La Grange Area Toyota Dealer Explains the Different Drivetrains

Oct 6, 2014

Ever since sport utility vehicles and crossovers became popular, consumers have been bombarded with the benefits of four-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive or rear-wheel-drive. The thing is that it’s easy to make a particular drivetrain sound more appealing than it really is based on your needs. Your La Grange Area Toyota dealer offers a quick tutorial on drivetrains, what they do well, and what they don’t.

Front-Wheel-Drive

Far and away the most common type of drivetrain. As the name explains, this is when only the front two wheels are responsible for moving the vehicle, effectively pulling the cabin along the road. It’s common because it is cost effective, provides much better mileage due to efficiency, and performs relatively well for most weather conditions.

Rear-Wheel-Drive

As a vehicle moves forward, inertia puts pressure on the rear. Rear-wheel-drive takes advantage of this, creating more surface to surface connection and powering the vehicle forward. Since it tends to take more power, though, it isn’t the most fuel efficient and can be difficult in snow or ice since the vehicle is being pushed rather than pulled.

Four-Wheel-Drive

Often found in trucks and off-road vehicles, four-wheel-drive can often be turned on and off depending on needs. Since all four wheels are generating power, four-wheel drive is the best when it comes to traction, but suffers because of the amount of power needed to turn them.

All-Wheel-Drive

A more recent option is all-wheel-drive. Similar to 4WD, AWD turns all four wheels and so tends to lose fuel efficiency, though not as much as 4WD. AWD is most often found in smaller SUVs or crossovers.