etothen

Having spent a decade on a Subaru and Cummins forums and having lived in interior Alaska for eight winters I will give you the benefit of my experience. Most people with awd/4wd think they are the end to difficult winter driving, they aren't. You are driving a big, heavy, expensive vehicle, if you live in a climate with a real winter, get some real winter tires for your truck. You will drive around in 2H on all but the crappiest days, and on those days 4H will be totally justified and work great. I drove my Ram 3500 with six studded snows and one ton of frozen water in the back* of the truck for six years, hardly ever put it in 4H. Before tha I drove a 2wd Nissan hard body, old tiny immortal one with 250k on it, had siped snows on it, 500lbs of ice in the back, never had a problem. Two drive tires with decent traction beat four driven tires with crappy traction every day, particularly if you are trying to turn and even more so if you are trying to stop. If you aren't running winters, in a winter climate try it, thank me later.



*Water in the bed in the winter in Alaska is great because it is easy to put in and as soon as the time of year come around that you want it gone it goes away by itself. :fingergunwink:

G-Force

Knowing how to drive a 2WD in snow must be a rare skill these days that a lot of people don't know how to do. Just like how most people don't know how to drive a stick shift either.

jbone36

I agree with you. I came from a '16 Silverado Z-71 that seldom needed 4x4 to get around in MI winters. Then I got my F-150 w/ the e-locker and it flat out sucks compared to the Chevy. Slides out, spins, spins, spins. The fan boys will say I don't know how to work the pedal... but the bottom line is the Chevy got around far better in snow. I will say that Ford's snow / wet drive mode is quite nice and seems to help.

rdg04578

Tires tires tires-- that is the secret to winter driving. They make more of a difference than 4WD and any traction enhancement feature. Winter tires in 2 WD will do better in most conditions (except deep snow) than 4WD with the wrong tires. This rule surprisingly works for Chevys,Dodges, and Fords. .

jeep364

Clearly 2 schools of thought on this argument. I think we all agree, 4wd + snow tires (studs is another argument) + weight distribution > *

Option for full time 4wd (awd) makes it even better. That said, it is a pure money making game for Ford not offerring 4auto on XLT and lower trim levels. I too will be looking for that feature so Ford is forcing me to a Lariat, otherwise I would not step up.

Wicked ace

I agree with Weather Man. I have driven pick up trucks with much better 4wd systems than this XLT I have now, even from Ford. This ranks down with the Nissan Frontier SV I traded to get this truck. In fact it relies on the traction control to limit wheel spin just like the Nissan. They call it 4wd but just barely. The e-lock is fine if you pull boats out of the water or rock crawl constantly but winter street driving it is limited.
I should have taken a pass, gotten 2wd and put on a torsen differential. I would have saved some cash and bumped up my payload by a couple hundred pounds.

Weather Man

I think I got spoiled, lol. In November turn dial to auto 4x4, drive, in May turn dial back to 2x4. There was no thinking, oh crap bad intersection, turn dial.

johnday in BFE

iTrader: (1)

Never had 4A on anything, I think I'd like it, but not gonna spend the bucks on a Lariat with even more crap on it than on my 302A that I don't care about.
LSD or ELD? I don't offroad at all in the truest sense, so don't care about a locked axle except for launch on dry pavement. The ELD flat sux on slick surfaces, unless you like sideways movement, I don't. I much prefer the LSD in my RWD Ranger.
Wish Ford would go back to the olde days, and get rid of the "package" thing, for the most part.

bisonp

I agree that it would be really nice to have 4A on an XLT. And push button start and climate control. But you need to understand that the XLT is built to a price point and that is one way Ford accomplishes that. When I bought my XLT in November it was thousands cheaper on the lot than any comparable Ram or GM with 4A despite similar MSRPs.

One advantage is that 4A trucks have clutches in the transfer case that when heavily used inevitably wear out and which can slip in tough conditions even when "locked" in to 4. Ram forums are full of complaints along those lines. Personally I'd still rather have 4A. But for what I paid I can't complain. Every truck has compromises.

GetWired

An apples to apples comparison is my 2008 1500 2wd with winter tires to my 2017 f-150 in 2wd with the same brand winter tires. The 2008 got around way better I thought maybe they changed the compound in the tires as they spin to easy. Same weight layout and everything. It's weird to me but I was passing people with fwd and 4wd with the 1500 all the time. The F-150 I have to put in 4wd a lot to get the same confidence. Not sure if it's suspension related or not, maybe I just got crap tires this go around.