Being in California is the SHAWD worth it?

 

For me, trips to Tahoe made AWD a neccessity.

 

SHAWD totally changes the handling of the MDX in terms of power delivery and torque vectoring in my view.

 

If you won't be driving in snow, I would say no.

 

"Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it."

 

Really depends if you drive your MDX like a minivan/commuter car OR you use the MDX for traveling/outdoor sports/love to drive. Also if you plan on towing anything more than a couple of bikes on the back, sh-awd would improve drive-ability. You don't need sh-awd in the southwest; but, it can give you enhance capabilities not found on SUV this size AND pretty decent mpgs.

My RDX and MDX both drive like a smaller vehicle because of sh-awd. I really feel a SUV without awd is really a fancy more expensive minivan with less room.

 

You may need it for the rain

 

SH-AWD = spare tire. Done deal!

 

Honestly, the primary reason I wanted the MDX was for the SH-AWD. I live in southern California so it doesn't rain much obviously, but taking turns at speed is fun


If I was ok with just FWD, I probably would've gotten a RX350 instead.

 

Scratch that primary reason lol, the primary reason even going for a SUV was cuz we're expecting soon. But me choosing the MDX over the RX was due to the SH-AWD.

 

Because it rarely rains in Southern California is the very reason you can benefit from AWD. Drivers are not used to, nor drive well in the rain. In my opinion, AWD is always better. Since my first Subaru in 2000, I've always preferred AWD.

 

Reminds me of advice I was given regarding condoms

 

I have a 2014 FWD tech loaner right now as I'm getting mudguards put on and my driver side door elevated to be even with the rear door.


The FWD shows 20.8 MPG Avg, my AWD was at 16.8 Avg when I dropped it off. Seems like a huge disparity between FWD and AWD. I'm driving them both the same, but it could be that the previous user of the loaner did a lot of highway miles. I do 90% city driving since my commute's only 2 miles to work and maybe do some highway on the weekends, but not much. I would think I'd be getting a bit better mileage, closer to the rating on the sticker since there aren't many stop lights on the way to work, but oh well.


There's subtle differences when driving normally in a straight line, but there's a huge difference in handling when taking turns. When I put on the gas during a turn, I feel the understeer with the loaner. With my AWD, when I press the gas, I feel the rear push in nicely.


I'm sure the dealer filled me up with regular unleaded, when it comes time to fill up I'm only doing 91octane. Hopefully I'll see a bit better mileage then.

 

Getting (according to computer) 24.3 mpg with mostly highway driving (80-90%).

 

Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.

It's $2k more, and over the life of the car it's really not that much of a difference IMO