What's Your Drive-Train? A 2WD, 4WD or AWD

A drive train attributes components that deliver power to the wheels of a car. Different Cars have varied drive trains ranging from Two-wheel drive (2WD), Four-wheel drive (4WD), and All wheel drive (AWD).

When buying a car, you can consider the type of driving train depending on power, cost, terrain, etc. This manuscript is going to explain more about the different drive trains and how they work.

1. Two-Wheel Drive

The two-wheel-drive train constitutes either the front-wheel drive or rear-wheel drive. This type of drive train (2WD) allows power to be delivered to two wheels while the other wheels spin.

Rear Wheel Drive Train

From reports, performance cars, truck base SUVs, Pickup trucks, and sports cars come with rear-wheel drive. With the rear wheel structure, trucks can accommodate heavy parts and aid better traction when ferrying heavy objects. This system balances the car’s weight from the front to the back end hence improving vehicle handling. However, in some instances, rear-wheel-drive vehicles have less traction hence most luxury vehicles come with an option of shifting to AWD.

Front-Wheel Drive Train

On the flip side, most cars come in a front-wheel-drive system which is designed for safety and is common in family cars and most SUVs which have extra elements to send power to the rear wheels when necessary. The FWD places the engine’s weight above the front wheels hence providing better traction. FWD also has more space for passengers and load as they don’t have the drive-line hump to accommodate the rear-wheel-drive system.

Pros and Cons of Two Wheel Drive

pros

2WD vehicles are fuel-efficient as they use lesser fuel to power the wheels.
2WD is less expensive compared to 4WD.
2WD is lighter compared to 4WD hence they are extra agile.

Cons

2WD is not convenient for all terrains.
2WD gives less power compared to 4WD.

2. Four-Wheel Drive

In a 4WD power is sent to all wheels by the engine, this provides better traction control, especially on rough terrain, and features high and low gears for climbing leverage. The 4WD feature is mostly found in off-road vehicles but nowadays, crossover cars and SUVs are adopting this feature. The 4WD systems are set to operate in various modes which include:

Full-time mode. All the car’s wheels are permanently engaged.
Automatic mode. The vehicle monitors the road conditions and switches automatically from 2WD to 4WD.
Part-time model. The driver switches the drive modes manually from 2WD to 4WD.

The part-time and automatic 4WD systems are more fuel-efficient compared to the full-time 4WD system because they save fuel when in the 2WD model.

Pros and Cons of 4WD

Pros

4WD transmissions are powerful and hence durable for off-road driving.

Cons

4WD transmissions are expensive compared to 2WD.
4WD transmissions are not as fuel-efficient as the 2WD transmission cars.

3. All-Wheel Drive

The AWD transmission is almost similar to the 4 WD. However, the AWD vehicle transmission is controlled by a computer system that determines the traction of the wheels. AWD cars are suitable for driving on slippery grounds ( snow and mud tracks) and on loose surfaces eg sand.