I am potentially looking at buying a new car in next coming months. I’m looking at the Nissan rogue because my current car is Nissan and I’ve been pleased with it for the past 12 years and I would like the extra room an suv has. The only thing I don’t like is that the majority of suvs are AWD. Nissan does make the rogue in FWD but I was only able to find 1 in my nearby dealerships. So it seems that if I want an suv I’m stuck with AWD or I have to stick with a sedan. For context, my first and current car is a 2012 Nissan versa.
Tldr: do the benefits of AWD and having an suv outweigh the downside of having to replace every tire if you get a flat in one with AWD. Or should I just try and stick with FWD?
EDIT: thank you for all the responses. It is very clear now that I do not need AWD and will stick with FWD. And apparently, I need to look into different cars makers. I have had good luck with my Nissan but according to comments Nissan isn’t a good company anymore.
EDIT 2: I didn’t realize that there are 2 different types of AWD. There’s full and reactive. Technically, the car I have now is AWD because it does divert power to the back wheels if it detects them slipping. My apologies for not fully understanding the terminology before making the post. My original post was directed towards full AWD, when there is power to all wheels all the time. Thanks for the help !
Most people don’t need AWD. Most people who think they need it are wrong, and they could easily live without it. I say this having lived in several snowy places, including rural mountains, owning cars with and without AWD.
Regardless of AWD, if you buy an SUV, don’t think that you can ignore the weather. It’s very common for SUV drivers to believe that their car is suitable for the snowstorm, drive at high speeds, and get stuck in the ditch. Please don’t be that guy.
I had all kinds of cars in my life, probably the best car i ever owned to drive in the snow was a Peugeot 106 gti. Skinny winter tires and the weight or lack of it was absolutely king in the snow. I went on ski trips where all kinds of cars were stuck and i never had any problem at all. The “best” car on paper i ever had for the snow was a jeep grand Cherokee. That thing was more scary than good in the snow. I see a lot of people crash their AWD cars, because they don’t know the difference between AWD and 4x4.
If you live where it snows
HOLY SHIT ABSOLUTELY.
If not, meh.
Mud too. My buddy lives up a hill at the end of a dirt road. My FWD made it there with no problem until it rained for a week. Since then I take my 4x4 when I visit in wet weather.
Depends on where you live.
I live in Atlanta GA and rarely leave the city so I don’t need AWD.
My buddy lives in bumblefuck Alabama. He can’t live without it.
I come from the land of ice and snow, and AWD allows my car to go. 🎶
Something something midnight sun and doing an car based mountain run. 🎶I did just fine with just RWD until I moved somewhere more mountainous. If the climate was drier or warmer, it wouldn’t matter as much.
I agree with most of the responses here, but one thing that I think is worth noting is that not all AWD systems are built the same. The really, really good ones come from Subaru, Audi, and some Volvo’s. With good tires and a competent driver, these are usually really good in slick conditions. A lot of AWD systems though are more of a “mild AWD” where the car primarily FWD but can get some assistance from the rear. Those systems might give you efficiency gains compared to some other AWD systems, but performance wise they might not be dramatically better than FWD. So that’s worth considering I think.
Frankly if you have to ask if you need AWD, then you don’t NEED it. But it’s nice to have and pretty fun if you’re a psycho like me who actually likes winter driving
Thanks for this comment. I didn’t realize there were different types of AWD. My car does have the reactive AWD where it will give power to the rear wheels if they are slipping. My og post was referring to full AWD that’s on all the time.
Depends on where you live, does it snow a lot? If so then AWD is absolutely better.
Test drive that and similar sizes from Toyota , Mazda, and Honda before you make the purchase. There is a reason the Rogue engine is called a sewing machine motor. Listen to it as you do your best to get to the speed limit from a stand still. Try this with all the other vehicles and make your own conclusions. This is a long term investment so do it right, including trade in value. Almost everything is AWD now and it can come in handy.
Going to add to the climate argument, but thrown in a personal realization. I used to only buy rwd manual sporty cars but put snow tires on them in the winter. This was fine until I moved to a location that rains 9 months per year.
It was then I realized heavy torque, rwd was miserable here regardless of the tire choice. I’ve been buying AWD since. But it took me basically a decade to figure that out.
FWIW I still put snow tires on in the Winter, but I ski.
With AWD I’d be more concerned with the fuel consumption.
There is a noticeable difference in EVs with AWD vs FWD, because the drive wheels all have independent motors. More motors= more power. As other commenters said, the main other consideration is if you have snow.
We’ve really enjoyed our Hyundai Ioniq 5 crossover SUV. It has a ton of leg room (I’m 6’2" and can fully stretch out my legs), 300 miles of range, and more acceleration than any car I’ve ever owned. The cost of charging at home is about 70% less than we were paying for gas, plus there’s almost no maintenance needed (e.g. there’s no oil to change). With super chargers on road trips Hyundai and Kia EVs can charge from 10%-80% in about 15 mins for slightly less than the cost of gas.
also regenerative charging causes brake pads to wear much more slowly. to the point that sometimes the rotors start to rust badly because the actual brakes get used so little.
I’ve been casually looking at the ioniqs - is anything in the interior intrusive? I have a problem with EVs having massive screens or way way too many buttons.
The Ioniqs have much smaller screens than the EV industry average, and many more physical buttons than industry average. The only time I really touch the touch screen is related to the Android Auto GPS/Google Maps, or very rarely I’m fiddling with a setting in my driveway.
Can’t really give you a reply, but I suggest you to just go to a dealership and take whatever ioniq you are most interested in for a test drive. I sometimes to that just for fun, even though I’m not even actually interested in buying one lol. tbf, I get that sometimes dealerships are quite far to go to, but having an hour or two with a car to drive around really gives you a good idea of how you like it.
AWD is useful but if you’re driving a lot in cold snowy conditions having a set of dedicated winter tires is better.
Thank you for the input. This and the other comments have confirmed my thoughts that i don’t need AWD.
I test drive a regular Audi A4 and Infiniti Q50 a few times and became hooked on owning an AWD. It doesn’t snow where I live but the handling was everything I ever wanted. Currently searching for an AWD version of the car I want next and there’s like none down here, it’s super frustrating
I will def test drive several cars with AWD and FWD.
Not unless you’re focused on performance (acceleration).
AWD’s safety boosts are overinflated, to say the least, and the higher initial cost and the cost of maintaining an additional powered axle (plus the increased fuel costs to power said axle) make it unnecessary for most regular people.
If you absolutely need off-road/snow capabilities, a proper 4x4 will outperform any AWD system. If you drive on the roads and don’t live in Siberia, FWD will be plenty 99% of the time for 99% of people.
