2wd or 4wd

 

A few general observations about the 4x4 on the Qashqai might help you choose. It works well enough. As has been said It has 3 modes - 2WD, AUTO and LOCK.  In 2WD drive the car is essentially FWD until a tyre slips, when that happens the 4WD is engaged and the rear wheels help out, In AUTO mode the car is in 4WD all the time, And attempts to "vector" torque to whatever wheel slips - if none slip then I think it's probably something like a 80/20 split - but that's speculation on my part and based soley on what most "full time" road car 4WD systems seem to do. In LOCK mode all the wheels turn together - like a conventional 4x4 system with the Diff Locks engaged none of the wheels car turn faster than the others, so they can't spin individually. In this mode it seems to be able to drive over anything. If you exceed certain conditions (eg exceed 30mph road speed,or use too much steering lock) then the LOCK mode returns to AUTO automatically.

 

Subjectively the car seems to be marginally slower when I drive in AUTO mode, which is backed up by heavier fuel consumption and is what you'd expect to see if you're spinning all that extra metal. So what I tend to do is leave it in 2WD mode unless I have a reason to expect slipping wheels, such as heavy rain or poor road surfaces when I put it into AUTO mode. Only when i'm driving on unmade roads or snow and ice do I bother with LOCK mode - which is exactly what the manual suggests you do with the ALLMODE System.

 

Unlike many 4x4 systems it is possible to swap between 2WD and AUTO at any speed. Some people say that it doesn't make any difference over a certain speed as the car will always be FWD at speed, and I don't know if that's true or not.  Certainly over (say) 50mph the car's ESP system is perhaps likely to be a bigger help than a 4x4 system but the performance and economy penalties seems to stay if you keep the car in AUTO mode at motorway speeds - so i'm guessing it still does something even at higher speeds.

 

Personally I think it's excellent. It offers a reasonable compromise for whatever conditions you use it in, it's unobtrusive, easy to use and works exceptionally well in all driving conditions. It made all the difference in this year's snowy weather & i'm very glad I got it. I'd recommend you do, too. But that's easy for me to say because I don't have to pay for it and I do enough driving on crappy roads to justify it. Whether you think you can extract sufficient value from the system to justify it's additional purchase, maintenance and fuel cost is something you really have to decide for yourself.

 

 

You'll love it, especially compared to the Freelander. It's a far better road car, and only moderately less capable off road. They look good in gunmetal grey, too. I love the Tekna spec. I ended up buying an ntec in the end, so I could afford an automatic gearbox for my Partner. Personally I hate automatic gearboxes with a Passion & would prefer to have had the leather seats any day of the week.

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