Re: AWD and 4WD

[Rob Bailey <baileyr@cuug.ab.ca>]

>4WD refers to vehicles with systems which are designed to go off-road, 
>with high ground clearance and with potential for rugged use.  Clearly 
>Bronco, Land Rover, CJ-5/7, generic big and little trucks, Trooper, ect. 
>qualify for this category.
>
>AWD is applied to vehicles with systems which will also drive all four 
>wheels but are intended for road use.  Things like Talon/Eclipse, Audi 
>Quattro, Subaru, Jensen Interceptor Ferguson Formula, and the like are AWD.

Actually the definitions that I've always used (and many magazines use) 
is that AWD refers to a full time system and 4WD refers to a part time or 
manually engaged systems. So for the most part I agree with your 
definitions above, but some off road vehicles come with AWD systems (ie. 
newer Land Rovers, Range Rovers and Land Cruisers) and some on road 
vehicles come with 4WD (ie. Subaru Justy and Toyota Tercels).

The gray area includes vehicles that have automatically engaging part time 
systems (such as Vanagon syncro [more AWD - viscous couplers] and RAV4 [more 
4WD - hydraulic pumps]). It's quite debatable.

Just my thoughts,
Rob