideration. Who ran the study? But if you are going to get a front wheel drive and you're still concerned about the weather, then it might be worth your while to have an extra set of tires that go on in the winter months. So to recap, if you want to save money, buy a front wheel drive. Consider having a set of winter tires with your front wheel drive if weather is a concern for you. If you love driving, you love the handling. Driving is a sport for you, or if you need to haul a lot of things, then a rear wheel drive could be your best bet. If you love to go offroading, if you drive up and down mountains, you should consider a four wheel drive. If weather conditions happen to you from time to time, but not all the time, I would consider an all-wheel drive that goes in and out automatically as needed. Four wheel drive and all wheel drive are also what you would need if you're planning on hauling heavy things, think about all these things before you go car shopping so you know what you need and what you're looking for. You don't waste your time on something you don't. Thanks for listening to me today. It was great having you here. Remember, I'm at reynolds automotive kc.com if you'd like to look at my inventory. If you need any help, I'd be happy to help you. If you'd like to work with a woman the next time you buy a car, look me up. Thank you for listening and happy driving.