You Could Face Jail Time by Buying an AWD & NOT a 4WD SUV!

Imagine taking your brand-new off-road marketed SUV down a legal off-road trail and then receiving a letter saying if you do it again You could receive fines up to five thousand dollars or six months in jail Well case that's exactly what happened to a person out in Utah when he took his Subaru Crosstrek Down a trail marked four-wheel drive when he thought his car Did have four-wheel drive now look in a lot of ways the reasoning is completely sound except. It's also Completely wrong and in today's video We're calling out the Park Service for giving a very black-and-white set of rules for a very gray scaled problem And we're also calling out the vehicle manufacturers for maybe marketing some vehicles as more capable than they really are Okay So why would the National Park Service in Utah even have rules about what kinds of vehicles you can and can't take down certain trails? Well, they don't want people getting stranded on trails doing something that's potentially dangerous for themselves Blocking the trails may be causing a very expensive vehicle recovery. Yeah, that's right I mean, it's it's about safety for the operator safety for everybody involved and the rationale makes sense You wouldn't want someone taking a c4 Corvette Through through an area where only a Ford Bravo could make it in fact the Park Service has a very black-and-white definition of what they consider a four-wheel drive vehicle a four-wheel-drive vehicle is defined as a sport utility vehicle or truck with at least 15-inch tire rims and at least 8 inches of clearance from the lowest point of the frame body suspension or differential to the ground four-wheel-drive vehicles have a transfer case between the front and rear axles that locks the front and rear drive shafts together when four-wheel-drive is Engaged all-wheel-drive vehicles do not meet this definition what the Park Service is saying in my opinion is largely correct There are mechanical aspects of a vehicle you need to safely tackle certain off-road trails But it's more nuanced than that right case Yeah And this vehicle the Bronco sport is a good example of a vehicle that won't meet all of their criteria But is in some ways in a lot of ways more capable than vehicles that would now some of the features that are on this Bronco sport badlands like the center locker and rear locker It's a decently capable vehicle and this one doesn't have it But you can also get it with some falcon wild peak tires and when this car actually hangs a tire Doesn't really seem to struggle with that much at all They also just came out with a Bronco sport Sasquatch, which has got more suspension height bigger tires And even more off-road features I mean look this is no Rubicon trail But this is enough to prove that this vehicle at least has capability enough to get up some reasonably challenging things Look at this little Bronco go for a soft rotor. It does pretty good It's fun Of course, I'm intentionally taking it slow up this to try and make it as challenging as possible and to try and drive it carefully But this has no problem tackling some reasonable terrain now That's superintendents definition of a four-wheel drive vehicle has a bunch of different components in it So, let's see how many components this technically all-wheel drive bronco sport meets now We have to give a little bit of grief about the criteria 15 inch tire rims because that's a very strange way to talk About wheel and tire size doesn't seem written by an enthusiast But here on the bronco We've got a 17 inch wheel with a 225 65 r17 tire And the weird thing about that case is you would really never find a car that has a tire diameter of under 15 inches No, and technically a smaller wheel with a larger sidewall is exactly what you want off-road So i'm not really sure what they mean by that It's very vague the next criteria eight inches of clearance from the lowest point of the frame body suspension Or differential to the ground now ford will claim the bronco sport has well over eight inches We measured it just on our tape measures here and we found the lowest point to be just about eight inches But the tough part about this definition Is an incredibly off-road capable vehicle like the previous generation colorado zr2 had loads and loads of ground clearance and capability But technically the lower shock mounts were right around seven eight inches off the ground So it might might not meet that definition Even though it's got dual lockers and big tires and more capability than you ever need now Here's their next criteria four-wheel drive vehicles have a transfer case between the front and rear axles that locks the front and rear drive shafts together When four-wheel drive is engaged and here's where it continues to get interesting because this bronco sport Does have a center locker that will make the front end and rear end wheels spin at the same speed So it sounds like this should meet that criteria But it goes on to say all-wheel drive vehicles do not meet this definition and this is an all-wheel drive vehicle So again, it's very gray. Yeah in case this vehicle as you mentioned has that ability But it doesn't technically have a transfer case. It has a power takeoff unit from the front trans axle And then you've got vehicles like the jeep cherokee trailhawk which had a proper low range with two sets of low range gears front and rear but technically no transfer case so An all-wheel drive vehicle lots of them now have the ability to lock front and rear together Even if they don't have that transfer box when I was doing some research for the story What's interesting is different national parks have slightly different definitions of four-wheel drive vehicles all along similar lines The definition we gave at the start case was the definition the superintendent gave in the area where this guy could potentially find heavily However, the autopian fantastic website reached out and got some more information And here is a quote from what they told them the presence or absence of a four low gear Locking differentials and the minimum clearance required are the primary ways canyonland Rangers determined whether a vehicle meets the requirements for a use On a designated four by four roads in the park now That's interesting case a low range you want to explain kind of what that does? Well a low range is