Let me start by saying I don’t currently own a RHO, but I spent some time trying to understand this as I’m planning to purchase a RHO and NO 2WD ability was surprising to me. When I look at how the auto4wd in the RHO works, it’s 100% an AWD system and it’s very similar to BMW xdrive. When in auto4WD, wet clutches in the TC are controlled electronically to vary the amount of torque being sent to the front wheels (literally the same system as BMW). He said in the video during normal driving it is very close to 0 and during wheel spin events it will be up to XX% depending on which driver mode you are in. I don’t understand how anyone could argue that it’s not AWD when driving in that mode. Maybe I’m missing something
AWD = the vehicle sends torque to all 4 wheels without your input. The system controls sending the torque and various systems like torque vectoring accomplish this through equipment like the wet clutches you mention.
4WD = you control which tires are engaged and where the torque is split and how much power you need through different gear sets in the two-speed transfer case.
In an off-road situation, the AWD system will spin the tires looking for traction and try to get itself out of trouble. In a 4WD system, you can control the torque and drive yourself out of the problem. You can also add features like locking rear differential, a true locking diff, not the electronic AWD equivalent, to really command the torque to climb out of a situation.
I've driven both a unibody SUV and a truck in a similar off-road situation. It is a completely different experience even with the best AWD system on the planet. The AWD system will spin the tires looking for traction on hills. The 4WD system won't.
Now that's also a by-product of the beefier off-road tires found on trucks, as well as the heavier weight of trucks versus SUVs. It is all those factors combined make a big difference. You can't just argue AWD vs 4WD without taking all the factors into consideration.
The drive modes help assist the driver by presetting the truck for different scenarios. It is a driving aid. You still have to do the driving and you still have manual control over the 4WD system as needed. Sure, if you think turning on a drive mode will magically make you a rock-crawling expert, be my guest. I'm sure somebody would love to film that and get it on camera. A lot of Cybertruck owners learned that lesson.
No 2WD ability shouldn't be surprising IMO. It is a purpose-built truck.
Ram has had an auto-4wd setup going back at least a decade if not longer. People want to say it causes extra wear or tear or destroys MPG. Ok. It's been a decade or longer and you rarely see people getting new transfer cases for one. For two, it is on 35" tires with a lifted suspension. Pretty sure that does a lot more to "destroy" MPG than the full-time 4WD. Besides, if you are concerned about MPG with the RHO, you are shopping for the wrong truck.
moparinsiders.com
I went down the research rabbit hole because some friends were talking about how dumb it was that it didn't have 2WD. On the surface I agreed, but then when I looked at my current vehicle, BMW x5d tuned with 500+ ft lb torque that uses pretty much the exact same system I realized there is no issue. I just found it funny how people were so defensive about calling it AWD when operationally it's exactly like AWD, when it's operated in Auto4WD. To me it's potato/pototo, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something in the functionality that would differentiate them.
