As one Subaru Crosstrek owner recently learned the hard way, it bears repeating that all-wheel drive is not the same as four-wheel drive. A Subie owner posted a warning letter they received a month after driving on Colorado River Overlook Road in Canyonlands National Park to the r/NationalPark subreddit. The letter notes that this particular road is restricted to 4WD vehicles only, and the Crosstrek is equipped with AWD, not 4WD. It also warns that they may face serious consequences if they’re caught taking an AWD car on a 4WD-only trail again.
Clearance, tires, and open diffs are the big 3.
Most awd vehicles use torque sensors to brake the wheel that has no traction to push power to wheels that do. It doesn’t always work and most awd systems are clutch based so there’s slippage.
More of the basic 4wd vehicles these days come with electric lockers, more power, and better clearance. They still have road tires though so there’s room for improvement there.
I will say, most people that don’t do this stuff on a semi decent basis have ZERO idea on how to actually wheel. You can get pretty far in a base model but even the cheapest new bronco or wrangler are better equipped to deal with actual wheeling than a Subaru.
Driving Sports TV on YouTube shows how most of the vehicles work in light off-roading, and spoiler, most are terrible.
Tires are well and truly goofy. Black magic engineering. The things you could do in an astrovan with the right tires VS a wrangler with the wrong tires just doesn’t seem right.
Tires are just incredibly use specific, Usain Bolt would do terribly in a sprint with bowling shoes, and would hurt himself bowling in running shoes. It doesn’t matter what you drive if you’ve got the wrong shoes for the drive.
A truly skilled driver/rider might be able to pick a good line, but most of that skill will show when they go “nah. Ain’t doing it”.
Signed - an ADV rider who’s tires are and will forever be a compromise between dirt and tarmac performance.
Much obliged!