More or less I'm saying that in general any vehicle with a selectable transfer case and all wheels permanently driven is commonly referred to as "Full time four wheel drive." By calling a vehicle "All Wheel Drive" that says to me the vehicle lacks low range gears. And in general gives me the impression of a less rugged and more "car like" drive system. Where as "Full time four wheel drive" to me implies not only a selectable transfer case but a more rugged truck based system. Just my opinion.

Commonly referred to does not equal technically correct, and that's all I'm saying. I'm not trying to be an ass, but this is one of my pet peeves.

Also, all wheels are not permanently driven on the GX, put it up on jackstands and see for yourself. You and a couple friends can grab 3 of the wheels and stop them with your hands while the 4th spins with all the power flowing to it alone (until the electronic aids the GX is blessed with kick in).

My Land Cruiser has "Full Time 4wd" on the side of it as well, but if I'm trying to climb over snowbanks in a parking lot and one tire spins and I get stuck, that's not 4wd/4x4 in reality. But don't worry about me, I've got 3X diff locks to get me through that snowbank, lol.

When I said "all wheels permanently driven" What I meant was all wheels have the potential to be driven. And there is never a possibility of only two wheels having potential to be driven.

Can you provide a reputable source that would define the GX drive system as all wheel drive? The landcruiser and GX drive systems are nearly identical so why would different terms be used to describe each?

The owners manual simply uses the term "Four-wheel drive system."

maybe you should drive some other of Toyotas 4wd vehicles, like say a 80 series Land Cruiser for example. thats a full time 4wd, and it drives like a truck and is rugged. a Lexus GX is not a rugged vehicle, i dont care how you want to slice it or break it down. yes it is a very capable vehicle but it is not rugged. in fact it drives very nicely and more car like than many current cars at dealers right now(yes even Toyota cars). your opinion is just that your opinion. the GX drives and acts like a AWD vehicle 99.9% of the time for almost every owner of one, and while yes it is capable of offering more at the table to its owners it typically does not -either by their lack of knowledge of how the vehicle works or their lack of need for the added benefits it offers. most of the people who bought a GX bought it for what it is at face value, a reliable, good looking, luxurious SUV that drives like a car and is comfortable as well as well appointed(for its day). now some of us have realized its true, and full potential later on down the road -being based off of the Land Cruiser Prado chassis, and we know what it is capable of and have picked them up to exploit all aspects of the vehicle. but the fact of the matter still remains that at the end of the day, it still drives and acts like what it was intended to be. and it still operates as a AWD vehicle 99.9% of the time for most of us, despite its being a "chameleon"...

I'm not concerned who is right or wrong my only goal is to be correct.

Here are the reasons I term the GX470 drive system "Full Time Four Wheel Drive" rather than AWD.

SELECTABLE TRANSFER CASE(Capability to operate in low range); Generally speaking AWD vehicles do not have selectable low range gear, at very least not any Toyota products that I am aware of.

SIMILARITY TO LAND CRUISER DRIVE SYSTEM; GX470 drive system operates nearly identical to IFS Land Cruiser's. I have NEVER heard the Land Cruiser referred to as AWD so I ask why these two systems that share many similar components would be described differently?

TOYOTA CALLS THE GX470 DRIVE SYSTEM "FOUR-WHEEL DRIVE SYSTEM" IN THE OWNERS MANUAL MULTIPLE TIMES AND THERE IS NEVER ANY MENTION OF "AWD"; If Toyota designed the GX470 as an AWD vehicle why not call it an AWD System? Why would the manufacturer use an inaccurate term in their own documentation?

I concede that Toyota does not actually refer to the system specifically as "Full Time Four Wheel Drive" in the vehicle documentation (at least not that I could find). However the term "Four-Wheel Drive System" is used throughout and it does in fact operate "Full Time" so I fail to see how it is inaccurate to refer to the GX470 drive system as "Full Time" Four-Wheel Drive.

The features that provide a refined "car-like" ride are nothing more than suspension upgrades added to improve ride quality/handling and have nothing to do with the drive system. My 08' GX rides as good or better than my in-laws new Avalon but at it's heart the GX is a true body on frame SUV and has more in common with a truck than car suspension or drive systems.

As you all can probably tell by now I love a good debate but at the end of the day I want to be correct in my nomenclature. If anyone can provide non-anecdotal evidence from a reliable source, say the manufacturer, that the GX470 has ever been termed an AWD vehicle I would love to see it!

