Switching from Two Wheel Drive to All Wheel Drive, what are the differences?

I would like the thoughts of those who went from two wheel drive to all wheel drive.
I would like to save my feed back until later to see if my experiences line up with
or are close to everyone else who made the switch.
I went from a 2017 two wheel drive to a 2020 AWD.
Thanks
 
I didn’t notice much difference on road. I only feel a difference doing soft off-roading on inclines. You can feel the car being pushed more confidently from the rear rather than the front wheels pulling. This is going from my ‘13 CX-5 FWD to my old ‘19 RAV4 gas AWD and now my ‘21 RAV4 hybrid AWD.

I only notice a difference on roads when you give it the beans at low speeds. My mother in laws ‘18 CX-5 FWD handles just fine on our sometimes hilly north Alabama roads. AWD isn’t worth it to me if you’re not going off-road or you don’t deal with snow. We rarely get snow and if we do, it’s gone after a day.
 
Worse gas mileage. If you're not in the snow belt and don't go off-roading, then nothing else
 
I notice a very positive difference when accelerating around a corner. I can feel the power shifting to the rear and you don't need to be accelerating very hard at all. Then there is taking off from a stop light in the rain. You go and FDW spin tires. My 2021 AWD get about 0.6 mpg less than my FWD.
 
I didn’t notice much difference on road. I only feel a difference doing soft off-roading on inclines. You can feel the car being pushed more confidently from the rear rather than the front wheels pulling. This is going from my ‘13 CX-5 FWD to my old ‘19 RAV4 gas AWD and now my ‘21 RAV4 hybrid AWD.

I only notice a difference on roads when you give it the beans at low speeds. My mother in laws ‘18 CX-5 FWD handles just fine on our sometimes hilly north Alabama roads. AWD isn’t worth it to me if you’re not going off-road or you don’t deal with snow. We rarely get snow and if we do, it’s gone after a day.
We occasionally get snow where I am
 
I notice a very positive difference when accelerating around a corner. I can feel the power shifting to the rear and you don't need to be accelerating very hard at all. Then there is taking off from a stop light in the rain. You go and FDW spin tires. My 2021 AWD get about 0.6 mpg less than my FWD.
Maybe I’m trying to convince myself. But the handling seems a bit more responsive
this ride a tad bit smoother slightly better acceleration as there is an ever so slight increase in torque and RPM’s. Oh sports mode is considerably improved.
You are about right on the mpg.
 
Maybe I’m trying to convince myself. But the handling seems a bit more responsive
this ride a tad bit smoother slightly better acceleration as there is an ever so slight increase in torque and RPM’s. Oh sports mode is considerably improved.
Most of the item you mentioned, if true, would be a difference of the car as a whole, not the 2wd to AWD switch. Handling dynamics shouldn't be different other than that caused by the extra weight. as the AWD is nearly 100% FWD until called upon (wheel slippage or i-sense activity). Also, if you're experiencing better acceleration, torqu and sport mode, that probably would not be due to the AWD form factor
 
Most of the item you mentioned, if true, would be a difference of the car as a whole, not the 2wd to AWD switch. Handling dynamics shouldn't be different other than that caused by the extra weight. as the AWD is nearly 100% FWD until called upon (wheel slippage or i-sense activity). Also, if you're experiencing better acceleration, torqu and sport mode, that probably would not be due to the AWD form factor
Better acceleration slightly overall and noticeably in sport.
I do like the adaptive cruise control.
I’m glad ya’ll aren’t sugar coating it. I’m kinda kicking myself for doing it.
Though I know partly why I did it.
 
I will say on the hwy going a lot more downhill and when I got to the mostly flat back roads
going 60/55 mph I had that bad boy up to a 39mpg average.
Just going from my 2017 and 2020 experience press the info button til the current mph shows up.
That helps with the gas mileage, I have an experiment I’m going to do and that’s resetting the keep a live memory
 
Keep in mind that sport mode doesn't offer better acceleration, per se. Well, it does, but not because of any special programming. You're cruising in a lower gear, hence higher RPM's, so when you mash the pedal you're already in the power band. It would be identical if you put it in manual mode and had it in 4th gear on the highway (or 3rd gear cruising at 45 mph, then mashed the pedal - same difference as if you were driving in sport mode
 
Keep in mind that sport mode doesn't offer better acceleration, per se. Well, it does, but not because of any special programming. You're cruising in a lower gear, hence higher RPM's, so when you mash the pedal you're already in the power band. It would be identical if you put it in manual mode and had it in 4th gear on the highway (or 3rd gear cruising at 45 mph, then mashed the pedal - same difference as if you were driving in sport mode
Thanks…..
I love manual mode simple new fun.
Ahhhh well is that where the slightly xtra torque and rpm’s come in.
But xtra weight.
 

