Future of small 4wd vehicles?

[Petros]

Suzuki rolls out a high tech "concept" Samari, love that "inclinometer". Unfortunately Suzuki has not imported the Samari to the USA since '94, but I was surprised to see them all over Europe. I want! read about it here:

https://gearjunkie.com/suzuki-samurai-e ... 3-23178341

[splatterdog]

They ran their course a while ago, at least in the states. Hardly anything mid size or smaller has 4wd anymore. It's mostly AWD coupled with stability systems with expensive electronic gear boxes, exotic fluids, and multiple warning lights. A friends 05 CRV is pathetic during low traction. Hard to tell if the rear axle even offers 20-30%. I think they should all have a "lock" switch like the old Corolla wagons. I will always prefer a lever over a button..

Come on Toyota, re-release the T4 and keep it simple! Probably never happen though. Last car commercial I paid attention too was all about connectivity and absolutely nothing about the car!

[Petros]

regulations perhaps have made the manual trans and manual 4wd obsolete. I am told you can no longer buy a Subaru in manual trans, even as a special order.

One reason I will be keeping my T4wd on road for as long as I can get parts to fix it.

[splatterdog]

I would expect this trend is determined more by accountants and lawyers than anything else. Manual anything is getting to be too much work for mass consumption and sales overrules any other factor. These changes are market driven, so that lays blame on the motoring public as well. I'm sure that most that even find a T4 a neat car, would never own/drive one, or even be seen in one! LOL

NOT a fan of Euro, but too bad Fiat didn't bring the Panda here.

[helipilot77]

Unfourtunately today’s car buyers want electronic gizmos rather mechanical reliability. Most of the people buying cars these days view a car purchase as very short term. 5-10 years. We are very much in the minority. Although I’m sure most of us on this forum would love a simple small 4wd vehicle that was reliable and supported by dealership parts networks like the samurai above, the US market simply can’t support it and we are likely never to see such a clever little vehicle over here.

[keith]

regulations perhaps have made the manual trans and manual 4wd obsolete. I am told you can no longer buy a Subaru in manual trans, even as a special order.

One reason I will be keeping my T4wd on road for as long as I can get parts to fix it.

You can still get a manual transmission in the Impreza, Forrester and BRZ but not in the Legacy/Outback models.

My 97 Nissan PU got totaled last week by a distracted driver in an F-350 (4wd, dually). I went looking for a new small truck with a manual. I found one Toyota, but you have to get 4wd (its really AWD IMHO). The Colorado with a manual does not have limited slip available and its a 6-8 week wait. I ended up buying a used (07) Silverado 4wd auto. It was a pretty good deal, I can use the money I saved to buy a tank of gas for it.

Edit: and a step ladder to get into the thing.

[terceldude]

regulations perhaps have made the manual trans and manual 4wd obsolete. I am told you can no longer buy a Subaru in manual trans, even as a special order.

One reason I will be keeping my T4wd on road for as long as I can get parts to fix it.

I would not ignorantly blame regulations for that. The reason most people opt for automatics these days is there are way too many people in the world. Too many people = too many cars, too many cars = too much traffic, too much traffic = lots of road rage and frustration as well as car crashes from having to brake very suddenly.