CoedNaked

My brother seems bent on buying an All Wheel Drive car. Keep in mind we are talking Toyota only here as we are a Toyota family and have a family member who works at a dealership so for obvious reasons. He currently has a 92- Corolla front wheel drive car. He's been gawking (I don't know why?) at the all wheel drive corolla's that only came in station wagon format (TALK ABOUT UGLY! - he must be on drugs!) from 89-92 just because they are all wheel drives. And then he casually mentioned the other day how Toyota stopped producing the all wheel drive new Matrix's this year or last (I know they had them in '03 and '04 model years).

HE seems bent on all wheel drive being superior for whatever reason but I honestly don't know why. I don't think it's much more superior, say in the winter, if you had a good set of winter tires and front wheel drive, and maybe some cables if you ever needed them. What is there to gain from all wheel drive? I mean either way if one of your wheels comes off the ground you're toast, all wheel drive Toyota vehicles are scarce anyways so parts are at a premium, there is more potential things to go wrong, and all wheel drive sucks gas mileage anyways, even if you claim to have a 4 cylinder "economy" car. He also seems bent when I tell him to get a 4runner, that the old corolla wagaons have a center diff lock but I tell him the issue then is ground clearance plus lack of lo-rang ein a transfer case. I think he is wasting his time pursuring an all wheel drive vehicle and I think he should either look at another front wheel drive car, or a 4 cylinder 4x4 4runner from 96-02 in a manual.

He's not an offroader by any stretch, I think he thinks somehow that all wheel drive is safer or something like that but worth the added cost? The ground clerance and lack of lo-range alone doesn't constitute a 4x4 or anything with any real offroad capability.

Thoughts?

Dillon

I currently drive a front wheel drive car with studded snow tires. It is very good in the winter on snow and ice, unless you get a large snowfall of six or eight inches, or some big snowdrifts. The problem then is ground clearance - I don't think an AWD Matrix would be much better than my front driver in this regard. And traction is the only advantage and AWD car would have over mine - AWD is far less important for handling and braking in the winter than a good set of winter tires. My next vehicle will be a 4Runner, because of the 4WD AND the ground clearance.

Toyota Canada does still sell the AWD Matrix.

AH64ID

A newer AWD car with traction control would be a great on-road winter rig. They also tend to do better in rain. My mom and I notice (she has '00 runner, I have 03 runner) that when in AWD braking is better, espically on wet roads.

My mom had, until I rolled it on mothers day, a subaru AWD outback. The AWD on that rig was HORRIBLE. In that year or two, I think it was a 97, with an auto tranny the computer controlled Front to Rear Bias. So if a front wheel slipped it was rear, then when the rear slipped it would go 50:50.... Imagine this when driving on snow and making a turn from a stop. You would slightly slip the front, it would bias the rear about the time you were 45 deg thru the corner, you would fishtail 90 to the road, then it was AWD... this was the cars way, not driver specific..

But like I said the AWD mode in my runner is killer, even my moms without trac control.. the snow and ice handeling are amazing.

A vehicle that is only AWD is more of a street rig, plowed roads, ice, etc. But a well enginered one is way better than front wheel drive. Ones that use a limited slip in the xcase are the best, espically with a brake froce traction control.

I have always wanted to take the multi mode case from a runner and put it in my 92 (yes I know the pumpkin in on the wrong side). I think that would be a sweet setup.

Adam F

The matrix still has 4wd available, see for yourself

http://www.toyota.com/matrix/models.html

The tercel had a low range. We had one at the shop last week.

Octane

AWD is better than front-drive in the snow. When you are dividing the engine's power amongst 4 tires instead of just 2, you are going to have more traction.
You could also now consider a Subaru, they are now owned by Toyota and pretty much wrote the book on AWD cars.

firemedic

Two wheel drive with good snow tires is probably pretty good, but a awd with good snow tires will be better. I like fulltime 4wd on my 80 series in snow/ice on the road.

4runnermt

I saw some guy a few years ago wheel the hell out of an early 80s subaru wagon and I was quite impressed. It had rear air shocks. But it may have been 4wd?

X-AWDriver

AWD is the best on slick surfaces period. I drove my '93 Eclipse through 5 rocky mountain winters with just all season radials on it and never got stuck since I also respected my ground clearance. There is also a reason that Colorado sells alot of Subarus since AWD is not a gimmick. Also rally cars ring a bell too since AWD is nearly a must on most of those courses. AWD is also about control which FWD or RWD can't match.

Snorkeldepth

When it came time to get a car and AWD was on my list I couldn't help getting an STI. Im very happy with the car. If there is any interest to stray from the Toyota fold then there's lots to read about at www.iwsti.com. I understand the Toyota allegiance though. I "sufffer" from it myself.

CoedNaked

Sorry, I guess when I said (or he said) they stopped producing all wheel drive matrix's, (I checked the Toyota canada website, they still sell them but only automatic configurations) he means they stopped selling manual all wheel drive matrix's - he's more of a manual guy like myself.

Adam F

Yes, Subaru's are great in the snow, but they are not "owned by Toyota". Toyota bought a 8.7% stake in Fuji Heavy Industries, the company who owns Subaru. They bought the 8.7% stake from GM.