Subaru AWD Testing

[b5thomas7]

very impressive; I'm buying a WRX soon

[1tube2u3]

I recently bought a subaru forester and didn't know how good of a vehicle I had until I started watching these roller test videos...you guys that don't own a subaru and only have negative comments about them are just jealous that you don't own one and don't like the fact that the car you have has a crappy FWD or AWD compared to the subaru...

[popra007]

That wasnt an onorable climbing for that Subaru, and no words obout the other attempts of AWD cars.....if u want to see a car that will realy take the 1 wheel grip test, than test any Merceds G-wagon with all differentials locked :P

[dj7291993]

@popra007 Try driving the locked diffs on pavement. If you want your car to dominate on low-friction surfaces, then weld your diffs, good luck with that on pavement. Subaru has spent a lot of time making sure their off-road awd system still works great on pavement. Also, check your price points.

[donkeytits1]

Also traverse engine mounting does not induce torque steer - as long as the drive shafts are of equal lengths and thickness.

Also, these systems do not have all this proprietary secrecy surrounding them, all you need to do is dismantle them or look at the parts FICHE to understand whats going on. The only difficult part is working out the exact behavior of the electronic controls.How they work mechanically, and the normal torque distribution (with out traction control intervention) is easy

[donkeytits1]

Cool objective test and a good way to compare the cars but cometary is full of shit.

* Torque steer is a real phenomenon and is caused by unequal drive shaft lengths. It is only experienced however when a very large torque is applied to the front wheels, such as in powerful front wheel drive cars under hash accelleration. In this test both front wheels are on rollers so it is only possible to apply negligable torque to the front wheels, far less that normal driving. So, no torque steer

[ionsunteu]

would have been nice to se the passat b6 versus the older b5, because the passat b5 had a symmetrical drivetrain layout and a torsen diff

[BlackDotCoffee]

I bought my first Subaru a few months back and a few weeks ago thought about selling,, Wow so many call even a bidding war, But after trying to find something as reliable I think I'll keep it.. Great little car.

[Jackthesmilingblack]

Very useful experiment.

I live in the Japan Alps up a far, far steeper slope than that ramp. I've used Subrau Turbo Foresters. You must, repeat must be on snow tyres. Temp can drop to -12C so plenty of snow, but the Subaru flies up the slope. Only had problems a couple of times. Ground clearance is also important. In fact going down can also present problems. Sure you can drop the tyre pressure. You might want to try narrow tyres as today's wide tyres are largely a fashion item.

[SpencerS77]

Subaru is great. Audi is too but not everyone can afford them. I get so tired of seeing these tests and people saying "Quattro would beat them all". That may be true, however, Audi isn't even in the same category as these cars, let alone the same price range. We aren't all doctors and/or lawyers....

[dwnrety1]

SUBARU > everything

[Loscaldazar]

OH MY GOD. I SEE PEOPLE HAVING A NORMAL CIVIL DISCUSSION! ON YOUTUBE! i have officially seen everything!

[97stscaddy]

I can vouch that the Highlanders "AWD" system is practically useless in the snow. My neighbors bought one after the dealer convinced them it was great in the snow with 4wd. We live at the bottom of a steep hill that curves twice on the way to the top. They got stuck in the snow. The front wheels spinning, the rears would sit their like bricks. Then for about 2 seconds the rear wheels would kick in and spin, it would go up the hill about 6 inches then they would stop again.

[SparkDischarge]

@97stscaddy Toyota removed the viscous from the center differential. MF2AV to just MF2A.

I think it started when the 3.3 liter V6 & 5 speed automatic replaced 3.0 V6 & 4 speed auto.

The should leave the hardware traction control on.

[goglesux]

probably a manual override controll could be handy to overcome issues where the computer fails to achieve proper results.

many forestry forwarders employ similar technology.that is offroading for sure, tonns of load, and usualy deep mud. (i work in that industry, 30cm+ deep mud is considered normal condition.)My personal experience and other experience i know is allso that mechanical diffs, mechanical links with gears are just sources of problems for serious offroad.

