Top car mechanic Scotty Kilmer has urged motorists to “stop buying” all-wheel drive models with motorists paying extra for the privilege.
All-wheel drive technology sends power to all four wheels of a vehicle when it is travelling, giving the model better traction and control.
The motoring mechanic stressed all-wheel drive models tended to “cost more” with “worse” petrol and diesel mileage than other machines.
Although the vehicles were ideal for certain functions, Scotty admitted they may not be necessary for the ordinary motorist travelling from A to B.
On the road today, SUVs and off-roaders will usually come with AWD technology installed.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Scotty added: “Today I’m going to help you decide whether you should get four-wheel drive, all-wheel drive or two-wheel drive in your vehicle.
“Now a lot of guys with trucks want four-wheel drive so they can turn it on if they’re taking a boat in and out of the water and then they can turn it off to get better gas mileage.
“Now some people think they ended an all-wheel drive car, so all four wheels drive all of the time.
“But it’s an added expense, the car costs more, you’re going to get worse gas mileage.
“For that, you should decide do you really need it. If you’re not towing anything and you just drive on normal roads, you probably don’t need to waste your money on all-wheel drive.”
Despite the advice, motorists quickly took to the comments section to defend their AWD models.
@rickyfriesan3526 said: “All wheel drive is very nice if you live somewhere with icy roads.”
@daniellew7122 added: “You have multiple months [where] there is snow on the ground? AWD, no contest. Or own two different cars.”
@ReRiderChi explained: “All true, but if the road is wet or it’s snowy or icy or anything else I want all-wheel drive.”
@jbsmith2872 commented: “Up here in New England it’s really good to have the 4 wheel drive for when the snow is on the ground, the 4 wheel drive comes into play and when there is no snow. I can set it to adjust two wheel front wheel drive and save gas.”