Buying Guides
Why all-wheel drive matters less in Washington than you think
AWD helps you go. It does not help you stop. Here is where it actually earns its cost in the Puget Sound region, and where good tyres beat it outright.
Almost every customer who walks onto our lot between October and March asks the same thing first: does it have all-wheel drive? It is a fair question in a region where the passes close and Seattle shuts down over two inches of snow. But the answer people expect is usually wrong in an expensive way.
What AWD actually does
All-wheel drive distributes power to all four wheels, which improves traction when you are accelerating. That is the whole mechanism. It helps you pull away from a stop on a wet hill, and it helps you maintain momentum in loose snow.
What it does not do
It does not help you stop. It does not help you turn. Braking and cornering grip come from your tyres and nothing else. An AWD crossover on worn all-seasons will slide through an intersection exactly as far as a front-wheel-drive sedan on the same tyres, and it will do so while the driver feels more confident, which is the dangerous part.
Where the money actually goes
AWD typically adds $1,500 to $2,500 to a used vehicle price in this market, costs 1 to 3 mpg, and adds a differential and transfer case that eventually need service. A good set of winter tyres costs $600 to $900 and transforms braking and cornering on exactly the days you care about.
If you are choosing between an AWD vehicle on tired all-seasons and a FWD vehicle plus a set of proper winter tyres, the second option is safer and cheaper. That is not a popular thing for a dealer to say, but it is true.
When AWD genuinely earns it
- You regularly cross Snoqualmie or Stevens between November and March
- You live on an unplowed hill, parts of Federal Way, Auburn and Tacoma qualify
- You tow, or you use forest service roads
- You need traction control on gravel or launch ramps
The honest recommendation
Buy the vehicle that fits your life and your budget, then spend the difference on tyres. If AWD comes along on the right car at the right price, and in our inventory it often does, because this is Subaru and RAV4 country, take it. Just do not pay a premium for a feature that solves a problem you do not have.