Picked up my GT last night. I have one word to say. Amazing! You drive them and know what I mean. Enough said.
Here is my question.
I need to know how things work. My dealer is happy to say "If its dry, use Tarmac" etc. He doesnt really know how it works.
For example
1 In Tarmac, is it front wheel drive only? Or if I hit gravel, will power transfer front to back etc?
2 In Snow, Will I damage the system on dry pavement? or is it like an AWD system?
3 I assume Lock is like 4WD, very slippery conditions, not to be used on dry pavement
4 Speed limitations going from Tarmac to Snow?
I was able to find some pretty good info about the EVO from what I understand, the Outlander does not have Yaw control so I dont know how to extrapolate the information.
http://www.evoxforums.com/forums/arc...hp/t-9857.html
I read the book, I googled, My dealer really has no clue. I like to know what it can do. I also like to understand HOW it does its job.
My biggest question is Can I break this thing by doing something wrong? I am used to 4WD. Very different from AWD.
Other threads refer to daily driving in LOCK, and how sporty it is. To me, seems like a bad idea, but I am ignorant here.
Thanks for any help.
Chek6
2010 Outlander GT

 

i dont know about the S-AWD system
i have a 2008 mistubishi, and i can drive at 150 and put lock no problem, the system protect itself, it will not be in Lock if you pass a certain speed anyway.
normal outlander VS S-AWD outlander
2wd = Tarmac = only front wheel
4wd = probably snow = 4WD 60% front, 30% back
4wd lock = Lock = 60% front, 30% back,

i dont remember the speed when then deactivate, but i know lock is the one that disactivate first.

 

In Mine (2010 LS 2.4):

2WD: = 2WD
4WD = 60:30 split with ability to go up to an 80:20 spit if loss of traction is detected.
Lock: Is a 50:50 split.

It confirms in the manual that Lock can be driven normally on the road as well (even past speeds of 100km).

The only disadvantage is increased fuel consumption. I stay in 4wd Auto normally, as I believe it's a good compromise between traction and fuel efficiency.

 

Also not good for tire always 4wd or lock

 

S-AWC sends power to all the wheels regardless of which mode it is on. The **** just selects the "program" used for traction control (and hence changes how much power is transferred in different situations). Mitsubishi seems reluctant to say how much, though.

As for the regular AWC system, all of the posts in this thread are incorrect or partially right. It basically depends on how much traction it has and how hard you are pressing on the gas. Details can be read here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_AWC#Outlander

 

Thanks Ivanz. I think I get it now. I did some research. The car is always in AWD. The selector tells the computer how much torque to redistribute to the rear wheels with any slippage. I will not damage the system by driving in lock because it is not a direct coupling. It is a viscous coupling. Is this correct? At a given speed will the computer kick it from lock to snow?
Amazing how little the dealers know about how this stuff actually functions.
Thanks to all
Did I mention how much I love this car?
Chek6
2010 Outlander GT

 

Lock just transfers the most torque to the rear in regular AWC. I'm willing to bet it is the same for S-AWC (check your owners manual to be 100% sure). Theoretically, the only difference between AWC and S-AWC is left/right torque distribution at the front wheels based on speed/yaw rate.

 

If I'm not mistaken S-AWC is just torque vectoring for the rear wheels. Same deal with Acura MDX SH-AWD. Not Active Yaw Control for the front like the EVOs.
So the S-AWC system can transfer 0-100% form left rear to right rear and vice versa.
The EVOs can do it for both front and rear end.
So the only difference between AWC and S-AWC is the power distribution for the rear end and nothing else.
The Tarmac and Snow options just fiddle with Traction Control in terms of power distribution.

Check this video out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2csjbuwMC3Q

This is exactly how the Outlander S-AWC works. Notice how the front left/right has equal power distribution and only the rear left/right varies.

 

^^ You are mistaken in the fact that only the front wheels have torque vectoring. The Outlander is a FWD biased SUV and only the front wheels can get 100% of the power.

 

Looks like you did not understand what I typed or watch that video.
Disregard the power to the front wheels, they always get power nomatter what.
With S-AWC, the left rear can get 100% of the power for the rear and the right rear can get nothing....0% and vice versa. While this is going on, the front still gets power cause like you said, the Outtie is a FWD based SUV.
S-AWC is only torque vectoring to the rear end of the Outlander.

So if you are making a fast and wide right turn, the front gets 50% which breaks down to 25% to each front wheel and the rear left/outer wheel gets 100% of the rear power which is 50% total and the inner/right wheel gets 0% to keep the turn tidy and not go out wide!

That's just an example asuming you're in Lock mode where front and rear gets 50/50.
The front 50% will always be equally divider between both front wheels whereas the rear shifts to the wheel that will aid steering the best in the direction your point it to!

This video shows you how the AWC Outties vs the S-AWC would take a wide fast corner: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOsaIYEv39s

S-AWC will corner much tighter....