WHY BUY SUZUKI / TRACTION FOR ALL CONDITIONS
Two-wheel drive? Four-wheel drive? All-wheel drive?
Which drive-train system is best for your vehicle? It depends on the vehicle, how you drive—and where you plan to drive it.
Two-wheel drive (2WD)
Two-wheel drive comes in two different trims: rear-wheel drive (RWD), and front-wheel drive (FWD). All things being equal, two-wheel drive vehicles are lighter and more fuel-efficient than comparable four-wheel-drive vehicles.
Rear-wheel drive is used on many trucks and truck-based SUVs. It lends itself to pickup trucks, which often carry a big load over the rear wheels. Sports cars and other performance-oriented vehicles typically use rear-wheel drive as well, due to enhanced weight distribution and handling characteristics.
Front-wheel drive is increasingly common on passenger cars and car-based SUVs. Front-wheel drive is typically lighter, more economical and efficient, provides excellent overall traction and performance, and generally allows for a roomier interior when compared to a RWD vehicle of the same external size.
Modern electronic traction control and stability control has typically made two-wheel-drive vehicles considerably safer and generally easier to drive in challenging driving conditions than ever before.
Front-wheel drive is available on the Suzuki XL7, SX4 Crossover,and SX4 Sport.
Rear-wheel drive is available on the Grand Vitara.
Four-wheel drive (4WD)
Four-wheel drive is typically used on vehicles that might be traveling off-road or on slippery surfaces like snow, sand and gravel, where increased traction is highly desirable.
Most four-wheel drive vehicles give you multiple options of power delivery to the wheels to best fit the terrain: High- and low-range gearing, and lock/unlocked mode.
High-range gearing is suitable for normal driving speeds and conditions. Low-range gearing engages a special reduction gear that increases torque while trading off speed. This gearing can assist you in getting through tough situations, but it's typically not suitable for normal traffic speeds.
4WD systems use a center differential to send power to both the front and rear wheel sets all the time. But while the vehicle is turning, the rear wheel set tracks slightly different from the front wheels, thus the center differential needs to process a slight difference in speed between front and rear wheels.
To gain maximum traction in challenging conditions such as snow, sand, and other loose surfaces, most center differentials have "lock" mode which locks the front and rear wheels to spin at the same speed. Lock mode generally allows the power to be evenly distributed to the front and rear wheel sets for maximum traction. However, due to this very fact, some surface slippage between the tires and the terrain is necessary to prevent excessive tire wear, less responsive steering, or hopping.
The Suzuki Grand Vitara offers a rugged full-time 4-Mode 4WD, with limited-slip type center differential with a low-range transfer case. Unlike other compact SUV's that make do with AWD, the Grand Vitara can go where these wanna-be's don't dare.
In 4High-mode, 4WD system acts like an AWD system, and optimizes traction for on-road car-like performance and safety.
4High-Lock mode is designed to give greater traction in demanding conditions like snow or mud. This is achieved by locking the center differential to send equal power to the front and rear wheels, minimizing wheel spin.
4Low-Lock mode engages the low-range gears for transfer of maximum power and traction to handle the toughest of terrains.
Neutral disengages all four wheels for flat-towing. This mode helps provide less wear and tear should you tow your Grand Vitara behind your RV, and it also means you don't accumulate miles on the odometer.
All-wheel drive
What is the difference between "four-wheel drive" and "all-wheel drive"?
Good question.
All-wheel drive usually does not require the driver to switch manually into a four-wheel-drive mode when the driving gets tough or slippery—the system reacts automatically, depending on the condition. Conventional all-wheel-drive systems rarely have a low range gearing.
This makes all-wheel drive a good choice when a vehicle will seldom be used in extremely rough driving conditions—conditions which might require the extra traction and torque of a four-wheel drive system with a high/low-range transfer case.
All-wheel drive can be beneficial in high-performance automobiles, which make use of all four wheels to get all the traction and control possible over fast-changing terrain.
AWD is available on the Suzuki XL7. The Suzuki SX4 Crossover is available with innovative 3-mode intelligent All-Wheel-Drive (i-AWD), which allows the driver to choose between efficient 2WD, 4WD Lock which locks the wheels together for slow going in mud, sand, ice or snow, and versatile 4WD Auto, which automatically apportions power to the rear wheels when needed for additional safety and performance.