a whole nother gearing that you can put your vehicle in that will Amplify how much torque you can send to your tires? It works really well going off road, but there's other vehicles that are very capable that don't have systems like that Like any electric off-roader up to this point. Yeah, and we'll talk about that in a second and then like this bronco sport Technically doesn't have a low range But a lot of manufacturers on their off-road trims will actually reduce the ratio Of first gear to simulate a low range and some of them do a pretty darn good job I really think that this definition needs to be revised and I think that the park service gives a lot of weight to four-wheel drive Versus all-wheel drive and the automotive community in discussions online about this problem I've also given a ton of discussion about four-wheel drive versus all-wheel drive But there hasn't been a lot of discussion or definition surrounding some aspects of an off-road vehicle which I think are more important stuff like tires and recovery points and skid plates because according to this definition you can go out and buy a dually four-wheel drive truck On street tires and have that meet all their requirements And that's a vehicle that could weigh seven eight thousand pounds be terrible miserable off-road But still be allowed or something like this bronco sport with skid plates and off-road tires recovery points Isn't and I think that's where folks are getting a little stuck in the weeds now We understand why the park service would want to paint these vehicles with broad strokes Because they can't go through every single crossover on the market and determine whether they should or shouldn't be on these trails But there are a lot of exceptions that make their criteria not make sense Think about some of the electric vehicles that are out there on the market vehicles like the cyber truck like rivians and like the hummer ev That don't have a low range, but some of them have lockers and quite a bit of off-road capability Luckily for you We are not the park service and we can provide a list of vehicles that we have felt after years of testing Should be allowed to tackle some of the trails that the park service has deemed eligible for only four-wheel drive Let's get to that list right now So case you and I have both done a bunch of the trails actually that the national park service in utah deem Require four-wheel drive like the white room trail. Yeah, and from a difficulty standpoint Really not that hard wouldn't you say no it's similar to what we're doing now It is a trail in name, but you could drive anything that's even remotely capable of off-roading down it But we did want to break down our list of vehicles We would recommend the park service to include not only based on make and model But also trim because what we're finding in 2024 is let's look at this bronco sport This one we're in has a lot of off-road ability the sasquatch even more A base model though with the three cylinder and without that cool rear diff and without the skid plates But probably not as much exactly now there are certain vehicles that regardless of capability. We would recommend the park service Include on approved vehicle list and and they would be based on their definition and that's vehicles like any foreigner with four-wheel drive Oh, absolutely any bronco with four-wheel drive. Yeah the wrangler wrangler I'm going to put the fender on there by land rover Um, if you have the right tires and the ineos grenadier, yeah, absolutely. They're all extremely capable So those are examples of regardless if you get a base wrangler or rubicon It probably should be approved for that off-road use But what about some crossovers and suvs that you might not consider? Well, let's go down the brands and if we didn't include a brand it's not because we didn't forget It's because a brand like acura doesn't really make anything that we would feel suitable for regular off-road use Yeah, so audi used to I think be on this list with like the all-road products We've driven the all-road stuff off-road the all-wheel drive system is great But based on their stock wheel and tire choice along with lack of skid plating We decided not to include any audis on this list Same thing with bmw But we do have a couple of chevrolets So the tahoe and the suburban with the z71 package and why the z71 case z71 gets you a g80 rear locker But it's not just limited to that rear locker Which is also very helpful you get added clearance and tow hooks and a low range And recovery points those tow hooks and tires, which is a big deal So obviously tires can be changed, but we're just looking at stock vehicles from the factory Ford what we're in now the bronco sports specifically the badlands And the sasquatch, right? Yeah, and of course like we said the full-size bronco Yeah, full-size bronco, of course and then expedition timberline and explorer timberline Those include trail control 32 inch tall tires and skid plates along with recovery points gmc Now this is an interesting one because they have the 84 lineup. Not all 84s are built the same So we feel that like something like a terrain 84 is kind of just a appearance package But the acadia gives you a twin clutch rear disc it plates offer tires and recovery points Same thing with the yukon 84 and going back to chevrolet for a second same thing with the traverse z71 It's in that same line. Aren't you pretty good? Um going off of honda case, what does honda make that could take some abuse off road? Well, the two newest trail sport models both the pilot and the passport are very capable as we've proven with the testing that we've done You get skid plates and a really capable ivtm4 all-wheel drive system Yeah, and like the pilot even has a tow point underneath. These are proper good Mild off-roaders, right? They're not going to do the rubicon but for what we've experienced in national parks They are going to be just fine Even though they don't have a low range and they are technically all-wheel drive next up on the list case the hummers Yeah, the new hummer evs are very capable and again a vehicle that does not have a traditional low range But they have huge tires 35 inch tall tires, especially with the off-road group But even if you don't get the off-road group They still have a lot of clearance a lot of capability and they are really good off-road for what they