question about part-time 4WD on Trail Edition

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Fareastplaza

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Almost bought 4runner trail edition. Dealer told me this is part-time 4WD, means you can only switch to 4WD manually when you do need it. And he also told me the 4WD mode on trail edition cannot be always on, especially on dry pavement. I am living in center of canada, any my most situation is snow and ice.
Does it mean trail edition not fit for my requirement? How can I drive a car on ice with RWD and manually switch to 4WD when slipery? Why 4runner design such kind of 4WD seems be used for seroius OFF road and you have to predict the road situation in advance?

I hope my understand is wrong. I really like the trail edition.
 
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You are absolutely correct!
Your choice is: Limited Trim with FULL TIME 4WD or pick Highlander with FULL TIME 4WD ON DEMAND.
At the same time, traction and skid control would get the job done on any drive.
 
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I have a trail and live in mid Michigan. I rarely have to run in 4 wheel. The last big storm I did but that made a 34 mile drive take 2 hours. Even with ice and good tire I am fine in 2 wheel when most ppl are having issues.
 
Fareastplaza said:
Almost bought 4runner trail edition. Dealer told me this is part-time 4WD, means you can only switch to 4WD manually when you do need it. And he also told me the 4WD mode on trail edition cannot be always on, especially on dry pavement. I am living in center of canada, any my most situation is snow and ice.
Does it mean trail edition not fit for my requirement? How can I drive a car on ice with RWD and manually switch to 4WD when slipery? Why 4runner design such kind of 4WD seems be used for seroius OFF road and you have to predict the road situation in advance?

I hope my understand is wrong. I really like the trail edition.
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You can always buy the Limited 4Runner. It has fulltime 4wd. It costs more, but at least it has what you want in the 4wd system.
 
You cannot use the trail 4wd system on dry pavement. It will damage the differentials.

You don't need 4wd to drive in a Canadian winter. I drove an Honda s2000 for 3 Canadian winters and did just fine.

All you need is a set of nice snow tires and a steady head on your shoulders. The 4wd system is for deep snow or very slippery conditions.

That said, if you want full time 4wd, buy the Limited.
 
There was some big threads on this forum about part-time 4wd, you can search for it and find out all the details. In short - it's not recommended to do sharp turns on dry pavement in 4wd mode. it's not going to instantly kill transfer case, but it's better to avoid it. I have SR5 (same part time 4wd as in Trail) and I turn on 4wd when road becomes slippery and keep it on unless pavement becomes dry for good. I wish that SR5 had Full time 4x4 mode, but I found that I can live with part-time with no problems. As other said Limited Edition has Full time 4wd, but in Canada it's priced too high on my opinion.
 
You can use the part time system on dry pavement. Just don't use it while turning. It is best to use it while conditions are slippery though, such as rain, snow, and ice.

There is not a situation where you would need 4wd and could not use the part time system. I really don't understand why people make such a big deal over it.
 
03_4x4Runner said:
I think a lot of people just do not know what they are missing. This is 2011 not 1980.
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Or some of us don't need an AWD security blanket when a dusting of snow comes through.

4WD only gets you going. It does not help you turn better; it does not help you stop better. When there is a decent amount of snow on the ground, I'll run 4WD. Otherwise, I drive it in 2WD and let the traction control and stability control do their jobs. It isn't rocket science.

I had way more near misses in my full time 4WD Subarus that I did in my FWD Golf GTI. Do you know why? I was a stupid kid that ran all seasons in the snow because I thought AWD made me invincible. Same goes for the risks I took on the road. I thought that AWD would save my ass. The only thing that bothered me about the GTI in snow was getting moving, which was mostly fixed with snow tires, and it couldn't pull itself out of trouble because of the low ground clearance.
 
Over the years I have had a few accidents due to patches of snow or "black" ice on roadways. During each of these accidents, I was driving part-time 4wd trucks or a front drive car. For piece of mind I chose the Limited with it's full-time 4wd system. I can definitely feel the 4wd system "pulling" the vehicle around turns and I am sure that this system is at least marginally better than a rear wheel drive system (you can't always use 4wd in a part-time system). I'll never know if a full-time 4wd system would have prevented any of these accidents from occurring, but knowing that I have this full-time system was worth the added expense to me.
 
