4WD or 2WD

Recommendation on drive train? I live in Wisconsin, so I'm leaning 4WD but curious what everyone's feedback is. (Specifically in a 1st gen Tundra)

 

I personally have no use for a 2wd truck but could see a situation like using it for work where it may apply.

 

2wd has less maintenance (cv axle boots, front diff fluid, greasing front driveshaft, exercising electronic actuators)
Do you need 4wd? A 2wd truck without significant weight in the bed will be a handful in the snow.

 

100% 4wd if you live in Wisconsin (WN). That lake effect snow is no joke.

 

Live next door in MN and all my vehicles have been 4x4 and always will be. Even in summer if the boat ramp is wet and slimy, it is sometimes necessary, but rush hour in winter during snow? I want 4 wheel drive. It definitely makes a huge difference.

 

Never heard of such thing. If there's rush hour, then snow is perfectly drivable with 2wd.

 

Washington (WN) Wisconsin (WO)

 

Sorry but it always makes me chuckle when someone on the internet corrects someone incorrectly.

 

Inside joke. We intentionally misuse state abbreviations. I blame Minnesota (MN) for this. Although I think it started with @KNABORES home state, Arkansas (AK)

 

Sonuvabitch!!

Oh well, I'm from California (CF) whadoo I know?

 

And then we have LA, lower alabama

 

My Tundra is two wheel drive. Are there times when a four wheel drive would have been useful? Yes. There have been two. Maybe three.

 

Look, I've said it before and I'll say it again. 4wd is like carrying a gun. When you need it, you really need it. When you want to play with it, you take it to a specific spot to play. And lastly, I'd rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.

 

Pfff. That list is all wrong. Must've been written by someone from Delaware (DL)

 

When I was shopping, maybe 1 truck in 10 is two wheel drive in any brand up here. Those are the guys spinning their wheels when the light turns green during winter or trying to pull their overweight wake boat out at the ramp.

 

I have never understood why anyone would buy a truck without 4WD. You just can't do truck things. Cue the incoming argumentative comments in 3, 2, 1...

 

You may be quicker off the line, but when light turns red, you stop same as the rest of us, 2wd peasants

 

Not true!
Slightly slower; more weight

 

I think having a little bit of skill and foot control will get you far and save some money, too! Half the cars on the roads have 2wd and we get by just fine. And, if some driver in front does crash and causes a pile-up, you aren't going anywhere anyway.

We had 4wd(real one, with mechanical shifter) back when we used to live up north and we never had any need to use it. Rwd was plenty sufficient for all road conditions.

 

You can’t go wrong with 4WD. When it comes time to sell you’ll have a more desirable truck with a higher price point and a greater buyer pool if it’s rust free.

 

All of my trucks prior to my 1st gen were 2WD, and for a plethora of reasons.

They're lighter, better MPG, pull just as well as 4WD if not better, easier to maintain with less mechanical/electronic shit to break, less wiring, easier to lift and lower with less consequences for each.

After several decades of driving, I can count on one hand the number of times I ever found myself saying to myself, "Damn I wish I had 4WD / AWD". A couple were on boat ramps, the others involved sand, sugar or coastal. Never once did those issues require me getting pulled out, ingenuity won every time.

If you live in a place with lots of snow, or you go way the hell out there, where you may not see another vehicle for the better part of a day or two, I fully understand why you'd absolutely want 4WD. It's a security blanket, a "quickly save your ass" feature. I don't feel it's mandatory, though, with some smarts and the right equipment in/on the truck, you'll be just fine.

If I lived in an icy/snowy area, I'd probably want to have 4WD. I like the fact that, if Snowmageddon v2 ever happened in ATL, I could run around collecting my friends. But I also think I could've lived without it, it's just a stroke of luck the truck I found had it. In Wisconsin (WC), I'd probably want to have it on my truck.

EDIT: It's been a trip the last 5-6 years learning all about 4WD in a more-intimate way than I understood prior.

 

Just get a 4WD.

 

No brainer. You could not pay me to put friggen stupid chains on in frozen weather. Resale is better too

 

Towing a snowmobile trailer or an ice house in winter, four wheel is a must. Especially if you brave driving on the lake off the plowed ice roads.
One thing I liked about my old Jeep was it had auto AWD along with 4hi/lo options. Too bad the rest of it was unreliable. You could feel the difference in stability from AWD to 4hi after several inches of snow. 4hi would reduce any shimmy felt from AWD system favoring one wheel over another as snow got deeper.

Foot of snow coming?
Pffft.
We're still going up north!

 

Gang, average user base around here is grocery getter males. Most here don't drive onto lakes or hauling snowmobiles into mountains.

 

MN?…Mew Nexico?

 

Mexico Nuevo, yep.