[goglesux]

in a hydraulic system there would be no gears to lock int he diff.

infact, there would be no diff at all.

distribution of engine power would be controlled with valves by the computer.

it could offer things that no mechanical solution could.

example would be setting wheels speed relative to eatch other depending on corner radius.(for race car)

the other advantages would be self explaining at serious offroading.

better clearence to start at,and zero transition (dis)engaging of drive locking.

[zzsql]

I actually decided against a Honda SR-V because of this video, lol.

Are they leaving anything out that would have otherwise made those vehicles perform better? I'm no expert on vehicle mechanics or design engineering.

[shizzel122]

im proud to own a Subaru wrx

[goglesux]

hydraulic drive would offer somethng close to a transmission that has nearly infinate number of gears, and a clutch that can not be burned.

Computer can take care of sending proper amount of tourqe to every individual wheel like an anti-wheelspin system. It would be like self locking for all 3 diffs. Maybe a bit better, depends how you look at it.

[mardamek1]

@goglesux, never ever. no computer can ever replace a true mechanically locked differential. there are multiple tests out there that prove my point. I'm not "anti-technology" or against computers, but the reason I say that is in most situations what the computer "thinks" to be right may not actually be right. this is due to there being many factors contributing to the traction of a car, where a computer analyzes data through only a handful of them...

[niceboy60]

There is allot of tall and fake AWD vehicles out there

Well done Subaru

[goglesux]

4wd should be a basic thing for all cars.

and clutch, and diff along whit gearbox should be elliminated.

--> hydraulic drive has less losses.

and computer could ABSOLUTE controll tourqe of all wheels.

would be the better.

[SkillzUnknown]

@goglesux

getting rid of the clutch aka automating the transmission to some degree gives the driver LESS control in bad weather situations as u cant control the engine as precisely....of course experience and skill is a factor....

[mardamek1]

@goglesux, I disagree with you. in most cases, even if the computer calculates correctly and forces the open differential to act as a locked one, it fails to maintain that fully locked setting due to overload on the differential - in other words, it fails to keep the differential locked, or the gears keep grinding and wear out. computers are nice in average situations, but during serious off-roading or heavy snow, when there is a chance for a vehicle to stop, mechanical locks are irreplaceable.

[goglesux]

@mardamek1

hydraulic drive system uses no gears at all. diff . lock is achieved with valves. --> therefore your statement is irrevelant for true hydraulic drive. actualy it would be an improvement, as there are no gears that you would/could overload, and therefore allso no chanse of grinding gears.

[donkeytits1]

@goglesux

A hydraulic drive system may be a cool idea but I can think of many reasons why it is not used.

*It would be horribly inefficient (The main reason why standard autos are less efficient than manuals is due to the torque converter, a fluid coupling that has fluid frictional losses)

* It would be prone to leaks and a leak would seriously effect drivavbility

* It would be a hanous system to bleed or perform fluid changes

* It would be expensive - Hydraulic stuff isnt cheap

[goglesux]

@donkeytits1

actualy a hydraulic drive would LACK any kind of clutch, or gears.

so supposedly it would only have the loss of hydraulic pump, and hydraulic motor.

if both are properly sized they preform around 90% efficient.

not to mention it could with cariable geometry allways keep the engine load to optimum economy -or performance-, same for engine revs.

And probably it would be lighter than the bulky trany and clutch, and diffs.

i do agree it would have its costs.

[impreza127]

Subaru<33

[sampwell819]

today 80% of awd/4x4 can do this.

and the first car with capability to transfer all power to 1 wheel was the grand cherokee sorry subby fan ;)

[HONDAxACURA]

Do one with Acura's SH-AWD/

[rramkhal]

Booya! Subaru rocks!

[motion2000]

Well lets see.. you can hear an ebrake being engaged, or partly engaged at 1 min 22 seconds.. on the crv.. Then you can clearly see the driver either hit the brake or let of hard at 1:26 1:28 when the crv almost makes it over the lip or bump that they have the reer wheels pressed up agaisnt.

[chatelch]

@motion2000 why would the volks work you can see it try to climb and not suceed... to have work with both the crv suck ass compare to all other awd

[MakoIketani]

@motion2000 That's not an e-brake. That is the rattling of the ramp as the CRV drives onto it.

[motion2000]

Is it just me, or does that sound like an e brake at 1 22 ?

