Surf j dog. I came across that problem this year on EI with my van. The woman at town hall said I couldn't drive on the beach with it because its a 2 wheel drive. So I walked her out and showed her that the motovan had 33 nitto mud grapplers and an american flag and she quickly agreed I could get around on sand just fine. I have found with my east coast beach driving experience that a two wheel drive works just fine if you drive with some sense and let a few psi out of the tires
Mr brother in law has a 2010 escape limited and he drives on the beach quite frequently to go fishing and do hoodrat stuff with his friends. It works better than some trucks because of the short wheel base
saving (cetacean) whales is good. tree hugging is good. we don't "hate"companies; just some of their DUBIOUS BEHAVIOR. avoiding piping plovers is good. we now return you to your regularly scheduled values.
NY req are 4x4 a must, and where I live - beach access is only for fishermen. Meaning to get a permit you need to bring and show your at least 7' pole, hi-jack, shovel, air pressure gauge, and a dedicated 4x4. If you're on the beach and 5-0 rolls through - at least 50% of people in your party must be actively fishing. I'm not making this up. Other than that - you're good!
So are the citations... Oh and you're not allowed to have a propane tank on the beach in case you wanted to grill something real quick. Not sure about camp fires... Pretty sure that's illegal also..
No matter what wheel drive it is, having stock tires with only 8 inches of clearance, as soon as you spin your tires ur gonna get framed out and stock tires won't pull you outa that even with 4wd.
Where do you live? Because they changed it last year for the state beach pass. There is a "surf pass" now I have a Jeep Grand Cherokee which is AWD and never had an issue getting a permit.
Damn their not ****in around... hope cops don't roll up at lunch time while everyone's standin around layin down some $5 footlongs an poundin down some fresca... "I swear officer, we were just fishing like 2 minutes ago!"
I was checking last fall for breezy point, and state parks in the likes of jones beach (don't know your locale, might be diff...) If they done changed it - I'm getting one. That would be sweet.
The only way to lock 100% (meaning all 4 tires turning with equal power distribution), would be to have a full locking center diff, and something like posi-lock (or welded) front and rear diffs. It really is overkill, IMO. My subaru had a full locking center diff and LSD in front/rear diffs. About as good as it gets.
A 4x4 doesn't have a center differential, plenty of them have selectable rear lockers, aftermarket front lockers aren't that uncommon.
I went to school to be an auto tech, so this is something I have a little input on. Awd is essentially 2wd until wheel slip is detected ( one tire spins, power is cut to that tire, and applied to the others) true 4wd is always selectable with a few exceptions (Mercedes) and in 4wd, all tires have equal power. I would get an old Audi all road or something for an awd beach car, those had mechanical awd instead of electromechanical. Probably one of the best awd systems made. Other then that there is no way I'd buy an awd car for the beach.
You are right, it is called a differential in most 4wd vehicles. Some full time 4WD vehicles do have manual locking center diffs though.
Subarus (especially the WRX STI) are a bit different. The car uses a 40%F/60%R split for power during normal operation. Under slip conditions, or when you manually set the center diff to lock, power goes to true 50%F/50%R like a normal 4WD setup. Probably one of the strongest and most effective AWD setups put into a production vehicle. http://www.cars101.com/subaru/impreza/wrxsti2011.html
