Someone please help me to understand this one:
I keep reading that AWD is worse for the fuel economy then 2WD. I am scratching my head on this one, as i cant figure out how that could be. The engine still has to move all 4 wheels, whether powered or not. I ran a comparison on the car i have that has the AWD (The Magnum) and the fuel economy is almost the same:
(From http://www-5.dodge.com/vehsuite/VehicleCompare.jsp)
R/T RWD
City: 17
Highway: 25
R/T AWD
City: 17
Highway: 24
(I picked the RT RWD vs the RT AWD to make it similar). So the AWD is 1 mpg off on highway mileage.. I keep reading magazines that are decrying the use of AWD if it's not needed (IE. dry roads, in the city etc).
So engineers, riddle me this: Are those magazines just blowing hot air or do they have a point ?
TIA!
-Stefan
I keep reading that AWD is worse for the fuel economy then 2WD. I am scratching my head on this one, as i cant figure out how that could be. The engine still has to move all 4 wheels, whether powered or not. I ran a comparison on the car i have that has the AWD (The Magnum) and the fuel economy is almost the same:
(From http://www-5.dodge.com/vehsuite/VehicleCompare.jsp)
R/T RWD
City: 17
Highway: 25
R/T AWD
City: 17
Highway: 24
(I picked the RT RWD vs the RT AWD to make it similar). So the AWD is 1 mpg off on highway mileage.. I keep reading magazines that are decrying the use of AWD if it's not needed (IE. dry roads, in the city etc).
So engineers, riddle me this: Are those magazines just blowing hot air or do they have a point ?
TIA!
-Stefan