Popular But Wrong 2: Difference between 4x4 and AWD

By -
4matic
To start with, there is no Mercedes Car model called Mercedes 4matic. This is another popular but
wrong impression that is so common to be ignored.

4matic is Mercedes' trademark name for its All Wheel Drive(AWD) Technology that comes as an option across several of its car brands from the C class through S class to SUVs and crossovers. Now, what is All Wheel Drive (AWD), and how does it differ from  Four Wheel Drive (4WD) and Four by Fours (4x4).

For an Intro, your car has an engine that sends power to the wheels to spin them. That"s how the car moves. Now, which set of wheels the engine turns for the car to move is what determines whether the car is a Front Wheel Drive, Rear (or back) Wheel Drive, Four by Four (4x4)(also called Four Wheel Drive) or All Wheel Drive (AWD). The most common among this are the Front Wheel Drive and the Rear Wheel Drive.
Front Wheel Drive
Just as the names imply, when the engine can only spin the set of wheels in front of the car, the car is a front wheel drive. And when it can only spin the two wheels at the back, it is a rear wheel drive.
But for 4x4 and AWD, the thing is a little different. One important thing to note about both 4x4 and AWD is that the vehicle has the ability to send its engine power to all four wheels (both the two at the front and the two at the back). To put the main difference between them as simple as possible, for 4x4s, the engine is constantly spinning all for wheels at all time, while for AWDs the engine has the ability to spin any combination of the wheels as it deems necessary to achieve maximum traction. That is, it can chose to spin one wheel from the front and one from the back if its determines that the other wheel from the front and the other from the back has lost traction (grip) as possible when you are on a bad road or when some liquid is spilled on a paved road.
Rear Wheel Drive
Though use of some technologies like Limited Slip Differential (LSD) and its variable have greatly narrowed the line between the 4x4 and the AWD cars, the AWD system gives better handling for high performance cars.

Some major car manufacturers have different trademark names they call their AWD sytems while others such as Toyota and Honda simply stick with the AWD badge and then improve that with another technology, Mercedes, Audi and Volkswagen notably has chosen other names to call them.
Mercedes Benz named hers 4matic, Audi named hers Quattro and the VW group (which Audi is also part of) sometimes call her 4motion. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

BASIC CAR MAINTENANCE TIPS

By -
Image
I've itemized below some often ignored but very important practices that can be the difference between few and often visits to the repair shop.  Get to know your car You need to first of all know what car you have, what it is made of and what it is capable of. Basic information about any car can be gotten from a good car website on line, but the problem will be interpreting and understanding what you get. V6 vs I4 You can start from knowing the engine capacity commonly given in cubic centimeters (cc) and closely followed by the engine power given in bhp (break horse power). E.g. 1800cc; 140bhp. The higher these numbers are, the more power your engine should have (mostly at the expense of more fuel). So, that you drive a 2010 Honda Accord does not mean your car can drive exactly the same way any other 2010 Honda Accord on the road would. Same model year of cars come with different engines and body trim, hence, different performance. A car will perform well be...
Read more

POPULAR BUT WRONG

By -
Image
On ‘popular but wrong’, I will be bringing you a few popular opinions on car tech with explanations why they are wrong. Catalytic converter Catalytic converter Indomie noodles On this side of the globe, the catalytic converter has gained a very popular alias - ‘the Indomie’, after Indomie noodles because of the noodles like shape of the converter metals. In other worlds, it is simply called the ‘Cat’. Cat with sensors There is a popular believe and claim that the Cat/Indomie improves fuel economy, I.e. reduces fuel economy.  I say a big Wrong to that. The Cat is not designed to, and so doesn't improve fuel consumption. The Cat is designed to remove poisonous gases and elements like Carbon monoxide and Nitrogen from the exhaust gas. Thus, its main function is to reduce excessive air pollution. It does this by reacting with the gas as it passes through the exhaust pipe. Or more specifically, it facilitates the reaction, that’s why it is called a catalyst. One ...
Read more

Air Conditioner Fuel Consumption

By -
Image
AC vent In early cars like the 70s Peugeot 504 and other cars before that era when car AC compressors were bulky and not very efficient, it is indisputable that using your car Air Conditioner while driving means parting with some extra liters of fuel.   But we are in an era when car compressors are better built and lighter. That doesn't mean they don’t require power from the engine to be driven as is most noticeable at low rpm like when the car is idling and you switch on the AC. The noticeable drop in rpm is mostly due to inertia. So, your glasses are down and your AC is off so you can save fuel. I bet the only place you are going to save that fuel in today’s cars is ‘in your head, not in your fuel tank’. If your glasses are down and you are driving at speeds in excess of 80km/h (about 55mph), the inside of your car will be working like a big balloon or parachute to pull your car back as air flows in through the windows. This way, the engine will be wor...
Read more