Go with the All4.

You'll feel the difference around every corner because it delivers power to the rear as needed, helping you accelerate out every turn.

It also eliminates torque steer and significantly reduces bump steer, which you'll feel on every manhole cover. In bad weather, it also works more effectively with traction control, because it can shift power as well as braking.

That said, it won't affect hydroplaning, which is all about the tires. But I would still rather have All4 to recover if I went into a slide.

 

I'm kind of partial to my Detroit Tuned skid plate, which I've tested at some length for keeping things out of the delicate bits.

This new offering looks very tidy, however - nice job, although it doesn't look especially rock and stump resistant...

 

Same here. Having owned (and still do) an Audi A4 Quattro for 15 years, I decided the All4 wasn't necessary. I live in SoCal where it isn't needed much and not being a fan of snow, I don't see going to Big Bear or similar locations in the winter.

 

I got All4 BECAUSE I live in CA. California is diverse; within 100 miles of my location at 700' elevation there are roads up to 7000'. I can see snow yearlong from my backyard even when the temperature is 112F here.

 

But it depends on where you go. I can see snow from my house on Santiago Peak, but I'm not going up there in my car. I might run up there, but not drive.

Same with Big Bear. Pretty close, but if it is cold enough for snow to be on the ground, I won't be there.

 

I bought the ALL4 not just for so called bad weather but BETTER handling! I live in NC and we don't get lots of snow, but driving 150 per day it comes in handy in rainy nights

 

We have an All4, which was the right move for us given our ski trips to upstate New York and New England in the winter, but it is true that the non All4 S accelerates faster and gets better mileage due to the weight savings and lack of mechanical drag without the AWD system. And then there's the substantial purchase price savings.

 

All4

And to quote a great American, Forest Gump. "And that's all I am going to say about that"

 

Before we ordered our All4, the dealer let us drive an All4 and an non All4 S back to back. There was no salesperson with us so you could say we drove both cars with reckless abandon

We had the chance to explore the handling dynamics of each on the on and off ramps of a local freeway interchange. Yes, the non All4 had some light torque steer that the All4 did not, but compared to our Gen 1 MCS it really was not an issue.

I will say that the extra weight of the All4 car was obvious, both in terms of handling and acceleration. Both cars understeered when pushed to the limit, but you could push the All4 a bit more before it happened...don't think an average driver would ever push the car so hard that he or she would notice.

The non All4 car definitely felt faster both in and out of the turns and in raw acceleration. Seemed pretty obvious it would be the faster car on track day so long as the pavement was dry.

Would the results be the same on a wet track? Not sure, our test drives were on dry roads. But we have now driven more than 20k miles on the two All4's we've had, and I can't say that the grip levels on a wet road are anything exceptional...no where near our Carrera 4S or even our Lotus Elise, which has tires for which dry handling is the priority. My gut tells me that for an owner where wet road handling is a critical, tires that emphasize wet handling will be a better investment versus All4.

Where the All4 really shines is in winter conditions. When combined with dedicated winter tires (we have Michelin Xice 3's) the levels of grip seem to be as good as it gets, unless the snow gets super deep given that the CM does not have the ground clearance of some other SUV's.

If we knew there was no chance of having to deal with winter conditions, and we had it to do all over again, we would go non All4.

 

I had the chance to test drive the All4 in a gravel parking lot without a salesperson. I was impressed by the traction while doing some figure 8s and donuts, but opted for the Justa. So far I am very happy with the handling in the dry. Haven't had any rain since I took delivery. Winter tires (Pirellis) are mounted on Fortas, waiting for the white stuff. Final verdict will be in next spring. Mileage on my first tank was 32.8.

 

What is the weight of these units? I have one for my R50, but it is very heavy...

 

They say it weighs 25 pounds
http://www.detroittuned.com/detroit-...an-skid-plate/
but my recollection is it was very much less than that!