4 WD or 2WD?

A question posed as to whether a 4wd option is very necessary for
adventure? I have been driving a lot of 4WD's earlier. Now my Scorpio
is a 2WD.
Judgment is very important.With a 4WD one can do all the monkey tricks
and emerge successful. But with the 2WD one must not venture into 4WD
territory at all. Its inevitable to enter into the 4WD territory
sometimes, but is best avoided.One must not buy trouble.

I have had lots of adventures with the 4WD's too. Once my CJ4A petrol
Mahindra jeep was stuck beside a small dam, that had water flowing out
and making the road (cart track) alongside very muddy. The muddy patch was
roughly 25 to 30 feet long. All the 4 wheels got stuck and the High
4WD option too was of no use as the four wheels were rotating on the mud,
without the UV moving ahead by an inch. Villagers were called with crow
bars, who put the two crow bars beneath the rear axle and slowly jerked
the UV ahead. It took more than three hours to get the UV out.

So it depends where, why and how you are stuck?
In my opinion its better to go for a 2WD option for the SUV if the use
is mostly urban with 10 to 20% off roading. If offroading exceeds 50 %
then 4WD is the only option. With the 2WD, if I am to venture into the
4WD territory once in a while, I'll prefer park my SUV at some
motorable point and walk down the extra distance for the adventure.
4WD UV's/SUV's are a bit more fuel thirsty even with the 4WD gears not
engaged and have more mechanical parts that move. So obviously if less
used thats not a pretty option.
Though on slippery, wet, sandy or a bit muddy roads where the UV is moving its preferable to engage the Low 4WD option. This is when the engine powers all four wheels with the propeller shafts, resulting in better traction. The UV/SUV can move even at 50 kmph with this option. Whereas with the High 4WD option, the engine rpm is very high and > 3000 or sometimes even > 4000rpm.But the speeds are seldom above 20 kmph.

wow. thanks for the info and sharing your experience anjan.

Considering the negatives of 4WD like penalty on mileage and high price, if one goes off-road rarely, then its better to stay with 2WD. For regular off-road visits, we can opt for a 4WD straight out no further thoughts, but there are only few in our country for that. Most buy a 4WD, some rarely use it(4WD) and few even never tries it out. Depending on our usage, we can select 2WD or 4WD.

Kindly share some of your off-road venture :)

well 4WD drive is useful in rural india in my opinion. as in india 4WD wouldnt be something to use for adventure but for actual need as there are many places where there are no roads.
my uncle (mama) works for the Atomic Minerals Directorate. and when they have to go on field trips for study of atomic minerals they take 4WD vehicles. not for adventure but because they are actually needed there.

nice info anjan, 4wd are best for the off road purposes and for roaming in the city, 2wd should be the option
thanks for sharing :)

good info anjan, yes 2wd and 4wd are something buyers gets confused choosing from, occassional off roadings doesnt require 4wd, but even people going for travelling even on super smooth roads like nainital-abu-manali-shimla also prefers 4wd dont know why, but higher costs of ownership with drop in FE is the main reasons we dont see much of 4x4 options sold here.

@anjan. ther is no thing on earth as the 4WD UV!!!!

well, i would love to have a 4WD but not on cars like the scorpio or safari. these are too heavy to do real off roading jaunts. so i prefer such "SUVs" with 2wd.
someday, i would own a 4WD, for sure. but that would be a MM540/legend/classic or a gypsy or a gurkha. these vehicles are cheap & even if you scrape or break something, it wont burn a hole in your pocket. secondly, these vehicles are meant for abuse, so you dont need to think twice before bashing it in the mud track.

raj_5004 wrote:well, i would love to have a 4WD but not on cars like the scorpio or safari. these are too heavy to do real off roading jaunts. so i prefer such "SUVs" with 2wd.
someday, i would own a 4WD, for sure. but that would be a MM540/legend/classic or a gypsy or a gurkha. these vehicles are cheap & even if you scrape or break something, it wont burn a hole in your pocket. secondly, these vehicles are meant for abuse, so you dont need to think twice before bashing it in the mud track.

These are truly made for the rough cart-tracks and not the heavier SUV's.
There are a lot of narrow cart-tracks with shrubs on either sides
sometimes thorny or with protruding branches, in forest/ rural areas.I
found the soft-tops to be much fit to be driven through such
cart-tracks, as even the Bolero's bodyline and paintwork would be badly
scratched. Gypsys and the Mahindra CJ series with canvas hoods, are
just ideal in such conditions.
Regular cart movement makes the two wheel tracks sink much below the surface
level on such stretches, while the central portion protrudes, as no
wheel moves on that portion. UV's with a high ground clearence to avoid
the differential from hitting the central part of the cart-track, are
preferred.

here's a funny pic i found on the net. not exactly related to the topic. but indirectly related to it.

@ raj.. Please don't compare gypsy's, Gurkha, MM540 to the real S.U.Vs.
I have seen a military Jeep, a Gypsy, and a Scorpio struggling to climb the Khardung La( World's highest motorable pass),
I had a 2003 safari(4wd offcourse) even with an underpowered engine( it had a 90hp engine) , it went to the pass easily without any worries.
the jeeps were not at all good there!
so no offence but these old jeeps and gypsys are no longer proper S.U.Vs.

And mahindras we get here are not even the Real JEEPS. They are old Nissan Patrols!

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