So Toyota refers to the transfer case selector as the "Four Wheel Drive Control Lever", which I think we can both agree is not an accurate description, and you're providing this as documentation to support your position? This stuff is written for soccer moms, it's not technically accurate, end of story as far as I'm concerned. Marketers are not engineers.

To be clear, I consider the driveline in my Land Cruiser (HDJ81) to be full time AWD, with a locking center diff to achieve 4x4/4wd, as well as front and rear locking diffs to achieve "tank mode", lol. I consider the end results to be very similar to the GX470 drivetrain, which is also a full time AWD driveline with locking center diff to achieve 4x4. To say it is "Full Time 4wd" is not accurate, as the center diff is not always locked, nor would you want any vehicle to be in 4wd all the time as you'd have all sorts of clunking and tire skipping when you turn corners on paved, high traction surfaces, as the center diff would be locked and would not allow the front vs rear axles to turn at different rates.

The IFS 100/200 series Land Cruiser driveline is infact very similar to the GX's, and it is also incorrectly marketed as "Full Time 4wd". The manufacturer's printed marketing/reference materials are not a reliable source of CORRECT information in this case. I don't know of such a source, as who would care enough to put out documentation to this effect?

Try the test yourself, put your GX on jackstands and see if you and a couple of friends can stop 3 of the wheels by hand. If yes, then you do not have 4wd. Lock the center diff and try it again, you'll only be able to stop one tire on each axle, and will have 4wd at that point. You'll find that having the transfer case in low or high range does not change the results (assuming again that low range does not automatically lock the center diff, as it does on my Land Cruiser). That's science, not marketing, and at the end of the day, that's what decides what terminology is correct in this case.

That sounds to me like a debate on the definition of "four wheel drive." I still say It is more accurate to describe the normal operating mode as 4H unlocked rather than AWD because all wheel drive vehicles don't generally have selectable transfer case gears.

Let's look at it this way when an AWD vehicle is in normal driving mode you wouldn't call that mode 4H because there is not an option of 4L, locked or unlocked... you'd just call it AWD but what if it did have a lockable diff/transfer case dose that vehicle then become 4WD when locked?

If the center diff/TC is locked providing 50/50 power split to F&R axles, I'd call that 4wd mode. Several AWD vehicles have this capability, although often electronically limited to 1st gear. We had an '05 Acura MDX that had this feature (VTM4 lock I think it was called), but it's most certainly an AWD vehicle under normal conditions.

4H/4L is a position on the transfer case that affects only the transfer case gearing in use, not related to what the center diff is currently doing, and not an indication of AWD vs. 4wd/4x4.

4wd/4x4 means 50/50 power split between front and rear axles to me, if you want to debate this definition then let me know, but I think it's pretty widely accepted.

So you'd say a GX running in 4L unlocked is in AWD mode? Or AWD low?

Ya, as far as the driveline is concerned it's in AWD mode with the TC in low range. TC gearing has no effect on where power is being directed.

What I'm hearing is the difference between 4WD and AWD (in your opinion) is wether or not the front and rear drive shafts are locked together and spinning at the same speed?

Yes, if you can get a truck stuck with only one tire spinning, it's not in 4wd mode.

I'll again point out that the GX has some fancy electronic aids that muddy the water a bit (e-LSD center diff when unlocked, ATRAC), but that doesn't change what's going on behind the curtain.

So shouldn't a vehicle's drive train be defined by its maximum potential rather than the minimum? For example many AWD Subaru vehicles lack diff locks and never have the potential for anything beyond AWD so call it AWD. In contrast the GX has potential to operate as a 4X4 so call it Four Wheel Drive?

The claim "Full Time 4wd" seems, on its face, to claim that the vehicle is always in 4wd, which it's not, although it is capable of same. You're again talking about marketing terms, and I'm talking about what is actually going on under the vehicle.

The Audi Quattro system uses essentially the exact same center diff as the GX470, and it's widely accepted as an AWD system, not 4wd.

My opinion is if it's got a selectable transfer case(high or low) it's 4WD. If not and all wheels still have potential for power it's AWD.

By your logic calling the GX AWD because that's how it operates under normal driving conditions, I should be calling my sequoia 2WD because that's the way it normally operates. It is an 06` 4WD.