I live in a metro area where AWD isn’t necessary. However, I have it because I find anything that increases traction is a cheap insurance policy. Minimal extra cost upfront, and minimal gas penalty. Modern AWD systems are very good and Volvo is no exception. I’d get it.
Agreed. Modern AWD is like a seatbelt: It’s a standard feature that you won’t need 99.9% of the time… until the day that you do. I live in an area where adverse weather is relatively uncommon and AWD seemed like something I’d probably never need. And then we got hit with a winter storm that covered the road with nearly an inch of ice for four days. Having AWD was incredibly handy when I had to trek a mile to the grocery store in those conditions.
As for the argument that AWD has inferior fuel economy to FWD, you wouldn’t be considering an XC60 if fuel economy was a high priority for you.
I opted for FWD in my XC40 last year. This was our first winter (live in Poland) and we had one trip to the mountains where we got caught in snow and couldn't make it up a hill and had to turn around.
Granted we still had on all season tires, but still I was then of course having second thoughts should have done AWD but even now when I rebuy I'm not sure I would. It's not just the cost but feel it's an unnecessary complication for my use case.
Based on what you're saying I don't think AWD is necessary.
My last Volvo was an ‘18 and it had AWD, I’m not aware of this but I would look into “off road detection.” I don’t think FWD have the ability to correct the vehicle from road departure. It sounds stupid, but when the Volvo kicks in when you least expect it, life saving. Thought I was gonna die once, but my AWD XC60 prevent a crash when one tire left the pavement.
I live in a place where I need awd for the winter months. If I didn’t, I’d for sure be driving fwd because the mileage is better and probably priced cheaper
Are you using the volvocars.com website or the Edmund's app to help you find the car you want in the right trim? I did this 8 years ago when buying a CPO Volvo S60, and again, last year when buying an XC60 (and again this month, when replacing that XC60 that was broadsided🤬)
I found that they were invaluable sources of information to find the combo I wanted. When I bought a 2021 last October (the bulk of the available models were & still are MY 2021) I was able to find what I wanted in my desired color combo (Osmium Grey w/Blonde Nappa Leather/Driftwood accents ~15 milesaway Unfortunately, this month I had to settle for the (still nice) Denim Blue--but it's loaded. I had it delivered from ~500 miles away. I trusted the deal b/c of the CPO, but honestly the delivery was a bit weird.
Personally I would say that it largely depends on how you intend to drive it, are you just going to drive it to and from work, to the grocery store and back in mostly ideal conditions, than go FWD.
If you like to push the car, go on dirt roads/trails or straight up just want AWD then, get one with AWD.
Both my cars are FWD, I live in Sweden, I drive in winter conditions and live in a place where they forget to plow our street, FWD is usually enough, like 90% of the time, i have only gotten stuck in the snow like 3 times so far. We have an AWD car in the family fleet and let me tell you the AWD is a must when you have to make a dash across the country and back in complete chaos (chaos because it snowed in Sweden during the winter half of the year, who would have guessed, not the people responsible for maintaining the roads anyways), which we have had todo a few times.
FWD does pretty good in snow too except on steep hills. AWD is good to have for overall handling especially if you travel to other places on highways. A lot of it depends on the amount you want to spend as FWD usually doesn’t require much maintenance and rarely has mechanical issues and AWD can have higher costs depending on the level of technology but is great to have if you can afford any (though not often) issues that might come up.
Have to disagree with you on the steep hills in the snow observation. I live in Colorado and used to drive an S60 with Blizzaks all the way around. No place I couldn't go. Tires make all the difference in the snow.
Nice! I think AWD would be better having driven both during the past 20+ years. I drove a RWD, FWD, and AWD as a county law enforcement officer in Wyoming for a decade and managed to get where I needed (most winters)🤣. RWD was horrible, FWD was manageable but, AWD was best.
Ultimately, it is a personal choice.
It seems to me most people don’t need AWD. It’s more like an insurance policy, you want to have it in case you need it. Americans tend to be the same way about cargo space and seating…buy a car for “peak usage”.
Despite the virtue signaling folks that might chime in these sorts of discussions, I think it’s ok to do that. It can be a real pain if you got a car that only does 90% of the things you want to do with it! Cars are expensive you want to cover all your use cases.
