Do I have intelligent 4wd or no?

[stein78]

Ok, bear with me as I'm a bit confused. We've had some consistent snow in the area and I'm puzzled if our 2020 Limited actually has intelligent 4wd. No where on the original window sticker does it mention anything about 4wd. However, the Ecoboost badge on the rear tailgate says 'Ecoboost 4wd'. I looked on-line at some 2021 window stickers and it makes clear mention of 4wd in the optional equipment section. Is the same badge used regardless if you have 4wd or not?

The car has all the drive modes, but not sure that means anything. Is there an intelligent 4wd screen option? Don't think I've seen one.

I can almost do donuts in the snow before the traction control stops me. It does seem to have more grip in the 'slippery' drive mode setting or maybe it just makes the gas pedal input so lazy that you slip less. Is the intelligent 4wd just very passive or am I being fooled and don't actually have it? The car is a mess or I would go look under it for a transfer case.

My wife is giving me hard time as 4wd was a requirement, but she is even questioning if the vehicle has it given it's performance in the snow. She's comparing it to her old 2007 Explorer where you'd feel the 4wd kick in when it was in 'auto' mode.

 

[stein78]

Brain fart, it says 4wd at the TOP of the windows sticker, not in the area where it lists all the options.

Feel free to ignore this thread. But overall I would say the intelligent 4wd is lacking intelligence...as I can barely tell it's doing anything. LOL

 

[Dale5403]

Ok, bear with me as I'm a bit confused. We've had some consistent snow in the area and I'm puzzled if our 2020 Limited actually has intelligent 4wd. No where on the original window sticker does it mention anything about 4wd. However, the Ecoboost badge on the rear tailgate says 'Ecoboost 4wd'. I looked on-line at some 2021 window stickers and it makes clear mention of 4wd in the optional equipment section. Is the same badge used regardless if you have 4wd or not?

The car has all the drive modes, but not sure that means anything. Is there an intelligent 4wd screen option? Don't think I've seen one.

I can almost do donuts in the snow before the traction control stops me. It does seem to have more grip in the 'slippery' drive mode setting or maybe it just makes the gas pedal input so lazy that you slip less. Is the intelligent 4wd just very passive or am I being fooled and don't actually have it? The car is a mess or I would go look under it for a transfer case.

My wife is giving me hard time as 4wd was a requirement, but she is even questioning if the vehicle has it given it's performance in the snow. She's comparing it to her old 2007 Explorer where you'd feel the 4wd kick in when it was in 'auto' mode.

What brand of tires do you have? I've seen complaints about the factory Hankook tires on the Explorer. 2020 XLT snow handling

 

[peterk9]

..............................But overall I would say the intelligent 4wd is lacking intelligence...as I can barely tell it's doing anything. LOL

That's the point!

Peter

 

[stein78]

What brand of tires do you have? I've seen complaints about the factory Hankook tires on the Explorer. 2020 XLT snow handling

They are Michelins.

That's the point!

Peter

I meant it doesn't feel like it is assisting with traction at all.

 

[jhu8]

They are Michelins.

I meant it doesn't feel like it is assisting with traction at all.

honestly I bet it’s the tires more than anything that’s causing your issues. I’m not saying the explorer is a great all terrain vehicle and I don’t even have a 2020 yet, but my 17 does fairly well.

 

[peterk9]

They are Michelins.

I meant it doesn't feel like it is assisting with traction at all.

I haven't had any issues but then I always used dedicated winter tires on my current or previous vehicles.

Peter

 

[quickfix]

Winter tires.

 

[Pnewby]

What brand of tires do you have? I've seen complaints about the factory Hankook tires on the Explorer. 2020 XLT snow handling

Hankook tires on my 13 fwd wouldn’t go in the rain, much less the snow. New Michelin’s fixed that problem.

 

[he11lish]

What you are experiencing here is the difference between a 4WD auto-RWD based (like your old 2007 Explorer) vs the previous generation Explorer 4WD-FWD based...

my F150, when in 4WD auto, works exactly the same way you described - you feel the 4WD kicking in, but you lose 4WD around corners, highway, etc...what this does is interesting, in deep winter for example I will feel the rear end of the truck slipping on the highway before the front kicks in.....but this is super easy to correct in my truck, shift it to 4WD High - which is what I do on the slippery highway or suburban trips, this fully eliminates the tardiness of the auto system all together...

in my 16 Explorer (I never got to try my 4WD system in the 20 Explorer...since I got rid of it), sand mode would actually lock the system in 4WD and disable TC up to 80km/h....not sure how the modes were designed in the 20 though.

honestly I bet it’s the tires more than anything that’s causing your issues. I’m not saying the explorer is a great all terrain vehicle and I don’t even have a 2020 yet, but my 17 does fairly well.