Ironically, the only time I ever got stuck in the snow was when I was driving a full time 4wd 4Runner. I was in about 14 inches of heavy wet snow. I had to stop at an intersection, the 4runner settled in a bit and each of the tires was cradled in an ice snow mixture. Couldn't go forward or reverse. That taught me a lesson - it's the tires first and foremost. Buying tires that perform well in snow are more important than part time vs full time 4wd. Hope you got a good set on your limited!

I have also owned a number of part time 4wd vehicles. If you are someone like my wife who doesn't want to mess with anything and just have it work, get the limited. I am not that person. I prefer to engage the 4wd when needed. I keep a close eye on road conditions and when I shift it into 4wd the TE transforms into a different vehicle. For me it's like I have a car with two personalities, and I enjoy each.


SOMDRUNNER1 said:
Over the years I have had a few accidents due to patches of snow or "black" ice on roadways. During each of these accidents, I was driving part-time 4wd trucks or a front drive car. For piece of mind I chose the Limited with it's full-time 4wd system. I can definitely feel the 4wd system "pulling" the vehicle around turns and I am sure that this system is at least marginally better than a rear wheel drive system (you can't always use 4wd in a part-time system). I'll never know if a full-time 4wd system would have prevented any of these accidents from occurring, but knowing that I have this full-time system was worth the added expense to me.
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I think we must be related! My experiences mirror yours.

Quentin said:
Or some of us don't need an AWD security blanket when a dusting of snow comes through.

4WD only gets you going. It does not help you turn better; it does not help you stop better. When there is a decent amount of snow on the ground, I'll run 4WD. Otherwise, I drive it in 2WD and let the traction control and stability control do their jobs. It isn't rocket science.

I had way more near misses in my full time 4WD Subarus that I did in my FWD Golf GTI. Do you know why? I was a stupid kid that ran all seasons in the snow because I thought AWD made me invincible. Same goes for the risks I took on the road. I thought that AWD would save my ass. The only thing that bothered me about the GTI in snow was getting moving, which was mostly fixed with snow tires, and it couldn't pull itself out of trouble because of the low ground clearance.
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Clemsonfan15 said:
You can use the part time system on dry pavement. Just don't use it while turning. It is best to use it while conditions are slippery though, such as rain, snow, and ice.

.
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I don't know where you live, but around here the roads aren't all straight. We do have these things called turns. ;)
 
JustLeft said:
I prefer to engage the 4wd when needed. I keep a close eye on road conditions and when I shift it into 4wd the TE transforms into a different vehicle. For me it's like I have a car with two personalities, and I enjoy each.



.
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I prefer the same thing. The difference is that I don't have to keep a close eye on road conditions. If there's even a chance of slippery road surfaces, I just engage the 4wd system and forget it. No need to even think about the roads being slippery or dry because the center differential takes care of all that.

And I still have a vehicle with two personalities, 2wd or 4wd. It's nothing but a win-win situation.
 
And therein is the reason that Toyota makes 3 versions of the 4Runner. My point is that it is a non issue for me, doesn't mean that it isn't an issue for others. Maybe part of it is that I have been driving part time 4wd trucks for 20 years. I drove a full time 4wd for 7 years. For me it is never been an issue. Never had an accident or an issue with part time 4wd that could have been avoided with full time 4wd. I understand that many like the 'set and forget' nature of the full time system. I'm just not one of them.


DocMT said:
I prefer the same thing. The difference is that I don't have to keep a close eye on road conditions. If there's even a chance of slippery road surfaces, I just engage the 4wd system and forget it. No need to even think about the roads being slippery or dry because the center differential takes care of all that.

And I still have a vehicle with two personalities, 2wd or 4wd. It's nothing but a win-win situation.
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DocMT said:
I prefer the same thing. The difference is that I don't have to keep a close eye on road conditions. If there's even a chance of slippery road surfaces, I just engage the 4wd system and forget it. No need to even think about the roads being slippery or dry because the center differential takes care of all that.

And I still have a vehicle with two personalities, 2wd or 4wd. It's nothing but a win-win situation.
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so, i take it you don't have a 5G then?
 
DocMT said:
I prefer the same thing. The difference is that I don't have to keep a close eye on road conditions. If there's even a chance of slippery road surfaces, I just engage the 4wd system and forget it. No need to even think about the roads being slippery or dry because the center differential takes care of all that.

And I still have a vehicle with two personalities, 2wd or 4wd. It's nothing but a win-win situation.
Click to expand...

So, looks like you can stay in 4WD on both slippery and dry pave? Are you sure you are talking about 5th gen 4Runner TE?
 
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