Am I the only one who grits my teeth every time I hear someone espouse the benefits of having four-wheel drive on a vehicle that, for all intents and purposes, was never, ever going to go off road in real life? There is absolutely nothing more annoying to me than listening to someone explain why they decided to buy the four-wheel-drive Kia instead of the two-wheel drive version, and it’s usually the same “it’s safer to have all four wheels driving” argument. Please. Unless you live in snow-and-ice country or live so far out in the desert that you have to cross an arroyo on your way to work, you don’t need four-wheel-drive. Better still, there’s plenty of two-wheel drive cars that can do the job a hell of a lot better. That being said, my first choice for an off-road vehicle wouldn’t normally be a third-gen Camaro, but for this guy, that seems to be nothing more than a technicality. How, exactly, this Camaro ended up in the middle of a rock bed is beyond me and there isn’t a story to go on, but I’d personally like to think that some guy got fed up listening to his buddy brag on about how badass his Jeep was and jumped into his car to show him that even a 5.0 liter Camaro with the open rear end could do a better job. What do you think?
(Image courtesy The Brougham Society/Roland Jarman)
Is that an I-Rock??
That was my line! LOL
I’ve taken my $600 second gen Camaro to places where most $50,000 four-wheel pickups have never been, in the dirt! But, I am a member of the “Let’s see where this road goes” club….
I’ve had that conversation a few times with friends and acquaintances with Subis or CR-Vs, and explaining the center locking diff and how it makes their all wheel drive rig really technically a one-wheel drive rig just doesn’t quite sink in.
Heck, most factory 4x4s are really only driving two wheels at a time anyway.
Awd and 4wd both apply torque to all 4 wheels at once. Non center locking awd will quit moving when 1 wheel losses traction.
The center locking diff (if so equipped) on an awd turns out into a 4×4 when you experience wheel slip. At this point you need to lose traction on 1 wheel of each axle to stop pulling.
But wait, there’s more! With a limited slip, locker, spool etc in the rear axle you need to lose traction on both rear wheels to stop moving.
Unlocked AWD puts even torque to all 4 wheels, but if one wheel is spinning in the sand it doesn’t take much torque to keep spinning , and all the other wheels receive torque equal to that. Then your center diff locks, and both front/rear driveshafts spin at the same speed like a traditional 4×4. Now the front and rear axles receive unequal torque (but each wheel receives the same torque as the other wheel on the same axle [unless you have a locking rear diff, then those wheels can receive unequal torque as well])
third gens are great because there is so much unibody flex to them. I’ve seen coupes where the roof started to tear away from the a pillars
that car got there because of the last flood we had. He is lucky that is all that got moved, it was very close to taking the house with it.
I own a Saab 9-7x and it’s AWD. I have owned rwd cars my entire life before this. The AWD is better in gravel, grass, on the boat ramp, in rain, and at the drag strip. This column is silly.
I was in Newfoundland just after their hurricane two years ago and there were many scenes like that. A 4×4 wouldn’t have got down many of the roads until after the army fixed them, at that point my two wheel drive rental car was plenty adequate.
Seen that car in person in VT after flood my buddy’s camp ground isn’t far from there lol crazy to see the pic online now.