What’s the Difference Between AWD and 4WD?

When we talk about vehicles that can handle inclement weather or off-road use, many folks turn to cars with all-wheel drive (AWD) or four-wheel drive (4WD, or sometimes 4×4). AWD is a system or mode that can send torque to — you guessed it — all four wheels of a car. It automatically shifts power between the front and rear wheels to maintain traction, and it’s usually adequate for lighter-duty winter driving and light off-pavement use. 4WD usually refers to a heavier-duty system that can direct torque to all four wheels at the same time, and the term is often used to describe such a system or mode that behaves slightly differently than AWD and can handle serious off-roading.

Related: Winter Weather Heading Your Way? Read This Before Heading Out

Over the years, the distinction between AWD and 4WD has become less ironclad as the technology has evolved and people (and automakers) have begun using these terms however they see fit. Look around the internet and you’ll find explanations different from the one you see here, such as if a system has a particular piece of hardware, it’s 4WD, and if it doesn’t, it’s AWD. The best approach for consumers is to focus on what a vehicle and its features can do, not merely what they’re called. To grasp all of this better, it might help to understand what “all-wheel drive” originally meant and how it’s changed.

Do You Have to Turn On AWD?

When early AWD systems came along, most 4WD systems had to be turned on when needed and off again when decent traction was restored. One of AWD’s big pluses for everyday driving was that it did the work for you — so much so that there were no controls at all.

That changed with the increasingly common AWD lock button that evenly divides torque between the front and rear axles (and in some cases, evenly among all four wheels). It is designed for navigating slippery surfaces or uneven terrain where one or more wheels might lose traction, and it ensures that whatever wheels do have traction can keep moving the car. While these buttons are often reserved for higher-trim and off-road-oriented AWD models, they give away the fact that AWD systems can’t always figure out the most efficient way to direct torque to the wheels on their own.

In typical light-duty AWD systems, this button doesn’t lock the front and rear axles together as solidly as an old-school 4WD system does; it merely preactivates the same clutches that would otherwise react once underway and wheels start slipping. However, because it’s done beforehand, the lock is more reliable. It can also help prevent unnecessary overheating of the center differential that might result as its clutches engage and release repeatedly while attempting to achieve the same ends: steady forward progress.

AWD systems didn’t stop at AWD lock when it came to customization, though, and many now have different modes, such as Sport, Snow, Sand and Mud. Some 4WD vehicles (including off-road favorites like the Lexus GX SUV) have adopted these to let drivers fine-tune different systems based on the conditions.

While these modes mainly started out as traction-control settings, they often control a variety of items at once, ranging from the vehicle’s suspension height to the tightness of the steering rack. Some even let you design an “individual” or “custom” mode where you can choose your own settings for each of those components. In the case of your drive wheels, however, the modes can change how AWD and 4WD systems function in handling different kinds of driving situations, directing more or less torque based on how slippery or uneven the system expects the terrain to be. Think of it as a heads-up to your drive wheels so the car doesn’t have to figure out what’s happening on its own.

Does AWD Have a Low Gear Like 4WD?

If you wanted to do some real off-roading in the early years of AWD, what you needed was 4WD because only 4WD had a transfer case with a low gear for hill climbing and rock crawling. Nowadays, those labels are far less reliable. The most notable example is the Dodge Durango, a relative of the fourth-generation Jeep Grand Cherokee. While both offer a choice between two- and four-wheel drive, the Durango is marketed as offering AWD, while the Grand Cherokee calls its available system 4WD. The two offer very similar 4WD systems right down to the transfer case specs and low-range gearing — but they’re marketed in different ways, presumably because the Durango doubles down on on-road performance with variants like the SRT Hellcat while Jeep’s whole brand centers upon its vehicles’ off-road prowess.

Low-range gears — typically denoted as “4-Low” or “4L” — used to be one of the prime differentiators between 4WD and AWD. These gears do what they say on the label: shift into a lower gear ratio to send more torque to the wheels and enable slower-speed crawling, thus making it easier to climb up tricky terrain and navigate off-road obstacles with more precision. However, there are some interesting exceptions. For example, the erstwhile Jeep Patriot compact SUV offered a continuously variable automatic transmission that was marketed as “full-time 4WD” despite having more in common mechanically with lighter-duty AWD systems, yet it offered a lower-ratio Crawl mode that mimicked the 4-Low ratios of its more hardcore brand mates.

Is AWD a System or a Mode?

Perhaps it was part of the no-intervention ethos, but early on, AWD generally represented an exclusive system, not a setting that could be selected among others, such as a 2WD mode. That has changed, as well. The Cadillac XT4 is an example of a recent AWD vehicle that also operates as front-wheel drive (meaning the rear wheels don’t engage even if the front ones slip) if the driver has chosen the Touring drive mode.

AWD has snuck into 4WD vehicles as a setting, too. Some 4WD Fords, such as the F-150, include 4A (for “4WD Auto”) alongside the 4WD’s traditional 4L and 4H (4-High) modes. Whereas 4H and 4L aren’t designed to be used on dry pavement as they lock the truck’s differentials to direct power to each axle, 4A behaves more like an AWD system, sending power to all four wheels electronically instead. Because of this, you can use 4A on the roads for extra traction in slippery conditions without risking damage to the system.

The Only Question That Matters

Shoppers are better off asking not what the drive system is called, but rather what it can do. You know your needs and where you’re likely to drive a vehicle better than anyone else. If the worst condition you will commute in is snowy weather, a less hardcore AWD system is probably adequate, but keep in mind that good winter tires do a lot more than extra drive wheels when it comes to maintaining traction. However, if you want to get into overlanding or off-road use, “4WD” on the spec sheet may be a good place to start since that’s a good sign the vehicle is marketed to, and thus designed for, off-roaders.

You’ll want to consider the features offered by that 4WD or AWD system alongside all of the other things on your wishlist, so it’s best to do your research before you buy — perhaps an AWD Durango is the overlander you’re looking for after all.

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