TRADUCEREA:
Of course: four powered wheels are better on a slippery road than two - no wonder one out of four drivers in Germany would like to have an all-wheel drive vehicle, at least according to a survey conducted in 2003. However, the amount of different 4WD systems doesn't make it easy to make a decision. In order to find out which all-wheel drive is the best under which conditions, the All-Wheel Magazine drew a comparison between the different systems on ice and snow.
Mid-december in Kühtai, an Austrian winter sports resort at more than two thousand meters of altitude. Slippery roads, an icy handling course and steep snow-covered slopes - this is where the different all-wheel drive systems have to proof their capabilities.
It seems convenient that Suzuki, on the occasion of the "Snow Camp", not only provided the infrastructure, but also equipped their all-wheel drive vehicles with four different 4x4 systems. In start position of the AWD comparison two real offroaders: The Jimny with a classical select 4WD system and low gear ratio as well as the Grand Vitara, which, due to its LSD (limited slip differential) and speed reducer, is considered representative of the modern off-road drive technology. Their opponents are the typical all-wheel drive car Swift 4x4 and the SUV SX4. Both of them are equipped with an automatic all-wheel drive system and have no low gear ratio. The essential difference: the simple solution of a viscous coupling clutch for the Swift transfers the propulsion power to the rear axles, while the SX4 uses an "intelligent" system with electronically controlled multi-disk clutch for power distribution between the axles, entering the competition as a typical representative of modern SUV all-wheel drive systems. Consequently the four Suzukis are representing the various 4x4 systems, which are also used in the all-wheel drive vehicles of most other manufacturers.
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