Tech Talk: All About Four-Wheel-Drive

The second and concluding part of our last month's story, "Is AWD and 4WD the same thing?

- SYED SHIRAZ SHAH

In Part One of this story published last month (Thursday, 11 December), you learnt that while in pure engineering terms all kinds of AWD/4WD/4x4 vehicles come under the "All-Wheel-Drive" category, specific use-cases—and auto manufacturers' marketing teams' latching on to them—over decades marked a clear distinction between AWD and 4WD/4x4 vehicles.

However, as clear that distinction is in some parts of the world where people just can't do without power going to all four wheels of their vehicle, it's quite blurry in India, because, right from the alleged "founding fathers" of Indian automotive journalism to the most popular automotive YouTubers of our country—everyone has always been, and still remains, indifferent to differentials and transfercases. That's why this series of stories is important for you and everyone else interested in knowing the basic (and advanced too, at a later stage) concepts of AWD and 4WD vehicles.

If you missed reading the first part of this story last month, I'd suggest you read that first and then come back here as it would be better for your understanding. You may still choose to hang around and see where this takes you though. However, those of you, who have read it, would know that this story would now continue from where we left last time—the major differentiating factor between AWDs and 4WDs.

HOW TO KNOW WHETHER A VEHICLE IS AN AWD OR A 4WD?

It's simple, and something that's mentioned in the first paragraph of this story. If a vehicle has a transfercase, it's a 4WD vehicle. If it doesn't have one, even if the manufacturer claims that it's a 4WD/4x4, it's actually an AWD vehicle. See how simple that was?