Is the Bronco Sport a 4x4?

[Bird]

I‘ve read so many articles and reviews referring to the all-wheel drive system that is standard on the Bronco Sport. Yet it is clearly marketed and sold by Ford as a 4x4, literally, on the website, sales sticker, etc. Any thoughts on this?

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[Cabezone]

I‘ve read so many articles and reviews referring to the all-wheel drive system that is standard on the Bronco Sport. Yet it is clearly marketed and sold by Ford as a 4x4, literally, on the website, sales sticker, etc. Any thoughts on this?

Traditionally 4x4 meant mechanical lockers. Manufacturers began marketing AwD as 4x4, so the definition has gotten watered down. The capability of many all-wheel drives has got much closer to true lockers as well so there can be an argument for some systems getting that definition. Howeve many fall short.

Basically you can't really trust anything that says four wheel drive anymore you have to look at the specs.

 

[13MikeH]

Traditionally 4x4 meant mechanical lockers. Manufacturers began marketing AwD as 4x4, so the definition has gotten watered down. The capability of many all-wheel drives has got much closer to true lockers as well so there can be an argument for some systems getting that definition. Howeve many fall short.

Basically you can't really trust anything that says four wheel drive anymore you have to look at the specs.

Technicality: the badlands has twin rear clutch which locks the rears. I see both sides to said argument. For my dollar, all four wheels engage and handle a LOT of difficult and technical terrain. My challenger is all wheel at 40 degrees automatic. I wouldn't consider it a 4x4.

 

[jofer]

This devolves into pedantry really quickly. By the definition some people give, a land rover defender wouldn't be 4wd and would be awd.

(Note, I'm hardly an expert here... I'm a geologist, for crying out loud, so take what I say with a whole shaker of salt. Also, I took forever to write this, so if someone's posted the same thing in the meantime, I apologize.)

Let's back up and talk about differentials. All cars have at least 2. The two that are required allow the left/right wheels on the same axle to rotate at different speeds. You can't turn on pavement if the left right wheels have to turn at the same speed. Therefore you have a front differential and a rear differential in every car that allow left/right wheels to move differently. The front and rear wheels also need to turn at different rates during a turn -- each of the 4 wheels actually takes a different path. In a 2wd system, that doesn't matter, because the front and rear aren't coupled in any way. In a 4wd or awd system, you have to account for it. AWD and some 4WD systems use a center differential for that.

A lot of what people mean by "4wd" is a part time system where you are usually in 2wd, but can stop and shift the transfer case into 4wd. This is a "part time 4wd". There's no center differential by definition and when in 4wd, the front and rear axles get even amounts of torque. You have to rely on being on a loose surface to allow front/rear wheels to spin at different rates, as there's no center differential. Therefore, you only use it offroad. That's the "old school" system and it's used by plenty of modern vehicles too. It's simple, reliable, and will operate continually, so long as you're on gravel/mud/etc. Run it on pavement and you'll shear things in half. Many people will argue that anything that doesn't use this approach is not 4wd.

Because it's silly to exclude high end systems, you also have what's called a "full time 4wd" system. This is AWD. However, the term "4wd" usually reserved for cars that can do one very important thing -- get out of a hole when only one wheel has traction.

Traditionally, if you can reliably and easily get torque to a single wheel when no others have it, that counts as 4wd. An AWD that can do that is a "full time 4wd". In the past, no AWD systems that weren't devoted to offroading could do that. That's because everything used viscous clutches and other things that intrinsically routed to most torque to what could spin.

These days, it's a _much_ blurrier line. An AWD system like the bronco sport's (or many others) can control torque via the computer in a lot of different ways. It can apply brakes to one wheel (many awd systems rely heavily on breaking for traction control) or it can route torque as part a clutch system in the various differentials. It'll as happily get you out of any hole you're in as anything else.

However, things like the land rover and other devoted "full time 4wd" offroaders have one thing that both the bronco sport and a traditional AWD don't have: A way to mechanically lock the center differential in the AWD system such that the back and front axles have to spin at the same rate. This is completely different from what most people will talk about by locking differentials: Those usually refer to locking the rear and/or front differentials so that the left/right tires spin at the same rate -- very handy, but irrelevant to the discussion here. Locking the center differential means that the car is operating like a part-time 4wd and essentially doesn't have a center differential. In other words, "putting it in 4wd".

So why does this matter if all of them can get you out when only one wheel has traction?

