Hey guys... like all of you i have been on an emotional rollercoaster with this patriot my fear of it being to short has disappeared after seeing some of the pics of them on the lots so assuming the 2.4 is enough power for the 97% of the on road driving im going to use it for my only concern left is how effective the freedom drive I will be... Im on my 2nd XJ now after a GC and there is nothing that they couldnt do for what i needed in 4 wheel high and occasionally 4 wheel low. Now i know i cant get the low with manual transmission but can somebody let me know what to expect form the FDI in terms of snow traction and the occasional small obstacle off road... Is it true you can only lock it into 4wd up to 10 mph? my take on it is that if there is no transfer case and no change in gear ratio i dont see how the FDI can be anywhere as good as the command-trac... basically, will i be able to climb up a snowy hill to park my car in the winter? and when are these things going to arive in boston??!?!?!!

Lets face it, nothing will ever be as good as command trac in a Cherokee platform, but heres hoping

Yes, lock mode is for speeds under 10mph...lock mode is for moving slowly through deeper snow, sand or other low traction surfaces....

The best way I can put it is FD1 acts like AWD when you are just driving around town. So in light snow and off roading it should be fine, and if you do get stuck the lock mode is there to hopefully get you out.

is it like a one wheel drive on dry pavement and if it gets slippery the power goes to all the wheels?

Command-trac is a part-time 4WD system. You should use 4hi and especially 4lo only loose/slippery surface. When in 2hi command-trac is RWD. 4WD is better offroad and RWD gives you better onroad performance. FDI under normal driving is FWD. FWD is better for fuel econ and vehicle control. The nice thing about FDI is under heavy acceleration and/or adverse driving conditions it automatically switches to AWD. No handles to pull (t-case handle on command-trac). I have only used 4lo once onroad to get up an icy hill. I just took my foot off the brake and let the gears do all the work. I think I was going 3mph max. So being able to lock FDI under 10mph should be more than adequate for most situations.

Personally I have no problem pulling the t-case handle when I think I need 4hi. But my wife doesn't have the driving experience I have. I would feel much better knowing that all she has to do is drive and keep her mind on the road (and all the other idiots around her).

IMHO I think FDI just might perform better than command-trac in most slippery wet, icy, snowy conditions. :D

FDI under normal driving is FWD. FWD is better for fuel econ and vehicle control. The nice thing about FDI is under heavy acceleration and/or adverse driving conditions it automatically switches to AWD. No handles to pull (t-case handle on command-trac).

That is what I was trying to say, very well put!

Another way of putting it is that FDI is similar to what the Honda CR-V has....it is basically a FWD vehicle and only switches to AWD (or 4WD) when it feels slippage and then reverts back to FWD after slippage has ceased...

....what the Honda CR-V can't do is LOCK the 4WD under 10mph in order to get traction under more difficult decisions should the vehicle get stuck....


....the FDII....as I understand it.....basically works the same way except it has a low gear that you can put the vehicle in for better traction and more torque than the FDI when rock crawling or going over obstacles....