No, the take away is that Honda's need a centre diff. Besides it works in real world conditions. You will never ever experience something like front wheels only on rollers in the real world...
My understanding is that, with a centre diff , the real wheels are engaged permanently, as in the Subaru's. The diff distributes power mechanically to equalize traction.No, the take away is that Honda's need a centre diff. Besides it works in real world conditions. You will never ever experience something like front wheels only on rollers in the real world...
It is possible to walk on ice but not on free rollers. Also, the HR-V has a Sport mode for which fuel efficiency is not the prime concern. Would Honda use a different AWD threshold in Sport mode? If that was the case, the owner manual should advise using Sport mode in slippery conditions, which is counter-intuitive. I will have a look at the CR-V owner manual.May be Honda is saying, that ice is never as slippery as free rollers. It would be nice if the user had a control to override the software threshold and force power to the rear wheels.
Answering my own question, I looked at the CR-V owner manual and did not find any reference to a Sport mode.I will have a look at the CR-V owner manual.
Jeep has an intersting system they debuted just last year on KL cherokee and now renegade. Its a complete decoupling of the rear wheels when AWD is not needed, so you get the benefits without the drawbacks. (ok there is still SOME mechanical loss but not to the degree as permanent connection IMO)My understanding is that, with a centre diff , the real wheels are engaged permanently, as in the Subaru's. The diff distributes power mechanically to equalize traction.
Honda, to save fuel, does not use a centre diff and has some sort of a clutch, controlled by software, to send power to the rear wheels only if the front wheels are slipping.
In the Swedish experiment, I would have expected the software to engage the rear wheels as the front wheels were slipping. In my experience, having both front wheels on ice is a real world situation - this is precisely when we need AWD. May be Honda is saying, that ice is never as slippery as free rollers.
It would be nice if the user had a control to override the software threshold and force power to the rear wheels.