XTerra Part Time 4WD concern. How good is it.

Hi,

I'm looking at the Honda CRV, Subaru Outback and the Xterra cars. I
like the looks of the XTerra and the fact that it comes with a V6
engine. My convern is the 4WD. I read an article that the the XTerra
has to be taken out to 4WD on dry pavement, or there will be excessive
wear on the tranny. The article was comparing the part time 4WD with
the AWD cars. I'm wondering if this is really a concern and what
experiences people have with it.

Thanks for any feedback.
Mike

mike wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I'm looking at the Honda CRV, Subaru Outback and the Xterra cars. I
> like the looks of the XTerra and the fact that it comes with a V6
> engine. My convern is the 4WD. I read an article that the the XTerra
> has to be taken out to 4WD on dry pavement, or there will be excessive
> wear on the tranny. The article was comparing the part time 4WD with
> the AWD cars. I'm wondering if this is really a concern and what
> experiences people have with it.
>
> Thanks for any feedback.
> Mike
The X-Terra is a part-time system. It cannot be used on high traction
surfaces without risk of breaking something. The X-terra, is larger,
heavier, slower and will get much worse gas mileage than the car-based
SUV choices. The X-terra will perform offroad better than those,
however. I have a Frontier with the V6 and I can tell you without a
doubt, a CRV or a Outback will beat it in a straight line.

-rob

Rob Munach wrote:
>
> mike wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > I'm looking at the Honda CRV, Subaru Outback and the Xterra cars. I
> > like the looks of the XTerra and the fact that it comes with a V6
> > engine. My convern is the 4WD. I read an article that the the XTerra
> > has to be taken out to 4WD on dry pavement, or there will be excessive
> > wear on the tranny. The article was comparing the part time 4WD with
> > the AWD cars. I'm wondering if this is really a concern and what
> > experiences people have with it.
> >
> > Thanks for any feedback.
> > Mike
> The X-Terra is a part-time system. It cannot be used on high traction
> surfaces without risk of breaking something. The X-terra, is larger,
> heavier, slower and will get much worse gas mileage than the car-based
> SUV choices. The X-terra will perform offroad better than those,
> however. I have a Frontier with the V6 and I can tell you without a
> doubt, a CRV or a Outback will beat it in a straight line.

Correct, part time 4WD is that, for part time use. If the traction is
high enough to not allow wheel slippage, you don't need 4WD anyway,
shift into 2WD. The reason is that the transfer case does not allow
slip between the front and rear axles (i.e. there is no center
differential). To see why this is important, take any vehicle, drive
through a puddle in a parking lot, then make a sharp u-turn. Hop out
and look at the tire tracks. Note how the front tires swing in a wider
arc overall than the rear tires. Wider are = longer distance travelled
= more wheel (and thus axle) revolutions. If the front axle makes more
revs. than the rear, something has got to give. Normally, off-road, you
have lower traction and thus the front or rear tires can slip to make up
the difference. On pavement, this is much harder to do, so a lot of
stress builds up in the drivetrain. This is what you want to avoid.

--
Roger

On 16 Sep 2004 08:13:10 -0700, [email protected] (mike) wrote:

>Hi,
>
>I'm looking at the Honda CRV, Subaru Outback and the Xterra cars. I
>like the looks of the XTerra and the fact that it comes with a V6
>engine. My convern is the 4WD. I read an article that the the XTerra
>has to be taken out to 4WD on dry pavement, or there will be excessive
>wear on the tranny. The article was comparing the part time 4WD with
>the AWD cars. I'm wondering if this is really a concern and what
>experiences people have with it.
>
>Thanks for any feedback.
>Mike


Based on your comments, it sounds like on road traction in slippery
conditions is your priority and not off-road ability. You should
exclude the Xterra from you shopping list.

Matt
99 V-10 Super Duty, Super Cab 4x4

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] says...
> Subject: XTerra Part Time 4WD concern. How good is it.
> From: [email protected] (mike)
> Newsgroups: rec.autos.4x4
>
> Hi,
>
> I'm looking at the Honda CRV, Subaru Outback and the Xterra cars. I
> like the looks of the XTerra and the fact that it comes with a V6
> engine. My convern is the 4WD. I read an article that the the XTerra
> has to be taken out to 4WD on dry pavement, or there will be excessive
> wear on the tranny. The article was comparing the part time 4WD with
> the AWD cars. I'm wondering if this is really a concern and what
> experiences people have with it.
>
> Thanks for any feedback.
> Mike
>
>


The Xterra is a truck with a part time 4x4 system that is not for use on
pavement, the other two are AWD cars, well the Honda really isn't but
lets no go there. In the Nissan line it sounds more like you would be
looking at the X-Trail with AWD.
--
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