AWD and auto 4x4 are two different things..

 

you can, but in our chevys it kills our gas mileage...

 

what do u mean by in our chevys

 

lol I own a couple of chevy too. They both have Auto 4X4. I dont know about the dodge trucks, but In my chevy's if you leave it in the Auto 4x4 it seems to kill the MPGs.

 

I never really noticed the auto 4wd affect my mpg too much. But obviously I don’t get great mileage to begin with, and I only turn it on when it’s raining, snowing, icy, etc. I don't leave it on all the time.

 

the rams come with the option it's like a 300 dollar upgrade.... just run the cluster diag... hold ur trip button in and turn key on... you'll see the green auto 4wd light just above 4x4

 

going down the highway today in a snowstorm, the highway appeared clear but wet in one lane and snowy on the other. doing 73 in 2wd, because the road appeared clear, suddenly rearend kicked out hard right about 40 degrees, then left. thankfully i recovered by just letting off the gas and defensive reaction. went another 1/8 mile and it happened again. decided to continue ther rest of the trip, another 20-30 mile, in 4wd thinking the entire time....wish i had auto 4wd....that wouldve never happened. by the way we were on our way to a funeral.

 

Not really. The old AWD we had and the new vehicles work on the same concept. The only difference, is that these new ones can switch back to 2wd to save on fuel. Auto 4x4 keeps 4x4 in, but to the front when turning, it gives power to the tire with the least resistance, rather than equally to both tires.

 

In our vehicles, 4wd locks the wheels together so they all turn at the same rate, which is why you get that weird feeling when you drive in 4wd on dry pavement. Auto 4wd is a way around that, because it normally keeps the truck in 2wd and switches to 4wd when the wheels start to slip. That's not the same as AWD though, which is always putting power to all 4 wheels, but allows them to turn at different rates so you can corner normally. It's usually coupled with a system that monitors for wheels slipping and will put more power to the wheels that have traction instead of allowing the one tire to spin.
So while Auto 4wd is similar, it is not the same as AWD.

 

Well, the Chevy's are like that at least when they are in Auto. My buddy has a GMC with that and I know a couple other people with these on the trucks.