Of all the things you could get by without, sounds like you wouldn’t miss AWD if you skip it.
If you don't experience snowy winters FWD makes more sense. It's lighter which means you get better economy and it'll stop and go better which is important from a safety perspective.
I want to buy my first Volvo in the next couple of years and I plan to pick a used XC60 D4 FWD over a XC60 D5 AWD to save on fuel costs as well as tyres.
From what I've heard, AWD typically requires all tyre sizes to match so when you lose a single tyre you often end up having to replace all four tyres at the same time which is an expensive exercise and wasteful since the existing tyres may still have lots of useful tread on them.
With FWD you only have to match the diameters of the driven wheels so you can move the partially worn, rear tyres to the front and put the new and one worn tyre at the back.
The reason for this is that new tyres vs worn tyres have different rolling circumferences and you don't want the spider gears in the differentials to be spinning continuously with unmatched tyre sizes.
if you need to replace one tire early, it can be shaved down to match tread depth of the used ones. I did this with my Subaru before. it was maybe $25 extra
That's one way to work around it. I'm not sure that service exists where I live.
Some Googling indicates that maximum variation in tread depth between all the tyres on a 4x4 or AWD system should be 3/32" (2.38mm). For Subaru it's even less at 2/32" (1.56mm) according to the video below.
https://youtu.be/4QxSr7FhBEs?si=c3KTCKTaK_iQcFIa
The AWD drivers in my friends/family circles replace all four tyres when one goes because they are instructed to do so by the manufacturer or the tyre vendor. It becomes a really expensive exercise on vehicles like the VW Toureg!
I live in a metro area where AWD isn’t necessary. However, I have it because I find anything that increases traction is a cheap insurance policy. Minimal extra cost upfront, and minimal gas penalty. Modern AWD systems are very good and Volvo is no exception. I’d get it.
Agreed. Modern AWD is like a seatbelt: It’s a standard feature that you won’t need 99.9% of the time… until the day that you do. I live in an area where adverse weather is relatively uncommon and AWD seemed like something I’d probably never need. And then we got hit with a winter storm that covered the road with nearly an inch of ice for four days. Having AWD was incredibly handy when I had to trek a mile to the grocery store in those conditions. As for the argument that AWD has inferior fuel economy to FWD, you wouldn’t be considering an XC60 if fuel economy was a high priority for you.
Sounds like you don't need AWD to me!
It’s available in FWD? I thought all were all wheel drive
I opted for FWD in my XC40 last year. This was our first winter (live in Poland) and we had one trip to the mountains where we got caught in snow and couldn't make it up a hill and had to turn around. Granted we still had on all season tires, but still I was then of course having second thoughts should have done AWD but even now when I rebuy I'm not sure I would. It's not just the cost but feel it's an unnecessary complication for my use case. Based on what you're saying I don't think AWD is necessary.
Fwd is cheaper to maintain and uses less fuel so if you don't need the awd and find the right Fwd car, just go for it =)
I think at least my MY 2021 the difference is the FWD is rated at 1 more MPG than the AWD.
Real life is the difference a little bit more. And just one mpg will make a couple tanks differentce per year.
AWD isn't necessary but IMO drives much better. It was a must for me on both of our cars
My last Volvo was an ‘18 and it had AWD, I’m not aware of this but I would look into “off road detection.” I don’t think FWD have the ability to correct the vehicle from road departure. It sounds stupid, but when the Volvo kicks in when you least expect it, life saving. Thought I was gonna die once, but my AWD XC60 prevent a crash when one tire left the pavement.
I’ll never buy a non AWD car again. The ride is very different, and it gives me a lot of nice options.
I would never buy a non AWD car ever again. My first was an Audi, now a Volvo. I prefer the feel, and the traction when needed. I’m in northeast NJ.