The difference is in long term operation. When you can't mechanically lock things (be it the center diff or the front/rear diff), friction is doing the locking, broadly speaking. A clutch or breaks will overheat during prolonged use where one tire gets all the traction, and all "awd" systems require some combination of those to make it all work. A way of mechanically locking the various differentials means that you build up less heat because you're not relying on friction. You basically have a physical piece of metal keeping the differential closed/not-operational and therefore keeping things spinning at the same rate. The sport has a really great system, and it is fair to call it 4wd, i.m.o, but it does have limitations.

These days you'll see a lot of focus on that difference. It's real -- prolonged very steep hill climbs will cause overheating issues with the sport, for sure. However, it's hardly the limitation many folks make it out to be. It's also something that cools relatively quickly (not a ton of metal to cool down compared to an engine).

Hope that helps, at any rate. I think it's completely fair to call it a "full time 4wd", but do keep in mind that it has limitations compared to either the simpler systems or the really fancy systems. Honestly, the biggest limitations are around ground clearance and protection (skid plates/etc) rather than anything relating to the drive system.

 

[13MikeH]

...Because it's silly to exclude high end systems, you also have what's called a "full time 4wd" system. This is AWD. However, the term "4wd" usually reserved for cars that can do one very important thing -- get out of a hole when only one wheel has traction.

Traditionally, if you can reliably and easily get torque to a single wheel when no others have it, that counts as 4wd. An AWD that can do that is a "full time 4wd". In the past, no AWD systems that weren't devoted to offroading could do that. That's because everything used viscous clutches and other things that intrinsically routed to most torque to what could spin.


So why does this matter if all of them can get you out when only one wheel has traction?

I'm cherry picking part of your excellent description. If you use this value alone, the sport is indeed a '4x4' or 4wd. One of the videos is the Bronco Sport worthy and they do a three tire slip with one tire traction test...bronco passes the test. Again you nailed it with the concept it can be determined so many ways. It will do what I want...problem solved.

 

[Cabezone]

I'm cherry picking part of your excellent description. If you use this value alone, the sport is indeed a '4x4' or 4wd. One of the videos is the Bronco Sport worthy and they do a three tire slip with one tire traction test...bronco passes the test. Again you nailed it with the concept it can be determined so many ways. It will do what I want...problem solved.

So those slip tests are only one part of the story. Subarus can pass a slip test with one tire but still don't have the torque to do it when climbing.The Badlands can but I don't know about the lower trims. However most all-wheel drives can't even do on a flat ground with one tire. There's a wide range of capability in the various all-wheel drive systems.

 

[Osco]

Mines a 4x4 when I need it to be.
At's good enough for me.
It's a far more advanced system than my 2004 AWD Escape that could actually get one front wheel and one rear wheel spinning and digging holes.
The 2004 was the only year that had a manual switch on the dash to lock the center diff.
That had to be removed because ppl would leave it locked past 40 mph and blow the diff.
This was a very poorly engineered and Implemented AWD system.
Technology moved forward.

 

[Bird]

This devolves into pedantry really quickly. By the definition some people give, a land rover defender wouldn't be 4wd and would be awd.

(Note, I'm hardly an expert here... I'm a geologist, for crying out loud, so take what I say with a whole shaker of salt. Also, I took forever to write this, so if someone's posted the same thing in the meantime, I apologize.)

Let's back up and talk about differentials. All cars have at least 2. The two that are required allow the left/right wheels on the same axle to rotate at different speeds. You can't turn on pavement if the left right wheels have to turn at the same speed. Therefore you have a front differential and a rear differential in every car that allow left/right wheels to move differently. The front and rear wheels also need to turn at different rates during a turn -- each of the 4 wheels actually takes a different path. In a 2wd system, that doesn't matter, because the front and rear aren't coupled in any way. In a 4wd or awd system, you have to account for it. AWD and some 4WD systems use a center differential for that.

A lot of what people mean by "4wd" is a part time system where you are usually in 2wd, but can stop and shift the transfer case into 4wd. This is a "part time 4wd". There's no center differential by definition and when in 4wd, the front and rear axles get even amounts of torque. You have to rely on being on a loose surface to allow front/rear wheels to spin at different rates, as there's no center differential. Therefore, you only use it offroad. That's the "old school" system and it's used by plenty of modern vehicles too. It's simple, reliable, and will operate continually, so long as you're on gravel/mud/etc. Run it on pavement and you'll shear things in half. Many people will argue that anything that doesn't use this approach is not 4wd.

Because it's silly to exclude high end systems, you also have what's called a "full time 4wd" system. This is AWD. However, the term "4wd" usually reserved for cars that can do one very important thing -- get out of a hole when only one wheel has traction.