are Hyundai now this is an interesting one so hyundai has been coming out with all sorts of xrt off-road models, but We are not going to put them on our recommended list because from what i've experienced A lot of them have a dual clutch transmission and what happens to dual clutches off-road they overheat Yep, they're just not good at low speed maneuvering They also typically don't have recovery points or under body protection or for a lot of instances any additional clearance That really is just an example of a marketing package jeep. So jeep is an interesting one Um, i'm actually not going to recommend like a base model compass or a base model grand jerky But jeep has an off-road variant on those cars called the trailhawk. Yeah, and those Generally across the board are pretty good. Yeah, those are going to be capable enough to run again light trails A lot of these vehicles that we're recommending Like you said are not things that you're going to want to take on really extreme trails But there's plenty of trails that they would be just fine on and look if you look at something like A compass trailhawk. Yeah, technically it doesn't have some of the things the park service would require But I would take a compass trailhawk off-road over a 2500 diesel On street tires, right? Yeah, so a hundred percent I think that that should be included and some of the trucks maybe not we are focusing on cars in this one All right, moving on from jeep. We have kia and the x-pros same problem as hyundai. They look great They have some cool wheels But they don't usually have tires or the clearance or the transmissions to take the abuse We're not recommending that and what about land rover case? Land rover we're gonna go with basically anything that has a low range So the discovery with a low range, of course the defender as we mentioned and then any of the range rover products That have a low range have the potential to be very capable Yeah, really amazing four-wheel drive systems and good clearance The problem is a lot of those vehicles are like the evoke Which are more street oriented with huge wheels tiny tires are just going to lead to flats off-road Plus they don't have the underbody protection So if you can find a discovery that has a four low mode any defender same thing with the range rovers with four low You should be good to go alexis Two models. Yeah, the gx and the lx of course, they're both very capable rigs on a trail Yeah, the gx550 the new one which underneath is essentially a land cruiser and the lx which underneath is essentially a land cruiser A land cruiser just so we don't get in the u.s. Mercedes Mercedes is going to have of course the g-class and the upcoming electric version of the g-class But that's about it Incredible capability on those two models if you change the tires or get the pro version of the g-wagon Really amazing off-road. It is worth noting. Those tires will need to be changed Nissan interesting one so I wouldn't have put this one on my list a few years ago But the new one's actually pretty good the pathfinder rock creek edition um It's kind of as mild as i'm going to go on this list because it doesn't have some things I would typically want But it does have good ground clearance and a good all-wheel drive and a good set of tires a really impressive set of tires That's why it's made it on the list and rivian Rivian is going to make it on the list whether you're getting the r1s And we're mostly focusing on cars on this list or the r1t They're both going to be plenty capable enough for some light off-roading even moderate or or more than that because they have clearance They've got a great four-wheel drive system. I've said it even though there's technically no transfer case They are very good at what they do and they've got a lot of clearance and recovery points and They have an off-road package, which I would recommend but even for light stuff. The normal one should be okay tesla I know it's a truck, but we have to mention cyber truck people hate it But our dual motor we have at the office does have dual lockers. Yeah mechanical lockers and it is one of the better off-road evs that we've ever tested it is much to the Disappointment of some haters actually very impressive off-road and toyoda now, this is an interesting one So we talked about you know forerunner any forerunner any land cruiser is going to be great off-road Sequoia specifically the trd off-road model and pro models are pretty good Now i'm not going to put the rav4 trd off-road on the list because it doesn't have Really that much improvement over the standard rav4, which is kind of disappointing off-road like with some others It's mostly an exercise in branding and marketing. Yep, and then i'm also not going to include things like the highlander or corolla cross so That is my list of vehicles. I would recommend the park service include on their List of vehicles and it is a pretty specific list and I think it needs to be at least in terms of new vehicles Because something like a grand cherokee in base model form or in luxury form may be pretty poor off-road It doesn't have a low range, but if you get a trailhawk, it's actually incredible. Yeah, exactly So there's a lot of nuance here and trying to make a blanket set of rules to determine whether one vehicle should or shouldn't be Allowed on a trail just doesn't really work like we've shown Again, a big dually diesel pickup truck that is wide. It's heavy and it's got Typically, no lockers is going to be far worse off-road Then the cyber truck which does have mechanical lockers has quite a bit of clearance and pretty aggressive 35 inch tires Even if it doesn't technically conform to their rules I would take this bronco sport over any dually off-road and that kind of shows a problem with the park service argument And lastly we need to mention subaru We don't have a lot of experience with subaru because they don't work with us Now from what i've seen their wilderness trims have pretty good all-wheel drive systems and pretty good clearance But they typically don't have a ton of underbody protection and really don't have much in terms of recovery points So until we have more hands-on experience, I can't put those on my list But folks let us know what you think in the comment section below as always This has been tommy and case head over to alltfl.com and be sure to drop us a comment below