Like I’ve been saying, sometime before too long I gotta buy a car so as to have it paid off before retirement. This is a need rather than a want as I have never got all that excited about vehicles and my two high mileage (270,000 and 360,000 miles) Corollas still start up every time I turn the key
Probl’y gonna go Carmax, price $20,000 to $25,000 range, maybe 50,000 on the odometer. Need something with decent ground clearance and some towing capacity (seven years from now I might hit the road with a simple trailer). Plan to keep it past 250,000 miles.
Subaru is out of the question on account of their CVT transmissions.
That price would get me a decent basic 2WD Tacoma, or a bells-and-whistles AWD Rav 4 Adventure; better mileage, better off road, more versatile, similar towing capacity.
My question is this; in order to wring out all that versality and capability out of the RAV4 Adventure they have to computerize the heck out of it with respect to the drivetrain and allotted traction. They even have three different push-button drive/traction modes for sand, mud and pavement.
I know Toyotas generally run forever, but how about all those electronic/computer doodads they use now, in spades on that Rav Adventure version, do those systems last forever too?
From what I've read about the selectable mud / snow / sand AWD systems, to my understanding all they do is electronically apply braking at various percentage levels front to back wheels for the different types of adverse driving conditions, so there's no true gearing changes -- just braking.
As far as I know, in smaller front wheel drive/AWD SUVs nowadays, only certain models of Jeep AWD SUVs offer upgraded versions with a 'Low' range option.
A good many AWD systems are totally controlled electronically, you can't turn it off, only come into play when wheel slippage is sensed, and don't allow operator to lock in full time AWD.
