FPV002

Hi all, I am looking at getting a Territory but i cant decide on RWD or AWD. Is it worth spending the extra $4000 on it or am i better of to spend that $4000 on extras on a RWD?

 

Curls

I currently have a RWD rental and last time had an AWD, both TX models. I know there are some extra safety features on the AWD models not available on the RWD's such as DSC, hill descent etc.. It all comes down to what you can afford and what you will actually put the Territory through day in, day out.

In everyday suburban/occasional freeway driving I can't notice the difference and a stop watch is needed to pick the performance difference. Motor has claimed the RWD model Ghia gets the upcoming ZF 6-speed auto, (I'm not sure they're right ) and this rather then AWD/RWD would be my deciding factor. Incidently this RWD TX is showing a lower avg fuel use then our BA wagon, I haven't checked the specs for fuel tank size, but it was a pleasant surprise to see an fuel range of nearly 600km when I first jumped in and the average speed wasn't something ridiculous like 95km/hr to reach this range figure.

It drives better then the BA wagon and maybe because of the better NVH levels makes the engine seem even smoother, in a distant V8 sort of way.

Trade-in time is getting closer.....

orrie

Mate, good luck with your choice because it is a hard one. I went through the same pain over the last few weeks. I finally decided to go with the AWD - Ghia. My choice was based on several things
a) Safety - my young family are going to be riding in it all the time with the missus the main driver. The dynamic stability on the AWD gives a lttle bit better chance of recovery if a sticky situation arises.
b) We are soon to move to the sunshine coast of queensland - new lands to explore for us !!! Not reeally knowing the area I thought a little "soft-roading" weekend adventures might just be the ticket
c) resale values - Although I am not sure if the AWD is better or not in this regard, I thought for this area of Australia it might be a stronger resale point (what do you think ?).

I guess what i am saying is look how and what you are going to do with it and see if you really need to spend the extra or not. A PS2 in the back for the kids (yea right as if the kids are likely to get a turn - LOL) might be better money spent.

Good luck with the decision?

What colour are you going for? - just curious. I was tossing up between the Indiana and the white. Fianlly settled on white as I reckon they just look the best.

lordricey

I ended up going AWD - don't know if I'll ever use it but for $4000 it seemed good value. Main reason for me was I was trading in a Subaru Outback and I thought going back to RWD was a backwards step for me - I really wanted the added size of the Territory with the ride and performance of the Subaru.

There was a thread on this previously that discussed all the pros and cons that I can't find but from memory the most points people brought up were:

AWD gives slightly better safety with added DSC.
RWD gives slightly better fuel economy.
Resale cost of AWD will liekly be higher but not by the full $4000 it costs so decision should be based on use not resale.
From memory 60% of sales were RWD and 40% AWD - so there is no real market preference it is just up to each individual.

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FPV002

Not sure I dont mind envi or Mandarin i will most likley go TS but I will get full body colour.

lordricey

If you get the TS - seriously consider the leather steering wheel - the standard wheel is complete shite...

iDesign have packs available now that weren't around when I bought mine - You should look into them too.

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mb350

We got a ghia AWD and last week got to drive a friends TS RWD. To be honest I couldn't tell the difference. During the school holidays we did 2000km (roughly) and tried to test out some of the AWD capabilites. On dirt roads, DSC only activated when you pushed the car in a way that you wouldn't ordinarily do. I haven't and wont bother test it on tar. The width of the tyres and weight of the vehicle keep it well grounded and if for some reason you stuff up, the DSC works how it suppose to.

Didn't try and climb hills greater than 30 degrees but we did plough into a 10 metre rut of 20cm mud. With the brakes tapping away madly on whatever wheel spun we managed to get out backwards. Slowly didn't work though, I had to increase and maintain revs a bit to get momentum.

Fuel consumption on highway was 12.5 L/100km compared to 12.7 I worked out manually. I was happy with that. It gets around 14 or 15 around town.

There seems to be a whole bunch of reasons such as safety, fuel consumption, resale value etc that help buyers decide. Whatever you do, don't buy it as a 4wd. With DSC and HDC (which I haven't got) it can't be compared to a high torque diesel with transfer case and good clearance.

Don't think I've helped really, but rest assured either version makes a great cruiser. So much more comfortable than the 99 Au wagon we used to have. Good luck.