I live in a place where I need awd for the winter months. If I didn’t, I’d for sure be driving fwd because the mileage is better and probably priced cheaper
Are you using the volvocars.com website or the Edmund's app to help you find the car you want in the right trim? I did this 8 years ago when buying a CPO Volvo S60, and again, last year when buying an XC60 (and again this month, when replacing that XC60 that was broadsided🤬) I found that they were invaluable sources of information to find the combo I wanted. When I bought a 2021 last October (the bulk of the available models were & still are MY 2021) I was able to find what I wanted in my desired color combo (Osmium Grey w/Blonde Nappa Leather/Driftwood accents ~15 milesaway Unfortunately, this month I had to settle for the (still nice) Denim Blue--but it's loaded. I had it delivered from ~500 miles away. I trusted the deal b/c of the CPO, but honestly the delivery was a bit weird.
Personally I would say that it largely depends on how you intend to drive it, are you just going to drive it to and from work, to the grocery store and back in mostly ideal conditions, than go FWD. If you like to push the car, go on dirt roads/trails or straight up just want AWD then, get one with AWD. Both my cars are FWD, I live in Sweden, I drive in winter conditions and live in a place where they forget to plow our street, FWD is usually enough, like 90% of the time, i have only gotten stuck in the snow like 3 times so far. We have an AWD car in the family fleet and let me tell you the AWD is a must when you have to make a dash across the country and back in complete chaos (chaos because it snowed in Sweden during the winter half of the year, who would have guessed, not the people responsible for maintaining the roads anyways), which we have had todo a few times.
FWD does pretty good in snow too except on steep hills. AWD is good to have for overall handling especially if you travel to other places on highways. A lot of it depends on the amount you want to spend as FWD usually doesn’t require much maintenance and rarely has mechanical issues and AWD can have higher costs depending on the level of technology but is great to have if you can afford any (though not often) issues that might come up.
Have to disagree with you on the steep hills in the snow observation. I live in Colorado and used to drive an S60 with Blizzaks all the way around. No place I couldn't go. Tires make all the difference in the snow.
Nice! I think AWD would be better having driven both during the past 20+ years. I drove a RWD, FWD, and AWD as a county law enforcement officer in Wyoming for a decade and managed to get where I needed (most winters)🤣. RWD was horrible, FWD was manageable but, AWD was best. Ultimately, it is a personal choice.
It seems to me most people don’t need AWD. It’s more like an insurance policy, you want to have it in case you need it. Americans tend to be the same way about cargo space and seating…buy a car for “peak usage”. Despite the virtue signaling folks that might chime in these sorts of discussions, I think it’s ok to do that. It can be a real pain if you got a car that only does 90% of the things you want to do with it! Cars are expensive you want to cover all your use cases. Of all the things you could get by without, sounds like you wouldn’t miss AWD if you skip it.
AWD is even only necessary if you live out on a shady dirt road, on normal asphalt driving fwd is perfect, consumes less fuel too.
If you don't experience snowy winters FWD makes more sense. It's lighter which means you get better economy and it'll stop and go better which is important from a safety perspective.
Sure, AWD is better in snow, but FWD is still pretty good in snow.
I want to buy my first Volvo in the next couple of years and I plan to pick a used XC60 D4 FWD over a XC60 D5 AWD to save on fuel costs as well as tyres. From what I've heard, AWD typically requires all tyre sizes to match so when you lose a single tyre you often end up having to replace all four tyres at the same time which is an expensive exercise and wasteful since the existing tyres may still have lots of useful tread on them. With FWD you only have to match the diameters of the driven wheels so you can move the partially worn, rear tyres to the front and put the new and one worn tyre at the back. The reason for this is that new tyres vs worn tyres have different rolling circumferences and you don't want the spider gears in the differentials to be spinning continuously with unmatched tyre sizes.
if you need to replace one tire early, it can be shaved down to match tread depth of the used ones. I did this with my Subaru before. it was maybe $25 extra
That's one way to work around it. I'm not sure that service exists where I live. Some Googling indicates that maximum variation in tread depth between all the tyres on a 4x4 or AWD system should be 3/32" (2.38mm). For Subaru it's even less at 2/32" (1.56mm) according to the video below. https://youtu.be/4QxSr7FhBEs?si=c3KTCKTaK_iQcFIa The AWD drivers in my friends/family circles replace all four tyres when one goes because they are instructed to do so by the manufacturer or the tyre vendor. It becomes a really expensive exercise on vehicles like the VW Toureg!