AWD or FWD does it matter much??

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kickrz

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Long story short. I bought a 07 Torrent which I thought was AWD and it isn't. The place where I bought it is offering to trade the FWD in for an AWD if I pay them more. The AWD has cloth and my FWD has leather and to be honest we already own the FWD and don't want to pay more however I hate winter driving so I am curious if the AWD torrents are that much better then the FWD's? Is it worth paying more now and downgrading to cloth seats?

I read that sometimes AWD is not all it is hyped up to be and that with good snow tires FWD can be just as good.

Can anyone tell me more please. Would you trade the leather FWD for the cloth AWD?
 
what part of the country do you live in? do you use it for commutting to work and do you have the option of working from home if the weather is bad? give us a better idea of what the usage of the vehicle is.
 
I live in southwestern Ontario and yes I drive about 40 minutes to work daily. I have the option to stay home if it is super bad out because I work for my dad ;)
 
canada, long winters, sounds like you could use 4wd
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Ok thanks. My biggest issue was that the dealership sort of screwed me in the first place and I hate to give them another dime. They want mine back PLUS $2,220.00 + licencing transfer. I just wasn't sure if at this point it was worth it.

They dropped the price of mine about $1,000.00 and this new offer they are only dropping $495.00 so they still make MORE off of me. That is the part not sitting well with me.
 
well have you required a 4wd in the past? has something changed that you feel you need it now?
 
My previous vehicle was a Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland 4x4 so I originally wanted an AWD. I was told it was an AWD and after getting it home and having my husband inspect it we found that it was NOT AWD. The dealership is trying to screw the crap out of me so I wondered if AWD is that much better. If it is and I need to cough up more money and trade mine back for the AWD however if it isn't that much difference and I can get away with some good snow tires then I would rather go that route. New tires would be cheaper then the trade in.

I had an accident back in 07 where I hit some ice and totalled my Jeep. It was a clear and sunny day but that one road was pretty bad in spots. Since then I am a bit nervous driving in winter. I have read that some AWD's aren't worth the extra money and really good snow tires would do just as well and that is why I wondered if the same went for the torrents.
 
well if dealing with ice I dont think it makes a difference, only snow. If you go with snow tires make sure they really are "snow tires". There will be a snowflake symbol on the good ones. You can do research on snows at www.tirerack.com. I assume you have nothing in writing from the selling dealer indicating they sold you AWD.
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No nothing in writing...lesson learned!

I was looking at getting the Blizzack's (sp?) and the Michelin x-ice. I heard they are the top 2 but the x-ice are not available in my size.

The ones I have on their are rated for "light snow" and I am not sure that is enough.
 
Thanks so much for all your help. I was thinking of the Blizzak WS70's. I think mine are
17's though.
 
Don't go AWD

I've had a FWD '08 Torrent for about a year and a half, and with snow tires on it last winter it was - as much as I hate the car - no problem in the snow. Don't pay the extra money for AWD, especially if you'll lose the leather.

I live in Hamilton, but drove the car all across Ontario including all up North - travelling sales job.

If you want any more info let me know.
 
I also live in southwestern Ontario right in the middle of the snow belt and I drive 250km daily for work. My last vehicle is an 07 VW Rabbit (fwd) and over the past 4 years of driving only once did I actually NEED all wheel drive (I just stayed at home that day!). With that being said if you live in the country or travel a lot on back roads this is a totally different scenario and I would definitly get AWD (I just did:) ). Front wheel drive is fine with a good set of winter tires for 95% of the time.
 
I have a 2006 FWD Torrent. I have a set of BFGoodrich Long Trail T/A's on it and they work great in the snow. My son is just learning to drive and last week we got 6" of snow so I took him to an unplowed parking lot and let him drive around. No problems at all.
I have driven thru a few winters now and have never had any problems. The FWD does have traction control and under normal driving on snow covered roads it barely kicks on as well.

The AWD on a Torrent works differently than a 4WD vehicle. The Torrent only kicks into AWD IF the front tires lose traction. Our 2002 Montana is AWD and with decent tires it rarely kicks in.

With decent tires and traction control, the AWD is kind of a waste of money.
 
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