All Wheel Drive ?

[maple_leaf_eh]

Two of three plated vehicles at my house have some form of selectable front and rear wheel drive.

The angular green one has a four-speed transmission and a lever to engage the front axle from the transfer case. A previous green occupant of the covered shelter went further to have a three-speed transmission, a two-speed transfer case, and selectable front axle drive. I would term these vehicles as Four-Wheel Drive or FWD. (Never mind the complicating concept of non-locking differentials.)

The shiny silver one reserved for the Residential Sergeant Major, normally is front wheel drive, also abbreviated as FWD for some. It also has a rear axle driveline that may be engaged for slippery or uncertain traction. [I, of course am forbidden to leave the hard surface roads to do any sort of true loose surface performance testing.] The corporate descendant of Henry Ford's organization refers to this capability variously as 'all-wheel drive', in lower case, and in company literature as 'Front-wheel drive and All-Wheel drive', in mixed case.

The only distinction that I can draw between the green vehicles is their second axle is deliberately engaged, while the shiny one has some sort of wizzardly magic crystals that decide when to play and when to simply watch the action. That and marketing puffery.