 

[Flashflood]

They are Michelins.

I meant it doesn't feel like it is assisting with traction at all.

Lol that explains it Michelins suck on all gens of explorers lol hate them. If I got the Xlt I was looking at I would of asked them if I could swap them lol.

 

[DoraAExplorer]

Lol that explains it Michelins suck on all gens of explorers lol hate them. If I got the Xlt I was looking at I would of asked them if I could swap them lol.

The Pirelli tires are good.​

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Do I have intelligent 4wd or no?​

Your Explorer may be 4WD and it torque vectors intelligently, the driver on the other hand may not input intelligently.

 

[peterk9]

Lol that explains it Michelins suck on all gens of explorers lol hate them. If I got the Xlt I was looking at I would of asked them if I could swap them lol.

My Aviator came with the Michelin Primacy A/S tires and I haven't had any issues with them in dry or wet weather.

Peter

 

[Flashflood]

My Aviator came with the Michelin Primacy A/S tires and I haven't had any issues with them in dry or wet weather.

Peter

Lol it's an Avi that's why, those are different.

 

[DoraAExplorer]

Yeah the explorer sucks on ice and snow, could be the tires some but I would imagine the awd system would just be awd ice skating. Going to the RWD platforms does have its draw backs and that is one of them.

 

[peterk9]

Most if not all vehicles would "suck" on ice. As for snow, if not had any issues with either the 2011 or 2017. I haven't experienced any issues with the Aviator either. I always use winter tires.

Peter

 

[DoraAExplorer]

Most if not all vehicles would "suck" on ice. As for snow, if not had any issues with either the 2011 or 2017. I haven't experienced any issues with the Aviator either. I always use winter tires.

Peter

It isn't Subaru AWD that is for sure, even in slippery mode the explorer is not good. I could not imagine tires helping all that much as in night / day difference

 

[BJB94]

nothing Special about a Subaru and its symmetrical AWD BS. We all know FWD is better and more predictable than RWD in snow. So when you have a FWD based drivetrain that transfers power to the rear wheels when needed it feels seamless. Take a RWD system and transfer power to the front wheels during slip and it feels a little out of control. My wife’s 2016 edge is a tank in the snow with normal p-zero tires and I never noticed it spin a tire or feel out of control. If the front axle in the explorer isen’t ingaged it will step the rear out quite a bit, a rear clutch diff would just aggravate this. Tires are the biggest game changer in the way any vehicle performers in bad weather, I think these Michelins suck and can’t wait till I need new tires.

 

[he11lish]

nothing Special about a Subaru and its symmetrical AWD BS. We all know FWD is better and more predictable than RWD in snow. So when you have a FWD based drivetrain that transfers power to the rear wheels when needed it feels seamless. Take a RWD system and transfer power to the front wheels during slip and it feels a little out of control. My wife’s 2016 edge is a tank in the snow with normal p-zero tires and I never noticed it spin a tire or feel out of control. If the front axle in the explorer isen’t ingaged it will step the rear out quite a bit, a rear clutch diff would just aggravate this. Tires are the biggest game changer in the way any vehicle performers in bad weather, I think these Michelins suck and can’t wait till I need new tires.

and that's exactly why a FWD based AWD vehicle is the preferred choice for the majority of drivers, it is a lot more predictable and easy to control...0 slip.

Ford should have included a 4WD lock in the Explorer...maybe one can achieve this by playing around with the modes? my 2016 Explorer would lock in 4WD in Sand mode - it was a beast in the snow!

 

[BJB94]

Locked 4wd sucks for anything other than a 8k pound CCLB SuperDuty, explorer is too light. Sand mode seems the most aggressive but pretty sure the transfer case is just a viscous with no clutches or locking coupler. So hard to find info on the transfer case or front axle disconnect. I will say the first time in bad weather my butt was puckered up hard in the explorer. Haven’t heard an ABS unit run this much since my 1993 accord or 1994 probe GT, two of the most horrible winter cars ever. Now the other guy at my work running an explorer XLT on 20s worked at Subaru and owned many says the Explorer is a beast. Glad it’s a company car, I ditch it and hit a tree I’ll get a ST next time.