Quote:
Originally Posted by glennb
I don't know how you drive but, either:
a) It is rather reckless with lots of wheel slippage, or
b) What you think is the "AWD kicking in" is in fact, something else
I believe the FE penalty the AWD FEH pays is largely due to the added weight it carries around.
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The FEH uses an automatic power distribution system so that if one axle starts to slip, more power is transfered to the other axle. The idea is the wheels with the best grip always get the most power with a bias towards the rear wheels. (I may be wrong on which wheels have the bias, I'm working from memory here.)
In most automatic AWD systems, there is a loss of power and thus a minor FE hit when slippage gets significant. This is part of the reason you get a bigger FE hit in the winter when driving on slushy roads than the FWD vehicles.