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Keep in mind that if your talking about a new or late model AWD, it has been tweeked and it now includes a trail mode for particularly difficult situations (within the scope of a soft roader). Some interesting comments above about how much the rear wheels come into play and that is possibly driven by how little you are aware of it. The drive or prop shaft to the rear axle is constantly hard connected to the transmission through a simple transfer box but is connected to the rear axle via an equally simple oil immersed multi plate clutch. That clutch is infinitely variable and controlled by a computer operated solenoid. The computer takes numerous inputs of information to determine when and how much it will intervene and judging by the comments above, it’s a misconception about how much and how often. It’s true that it will quickly back off under straight line light acceleration but in traffic, hard acceleration, poor weather and more spirited driving, that operating solenoid is going like a fiddlers elbow. For instance, the car always sets off from a stand with it fully engaged and think of it being connected to the gas pedal where if you press or poke it you engage the rear axle accordingly. If you throw the car into bends it will use the rear axle to stabilise the car by working in conjunction with the stability control and it’s no coincidence that successful rally cars are always AWD. The attached YouTube clip shows a bit more about the capabilities of the later model tweeks.

 
... slightly better acceleration as there is an ever so slight increase in torque and RPM’s...
There is a little difference from FWD to AWD on the final drive ratio that accounts for what you describe ...

4.325 (FWD), 4.624 (AWD)

The various gear ratios 1-6 are the same in each.

That and 150 lbs weight increase and slightly larger capacity fuel tank.
 
The most usable difference is turning and accelerating. Turning onto a main road from a side street and not worrying about slipping trying to accelerate into the traffic pattern is worth every penny paid for the AWD. That and cutting across lanes on a busy road when there really are limited opportunities makes it so much safer. On a FWD car, once those tires break traction the traction control kicks in and limps the car for way too long. Not a single worry with the AWD CX-5 when it comes to that.
 
I didn't come from a 2WD CX-5, but from a 2WD Mazda3 (manual). Both my cars had the G-vectoring, I noticed that more in the Mazda3 but only because I took it around corners at higher speeds. I was surprised at how well it didn't understeer, even when I kept the pedal mashed down mid-corner.

The most usable difference is turning and accelerating. Turning onto a main road from a side street and not worrying about slipping trying to accelerate into the traffic pattern is worth every penny paid for the AWD. That and cutting across lanes on a busy road when there really are limited opportunities makes it so much safer. On a FWD car, once those tires break traction the traction control kicks in and limps the car for way too long. Not a single worry with the AWD CX-5 when it comes to that.

Totally agree with this. What my FWD Mazda3 didn't have was side-to-side torque vectoring (not that many cars have it either), but it was very evident when you accelerate hard from a stop while turning the wheel (a T-stop for example).

With the Mazda3, there's just unlimited amounts of wheel spin and hops if you floored it at that T-stop. Granted the manual you can dump the clutch and do more silly things than an automatic, but I tried that same T-stop with my AWD CX-5 and it just felt very sure-footed, not too much noticeable wheelspin, although I need to try that when it's raining sometime.

Also, just something as simple as parking on a non-paved grass area (rural house) became an adventure in my Mazda3, especially when it rained. Got stuck a couple times because the grass (and dirt underneath) got too slippery. Had to turn off traction control and give it alot of gas to get the car free. Hence why I've upgraded to an AWD CX-5, which I'm sure won't have that same issue on slippery grass, but I'm anxious to find out how much of an improvement it makes next time it rains.
 
It is true that the traction control has a lot less to do on an AWD than a FWD but when turning out of a side street it depends how tight the turn is for how long. On really tight turns it will back the drive clutch off to prevent the phenomenon of “tight corner braking” where the front and rear diff fight each other. Of course if the lock is eased into the turn it will engage the clutch accordingly. It’s got progressively smarter over the years thanks to Mazda keep tweeking it and there are lots of YouTube videos showing cars with a front and rear tyre airborne and still getting free once the system grips those spinning wheels. Quite impressive really.
 
The most usable difference is turning and accelerating. Turning onto a main road from a side street and not worrying about slipping trying to accelerate into the traffic pattern is worth every penny paid for the AWD. That and cutting across lanes on a busy road when there really are limited opportunities makes it so much safer. On a FWD car, once those tires break traction the traction control kicks in and limps the car for way too long. Not a single worry with the AWD CX-5 when it comes to that.
Yup, my favorite. Right turns, whether dry or wet, no spinning tires during hard accelerations
 
I will say on the hwy going a lot more downhill and when I got to the mostly flat back roads
going 60/55 mph I had that bad boy up to a 39mpg average.
Just going from my 2017 and 2020 experience press the info button til the current mph shows up.
That helps with the gas mileage, I have an experiment I’m going to do and that’s resetting the keep a live memory
Wait you can get the mph on your gauge cluster? Or did you mean mpg?
 
Wait you can get the mph on your gauge cluster? Or did you mean mpg?
There should be an average mph and mpg reading. My ‘13 does anyway. I’m so rural my average mph is about 50 lol
 
There should be an average mph and mpg reading. My ‘13 does anyway. I’m so rural my average mph is about 50 lol

I'd be interested to see what the instant MPG is cruising at 60-65 mph, between the FWD with no Cylinder Deactivation vs the AWD with CD (my car). I'd assume the AWD at that point is just FWD (steady cruising with little engine load), I'm just not sure when & how often the clutch disengages the rear wheels. Especially if the highway is slightly inclined or curved, there's too many variables to know. I don't even need to know the percentage of power, I just wish Mazda gave you an on-screen graphic to at least let you know when the rear wheels are being engaged.

My car's instant MPG gauge is pegged at 50-60 MPG when cruising between 60-70 mph on a flat road. During this time, 2 cylinders are shown to be "off" and I'd assume it's basically FWD at this point.
 
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