Traditionally, if you can reliably and easily get torque to a single wheel when no others have it, that counts as 4wd. An AWD that can do that is a "full time 4wd". In the past, no AWD systems that weren't devoted to offroading could do that. That's because everything used viscous clutches and other things that intrinsically routed to most torque to what could spin.

These days, it's a _much_ blurrier line. An AWD system like the bronco sport's (or many others) can control torque via the computer in a lot of different ways. It can apply brakes to one wheel (many awd systems rely heavily on breaking for traction control) or it can route torque as part a clutch system in the various differentials. It'll as happily get you out of any hole you're in as anything else.

However, things like the land rover and other devoted "full time 4wd" offroaders have one thing that both the bronco sport and a traditional AWD don't have: A way to mechanically lock the center differential in the AWD system such that the back and front axles have to spin at the same rate. This is completely different from what most people will talk about by locking differentials: Those usually refer to locking the rear and/or front differentials so that the left/right tires spin at the same rate -- very handy, but irrelevant to the discussion here. Locking the center differential means that the car is operating like a part-time 4wd and essentially doesn't have a center differential. In other words, "putting it in 4wd".

So why does this matter if all of them can get you out when only one wheel has traction?

The difference is in long term operation. When you can't mechanically lock things (be it the center diff or the front/rear diff), friction is doing the locking, broadly speaking. A clutch or breaks will overheat during prolonged use where one tire gets all the traction, and all "awd" systems require some combination of those to make it all work. A way of mechanically locking the various differentials means that you build up less heat because you're not relying on friction. You basically have a physical piece of metal keeping the differential closed/not-operational and therefore keeping things spinning at the same rate. The sport has a really great system, and it is fair to call it 4wd, i.m.o, but it does have limitations.

These days you'll see a lot of focus on that difference. It's real -- prolonged very steep hill climbs will cause overheating issues with the sport, for sure. However, it's hardly the limitation many folks make it out to be. It's also something that cools relatively quickly (not a ton of metal to cool down compared to an engine).

Hope that helps, at any rate. I think it's completely fair to call it a "full time 4wd", but do keep in mind that it has limitations compared to either the simpler systems or the really fancy systems. Honestly, the biggest limitations are around ground clearance and protection (skid plates/etc) rather than anything relating to the drive system.

Super explanation, thank you. Yes indeed, my performance worries are focused on exactly that: ground clearance and the lack of skid plates. In an ideal world, I wouldn’t care about the label—only the actual performance capability. But in the real world, I am finding out that a clear 4x4 or 4WD labelled control in the vehicle or factory-installed 4x4 badge is required to get one of the ORV permits that I want. I don’t see a single control or screen that says 4WD or 4x4 in my vehicle (a Big Bend). Sucks for me. Am I supposed to refer them to a page in the owner’s manual? ?

 

[McBrideless]

That depends on how you define 4x4 which is entirely a matter of opinion. If you are wondering what is the “correct” term is, there isn’t one. It’s all marketing jargon.

Gearheads will rant on forums all day about what is “true 4x4” as if their opinion is official, but it honestly doesn’t matter. What matters is what it does.

 

[Fossil]

I keep looking for the dif lock buttons on my 1946 Jeep.

 

[Pete_72]

If a 4x4 needs lockers to be true to the meaning then there are very few true 4x4’s on the market. It’s a silly play on words!

The truth is this awd system performs better than a 4x4 truck with open diffs and no one questions if they are actually 4x4.......

 

[Fossil]

If a 4x4 needs lockers to be true to the meaning then there are very few true 4x4’s on the market. It’s a silly play on words!

The truth is this awd system performs better than a 4x4 truck with open diffs and no one questions if they are actually 4x4.......

Yep, try getting one of those off a three wheel slip test, or even a two wheel diagonal slip test. It's probably possible with enough throttle but it would be ugly.
Truth is those are two wheel drive, one in front and one in back. Ive had five of those including my Raptor when over 20mph, when the rear locker kicks out.

 

[Bird]

if a factory-installed 4x4 badge is sufficient to meet requirement.. couldn’t you post your window sticker back on your window when they interrogate your all time 4x4 bronco sport without a labeled part time control switch?

I could try! Or show them the Ford website with the 4x4 drive specification.

 

[Jenma]

I keep looking for the dif lock buttons on my 1946 Jeep.

I had a 1942 and we had to backup the steep stuff because going forward the float in the carburetor would stick.

 

[BobH]

I keep looking for the dif lock buttons on my 1946 Jeep.

My '46 didn't have one either I also added lockouts in the front so I could go 2WD most of the time.

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