Do I really need 4WD?

So I keep thinking that I want a truck the next time around. But do I need 4WD? I live in a more rural town than the last one I lived in and in the winter the worst things are snow drifts, but that's it. I don't go off road and I'm not a farmer so I wouldn't really need it "just in case". All I want is the ability to haul stuff and be able to tow. Is there really a need for 4WD if you're towing? I would think not.

I like the GMT900 GMC Sierras and I know they can easily be found with the trailering package with the G80 LSD out back. Honestly I think that's all I really need.

Nope. The only towing I can think of where 4wd is a real benefit is boat towing when you're going up and down potentially slippery boat ramps.
Now there will be a bunch of people chiming in talking about that one time when 4wd saved their bacon, but if you don't have it then you just pay more attention to things like parking in soggy fields when towing something.

4wd really only gets you more stuck, further off the road.

When I owned a 4wd, I rarely engaged the front diff. Put plenty of weight above the rear axle, buy good seasonal tires and you'll be just fine.

Ask yourself two questions:

1. How many times have I been rendered immobile due to snow since I moved here?

2. What are my towing objectives: do I want to pull boats up boat ramps, equipment out of muddy fields, or just a race car on paved roads and a gravel paddock?

RWD trucks are easier to work on, and easier to load (lower bed height in most cases), but think through your use before making a decision.

Boat ramps and constant inclement weather are about the only reason to need 4WD. Here in Atlanta, everyone gets 4WD trucks and Jeeps so they can say they have a 4WD truck or Jeep. Having 4WD actually hurts the towing capacity of trucks because of weight, although only slightly.

I will eventually get another tow vehicle. My only decisions are truck or van and what brand, not interested at all in 4WD because I don't have a boat, go offroad, or live where it snows.

When I was towing my ice racer with my KJ , one time I came up off the lake and went to shift out of 4wd. Surprise, I wasn't in 4wd. Had some good snow tires.

You will usually get the cost of 4WD back upon resale, they are valued higher.

i'll take a 4X4 any day... never know when it will be useful. also, it's all but impossible to find a full size truck around here that isn't 4 wheel drive- new or used.

regarding loading heights: man up, sissy boy. a 4X4 half ton only sits a few inches higher than an equivalent 2 wd truck. the open tailgate on my trusty old beater GMC 3/4 ton is higher than my waist and i've never had any problems loading stuff into it, and it is kind of fun trying to climb up there sometimes..

If an occasional snow drift is the least obstacle a 2WD w/ LSD, AT's and ballast over the rear axle oughtta suffice.

Nine trucks here in PA since '76, after '81 all have been 4WD, not JIC but learned through necessity. One winter I might not need 4WD at all, the next pushing snow w/ the front bumper.

YMMV, do what ya gotta do

Just a note, the new GM trucks sit exactly the same, 4x4 or not. They have since 2007.

2WD will be good 8/10 times just as long as you have weight in the back and good tires.

In reply to mazdeuce:

I had noticed this recently (why I said, "in most cases" above.) Is it a case of the 2WD trucks being lifted to look more aggressive, the 4WD trucks being lowered to be more "car-like," or a compromise between the two?

They're the same trucks with the same suspension. You can look at the 2wd trucks and see right where all the 4wd bits fit. It was simple cost savings on GM's part. Instead of building two slightly different trucks, just build one truck and put slightly different pieces on it. I really like my 2007. It's been a good, if slightly soulless, truck.

For me, being in Canada, we have winter road conditions 6-7 months of the year, IE: it could snow a foot at anytime and I tow through the mountains so things can go to E36 M3 in a hurry.

If you live a life of flatland, paved/gravel paddocks, and either city driving or highway driving (no gravel roads), then you really don't need 4x4.

Myself? If I am using the truck, there is a good chance 4x4 will be engaged on the trip at some point or another (the life of a rallyist). It saved my bacon one time in the mountains on a highway where I came around a blind corner and all the retarded drivers were doing a literal 20km/h on a 100km/h highway (completely unnecessarily). If I hadn't been in 4wd due to the inclement weather, it would have been a nasty rear ender, but the 4wd allowed the truck to brake much more aggressively.

mazdeuce wrote: Now there will be a bunch of people chiming in talking about that one time when 4wd saved their bacon, but if you don't have it then you just pay more attention to things like parking in soggy fields when towing something.

