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This is actually pretty amazing to watch.
Both Subaru and Volvo offer AWD on their cars (All Subarus in the US).
And Ford will be using the Volvo system in most of their sedans starting next year (Fusion,Zephyr etc…)
In these 2 wagons, they both claim real advantages in soft off road situations.
Well…
What a difference. The video is not in English, but like they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.
On one of the 2 cars, the real wheels never even engage even though the front ones are desperately spinning into the mud…
Care to guess which one wins?
Click
for the video.
I meant “rear” wheels by the way.
Blogger has some problems (as usual) and I can’t seem to edit my posts….
Volvo sucks.. wow so sucky
it’s amazing.
Why even bother spending the extra money on their AWD.
It seems to perform exactly as the regular FWD car…
I wonder if the Volvo XC 90 SUV would have the same problem. What do you think?
I am not sure if the XC uses the same system. I guess it would…
Hey vince I suggest you learn some German before posting this. The test is between an AWD Subaru and a FWD XC70. The XC70 is sold as a FWD in europe with an AWD option. This test was to demonstrade the difference between AWD and FWD with traction control.
Also, the Volvo from that year does not have the Haldex off-road system which is an electronic AWD mechanism, rather than the more primitive symmetrical AWD that the Subaru has.
Haven’t you ever read the Volvo XC70 Adventures to Prudhoe Bay and Mexico where they take it crazy places and they never get stuck? Independent journalists go on those and vouch for Volvo, so I don’t know what to tell you about what appears to be a FWD car test.
Hey vince I suggest you learn some German before posting this.
It would be a complete waste of time – that was definitely NOT German on the video.
This is NOT German, I know that much.
But you might be right about the FWD Volvo, I do know they sell the XC with FWD in Europe as a base model.
But why wouldn’t they test the 2 Volvo models to show the difference between FWD and AWD???
Why use 2 different brands?
It seems that both cars are actually AWD.
The Volvo system only sends 25% traction to the rear wheels
The Subaru system can do 50/50.
It looks like in this situation, 25% to the rear wheels is useless.
First of all: as I am Austrian, i can tell for 100% that this is NOT german. And 2nd i´ve never heard of a FWD Volvo XC70 (thats not a CrossPolo)
The difference is not the distribution (volvo can do 50-50 too), but rather that subaru has real locks and a machanical system, while Volvo uses the Hadlex (hydraulics,slips finally) system and electrics (ESP) instead of locks (As 99% of all SUVs like Lexus RX, XC 90,BMW X5…)
And these SUVs actually get as far as the Volvo, i saw more or less the same on german TV, where they drove up a ski track with among others a BMW 3 series (RWD and the iX AWD), M-Class, Volvo XC90, Lexus RX and an A6 Quattro, and the Audi (mechanical systen again) was the only one to make it to the top.
So much about SUVs 😉
Well obviously you don’t know what ur talking about because it is FWD!
Wow FWD for teh lose!
I don’t hold much stock in that video – I am thinking that it is rather old (look at XC70 roof rails). They are both older models and chances are the XC70 shown does NOT have the newer (and more advanced) Haldex AWD system (which would make a world of difference). So if the video would compare 2006 models then chances are we wouldn’t be too surprised at the (more realistic) results. Just another example of more web junk floating around.