[ReubenHorsley]

Man id love to see my legacy on this test. 1998 Manual trans, no electronic controls, cable throttle. Just pure limited slip diffs, that's all.

[FireBall14678]

I have a 1988 Subaru Justy 4WD and even that shows how good Subaru's 4WD system works even in 1988!

[impreza127]

Legacy Spec.B 2008 Is mines =) Love it

As well as my old 06 Aspen White Stage 2 Cobb Impreza WRX that I sold to a family member.

Subaru<33

[maxou5757]

I want to see that Subaru against the new Volkswagen Tiguan !

[knockoutmaniac]

Im a proud subaru owner

[dn157523]

it looks to me like they just jacked the E brake on the other vehicles to make them appear as if they fail the test but idc im a lifelong subu owner and my cars rapes

[mrwashur1991]

eh...they moved some but it seems like they just dont output enough power to the rear...the ebrakes on those newer cars should not budge at all

[chatelch]

@dn157523 ... but still de passat goes up.... the only real awd is subaru and audi/vw

[dmonkfunk]

Propaganda, I own a subaru, but worked for honda, the awd systems were awesome in both cars. Something is fishy about this video. Who is paying for these tests to be performed?

[juamiso]

...good electronic traction control, any car 4WD should be able to go up that hill. If they cannot, is because the traction control is not braking enough the slipping wheel.

The STI doesn't even need the traction control to act to go up, since it has limited slip differentials in both axles, and an electronically controlled in the center (total 3).

3.The symmetrical all wheel drive is a "nice to have" but does not make the car go up where others dont. It is false to afirm that.

[juamiso]

I am driveline engineer and some stuff that has been here said is wrong. First, I do not want to take away some of the 4WD merits from Subaru (I own myself an 08'STI). But I have to say some points to this video:

1. As lucaswhite12 wrote, the point why some cars do not go up in this test, is because they do not have a fully lockable center diferential (when one axle is on ice) and do not have a limited slip differential (when only one wheel is on traction).

2. With a good electronic traction..

[blackberrygary]

Did u notice all the vehicles execpt when subaru was on ramp..the dude in blue in top left is over by machine!!!!

[akabane1984]

Subaru is #1 in AWD. 'Nuff said.

[Matty231]

It is really obvious Subaru is the ultimate 4wd machine.

[inurik]

they should've brought an A4 with a quattro. The daddy of all AWD systems, it would've pwned the subaru or atleast equaled it.

[getalife04]

No it wouldn't of. I saw Audi in the same kind of test and it failed as well.

[7676767676767676]

no. no it wont. fail

[lucaswhite12]

just a bunch of propaganda... sorry but there a lot of information they're not giving in this clip, just to make the competition look bad.

the key words that are missing from this clip are "lockable center differential" and "limited slip differential". search wikipedia

[getalife04]

I have an 03 WRX and I can certainly vouch for them with traction control it is absolutely amazing. The thing to remember though that this system ultimately is only as good as the driver beind the wheel. With careful driving this is the BEST car company in the world for safety in collisions and traction control.

[kpszar]

I love how the car manufacturers claim all these features and yet failed to prove it. I guess it's ways to falsely compete with others which is false advertising in a way. Subaru's are only 4WD and had many years in experiencing it in WRC.

[slac8200]

Wow. It makes you wonder what 4wd means after all?

[otterlakerules]

a FWD and can barely move their rear tires

[inurik]

OMG that's amazing. Now I have newfound respect for Subarus

But look how pathetic other cars are like Highlander and CRV what's the point of having 4wd that doesn't work? You might as well get a 2wd version and not haul around extra weight with those cars.

[Flipster1325]

well actually i have a crv and my 4wd seems to do good enough in deep snow. the way i think of it is ~all the help counts~ my crv even over steers around turns in the snow. the point is hauling around that extra weight is better than breaking ur back shoveling snow =)

[Mrwillers]

Sick! Does the 08 sti behave the the same way?

[genebf88]

Of Course for all Subarus!

[getalife04]

Yes ALL of the subarus have the symetrical AWD. All of them get incredible traction in slippery conditions.

[berndawg123]

freakin amazing. Just another reason why Subaru kicks the competitors' asses

[bigneen004]

This video makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.

[marxlien]

good video

subaru la lleva