Transfer cases, front diffs. Just something else to go out and cost $. AWD is nice if you want that sports car cornering and/or drive in the snow and ice. But out here in the land of eternal sunshine (oops its raining), All I need is a good Pusher ! PUSHERS RULE !!!!
1. Being the one that everyone else thinks that they can depend on when it snows.. they say, "Yeah.. we're closing the office today due to to the weather but since Ted has AWD, we expect him to be at work.
2. The expense of maintaining it. Everything costs more on an AWD vehicle.
3. The pain in the neck of the repair work. Everything is harder to install when you have an AWD vehicle.
4. Having to always match tire sizes.. which contributes to #3.
5. No burnouts.
6. Being bummed out as a result of not being able to do burnouts.
because they went through all that trouble and did not make it selectable 2 or 4 and also offer a low range. it is so easy to move trailers on loose soil with a low range such as in camping or pulling a large boat from the dock.
I paid $700 for my '92 over a year ago & she is going strong without any big issues resulting from having the AWD. I didn't find the Van any harder to work on then my old 2WD Safari. & I have done a lot of little work to her over the last year. AWD will probably blow up tommorrow since I said this. :lol:
Tires really are not a big deal.....I mean most people use all 4 of the same tires anyways to be able to properly rotate them.
Gas mileage isn't too terrible. My '92 is getting 16.5MPG & my '96 is getting 17MPG both are AWD. I see a lot of 2WD Vans on here getting 18MPG....not a huge improvement?
Really when I think about gas mileage I don't care about a couple MPG as long as my wife & four kids get where they need to go safely. :rockon:
I would never base my search for a new Van on 2WD or AWD...........just looking for the best Van I can get for my money. My '96 I recently got just happen to have AWD whatever I will use it when the snow flies again! :driving:
8. I don't like that AWD logo in the red letters. It's like you are bragging to the rest of the world when nobody else is impressed but you. It's right up there with the people who stick the 5.0 badge on their fender or the Type-R decal on the trunk of their stock Honda.
You guys pretty much covered the reasons. :clap: :clap:
Wow.
Here is acouple more.
Torsion bars.Nope don't care for them.
Interstate highway breakdowns means flatbed towing which costs more.
Tight working quarters?.Well more work to do a V8 swap with cutting the oil pan.Then really tight quarters to work on.
I respectfully disagree about the gas mileage issue.I have seen highway mileage with RWD's in the lower 20's and never seen that with a AWD.Plain and simple-the RWD's get better mileage.
Charging extra for flatbed towing is a thing of the past. There was a time when most trucks were wreckers. Nowadays anyone who's anybody in the towing business uses a flatbed. The only exception would probably be repo men and companies that do impound work.
Man, seems like there's a lot of AWD envy in this thread!
My insurance company covers roadside towing anyway and I always specified a flatbed.
I love being able to "smoke" (very relative term here when dealing with the Astro!) other cars off the line in wet or slippy conditions. Also nice when navigating muddy dirt roads on the way to (and especially from) mountain bike or hiking trails.
I was in SC last week and ran into a guy installing an alarm system on a home I was at and he had the same van as me, except all white with running boards - "04 Astro LT AWD, gray leather interior. He mentioned coming from his previous RWD Astro that he thought the turning radius was larger, I haven't noticed this but I guess it's possible.
Charging extra for flatbed towing is a thing of the past. There was a time when most trucks were wreckers. Nowadays anyone who's anybody in the towing business uses a flatbed. The only exception would probably be repo men and companies that do impound work.
My 1st and major reason for buying a pusher was 3-4 mpg better, plus when I 'm under the van I know which end i'm looking at without 2 differentials!....lol
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