Every time I've towed, I've needed 4wd. Trailers sink in mud very easily.

I've been told on this very forum that I'm simply a ham-fisted driver, but I defy a lone pair of road tires to get enough grip to get a trailer moving when it's rim-deep from sitting parked in goop.

JtspellS wrote: 2WD will be good 999/1000 times just as long as you have weight in the back and good tires.

fixed your numbers.

last year was the first year i had 4x4. it was awesome, the one time i used it on the road. i was working, with my trailer, in a snowstorm, and my tires were crap. the 4x4 helped me get moving, and gave engine braking to all 4 wheels to stop me.

this year i have a 4x4 avalanche with a G80 rear. with the locker i doubt it will see 4x4 mode much. i have used it to pull trailers out of the mud, and 4lo does wonders when you chain to something big and heavy that you want pulled sideways. i wanted a 4x4 because we do have a boat, and the last thing i want to do is be slipping on algae on a boat ramp and sliding back into the water.

however, make note that i have also plowed snow with a 2wd dually. it's more how you drive it than what you are driving

HiTempguy wrote: If I hadn't been in 4wd due to the inclement weather, it would have been a nasty rear ender, but the 4wd allowed the truck to brake much more aggressively.

Hmmm...I've heard this. It's a popular thought. But it doesn't really make sense to me. Maybe without ABS, but with ABS this really doesn't compute. Please explain this to me. I know I've experimented with my own truck on ice. With a full ABS engagement, it makes no consistent repeatable difference that I could discern whether the t-case was in 4x2 or 4x4 mode.

I lived in Saskatchewan for the first 32 years or so of my life. I know a bit about winter driving. In my observation it was only when pickups became popular as DD for city folk a number of years back that 4x4 became a "must have". Before that, a great number (if not the majority) of pickups on rural roads and farms were 2wd. The whole time I grew up, my dad drove 2wd Chevy trucks and vans and our family car was usually some sort of full-size RWD Olds.

I'm actually thinking my next truck might be 2wd. I've used my 4x4 button on occasion in my truck, but I definitely don't need it for my usage. Heavy off-roading would necessitate it of course, but that's what I use the quad for, not my truck. YMMV IMHO etc etc.

like everyone has said .. it depends on your situation .. if you don't need it any more than once or twice a winter ... you probably can get by with weight in the bed, good tires, and a LSD ...

I would love to be able to get by with a 2wd ... but to get up my driveway, the only way it will happen (when I'm towing) is with 4wd... and when it does snow, again I'll need 4wd for the driveway .. and maybe for the hills around here that don't get plowed ... though judicious trip planning could possibly get around that

I went to school in Rochester New York. Snow central.

I alsways drove 4wd trucks during my time there. During that time I would use the 4wd more for fun than real need. A few times it came in handy pulling out others and when I had bald tires but it was not a necessity. I now live on a big hill in connecticut without a 4wd or awd vehicle. Not needed. Would have been helpful twice last year but not needed. My old 2wd civic was a bad ass snow car with skinny all seasons.

4wd vs 2wd, auto vs manual, ford vs chevy. All questions without "one size fits all" answers. However, I got stuck in the muddy pastures of enough horse shows that I will never own another 2wd tow rig. But it sounds like you would be ok with it for your situation.

if I could redesign my landrover, I would add a "2wd high" option to the regular low, high, and neutral settings.

I would add a 5 speed too, but that is a different matter

Op, how often have you been stuck, and going "arg! I need four wheel drive!"? If it's something you never utter, you don't need it. If you find yourself regularly stuck and needing someone else's 4x4 truck, then you need 4wd.

If you are asking this question You already know the answer to it.

No.

logdog wrote: 4wd vs 2wd, auto vs manual, ford vs chevy. All questions without "one size fits all" answers. However, I got stuck in the muddy pastures of enough horse shows that I will never own another 2wd tow rig. But it sounds like you would be ok with it for your situation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I4xBCq_cpw

wbjones wrote:

logdog wrote: 4wd vs 2wd, auto vs manual, ford vs chevy. All questions without "one size fits all" answers. However, I got stuck in the muddy pastures of enough horse shows that I will never own another 2wd tow rig. But it sounds like you would be ok with it for your situation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I4xBCq_cpw

This is the age of knowing ya oughta know ya have another driven axle up front there cowboy.