Allgrip Pro and the New Jimny?

Hello my first post and my first question and its all about Allgrip Pro. I believe the latest Jimny's came with Allgrip Pro and certainly the new Jimny will come with Allgrip Pro.

Now it used to be 2 WD for tarred roads, 4 WD high for loose surfaces and 4WD low for real offroad when you need the low ratio.

What with Autumn soon to be upon us what about wet and greasy tarred roads? With the newer Jimny's or new Jimny do you still have to use 2WD. Does that mean for typical non dry driving in UK roads you would be better with Allgrip Select as with the Jimny you are stuck with Rear 2WD.

I'm used to AWD where the car takes care of everything automatically and I am potentially concerned that for the majority of driving conditions AWD would be better than the new Jimny. So should be looking at Vitara or SX Cross. Appreciate in true offroad conditions there is no ambiguity and the Jimny with Low ratio is far better.

Ideally I would be looking for the Jimny to be as capable as AWD cars when on tarmac.

Of course all of the above ignores traction control and that may be the part of the puzzle that I am missing.

Any feedback much appreciated.

wjamieson wrote: I'm used to AWD where the car takes care of everything automatically and I am potentially concerned that for the majority of driving conditions AWD would be better than the new Jimny.

I have come to this conclusion over the last 10 years that having some sort of permanent 4x4 system is more useful. Some dedicated off road purists like selectable 4x4 better. Various Suzuki Swifts have allgrip - might suit you better.

Is road noise a factor here?

I have a permanent 4motion VW and a Jimny.
Have no problem with any of them on our full winter icy roads.
Often hard ice, often 4 inch slush or more, more often 6 inch snow.
No problems with either of them. Traction control seldom blinks on my VW dashboard, but when it does, my jimny would have the 4x4 engaged if driven on the same conditions.

For other conditions i would not need 4x4 at all and for Jimny it is not switched on for wet pavement or gravel roads. If I was worried about that I would buy better tires first.
I think it is a small window where the AWD would play a part between the full on icy/snowy road and the wet pavement.

Lambert wrote: Where the drive comes from has less to do with the stability of the car than how good the tyres are.

I agree to a certain degree. I had an MG Metro that was FWD and span it on a wet bend but I have had 4x4s which have rear wheel drive as the basic setup and when the road gets a bit slippery it is more of a menace than FWD. I bet there are times when you had wished you could engage/disengage 4x4 on the fly. What comes to mind is winter conditions where one minute the road is snowed over or wet or whatever then you hit dry tarmac. I don't think we are talking about driving hell for leather just because we have permanent 4x4; I think (at least in my case) it is knowing it is there when I want it. I think I would take the tyres out of the equation as I assume most of us drive on tyres that we respect and respect the tyres we drive on.
Ideally IMHO what is needed is FWD with automatic 4x4 coming in when the motor senses it is needed fitted to every car.
I drive my 2.5 Pajero every day but when it is iffy weather I select 4x4 as it has SuperSelect. I am used to the quirkiness of rear wheel drive and in many ways prefer it but it is horses for courses so I drive it in rear 2WD.
On the other hand my V6 Pajero has not been out of 4x4 as I see no need to use the 2WD setting at all.

The second car i have here is a Liana 4x4. It's super stable on any road(ice/snow/gravel) even with the bad 12year old winter tires. Almost like driving Jimny with 4x4 engaged. The best thing is that you don't need(or can) to take it off even during summer .

Lambert wrote: You can shift between 2 and 4 hi on the fly in a Jimny upto 60 mph if it is needed for the road conditions, say alternatively slush and wet tarmac.

And, with a bit of practice and perfect conditions, you can brake hard locking all wheels, selecting 4wd low while you slide along, actually shift into low gear without really stopping.. NOT recommended, but doable with a manual shifter at least

Helijohn: the 4motion and the earlier Syncro system does what it is supposed to and is in basic a fwd with auto awd added.
If driving more agressively on a desolate snowy mountain road with alot of curves, I do like the Subaru or Audi Quattro systems better.
Makes me feel like a driving God:

Lambert wrote: You can shift between 2 and 4 hi on the fly in a Jimny upto 60 mph if it is needed for the road conditions, say alternatively slush and wet tarmac.

Yes.
I can't recall if it was my Jimny or one of my Vitaras but I could never get it to engage without coming to a halt first.........and going to neutral. It may be something to do with the motor being auto.
I had one motor where (might have been my old Landrover or my Cherokee or both lol) to get out of 4x4 I had to stop.

helijohn wrote: I can't recall if it was my Jimny or one of my Vitaras but I could never get it to engage without coming to a halt first.........and going to neutral. It may be something to do with the motor being auto.
I had one motor where (might have been my old Landrover or my Cherokee or both lol) to get out of 4x4 I had to stop.

Drove an old Mitsubishi Pajero(montero) that was like this. some times also needed to back up a bit. (early model before super select)
Could be tension due to tire dimensions, air pressure or simply it not being used enough making it stick.