i bought this thing used a few years ago and have really enjoyed it. Had my first off road situation yesterday with some pretty bad mud ruts and it did great. I switched the terrain response over to the mud rut setting and had no trouble. Is this an all wheel drive vehicle? If so, is it standard or is it something I have to activate? Did the 4x4 activate when I switched the terrain response? I've read over the owner's manual and can't find the answer. Thanks in advance.

 

Its all automatically controlled by various sensors that feed back info to the computers to activate individual wheel braking, decreased accelerator response, as well as thefront/rear transfer case and in some trucks locking axle differentials making it a true 4X4.

 

All LR's are AWD with a Hi/Lo Transfer Case with the exception of the Freelander/LR2.

 

....and Evoques, Disco Sports and late-model LR4s/Disco 5s sans HD Package.

 

No one has actually said this yet (in plain English).

The LR3 (and many other models such as RRS, FFRR, DI, DII, etc) are full-time AWD. There is no mode to disable AWD.

The front and rear driveshafts and differentials are ALWAYS in operation, and you cannot disable them.

...unless of course someone steals your front driveshaft on your DII and you manually switch it to lock the center diff, making it RWD, but that's another story entirely.

 

Wondering about the semantics here... Isn't AWD different than (true) 4WD?

 

As I see it AWD is always on, no way to disengage it. You are able to drive it on pavement because it has an open center differential, though there may be an option to lock it. 4wd is selectable between 2wd and 4wd with no differential in the transfer case.

 

Let's add to that. If there is a center differential that locks, or ANY mechanism that locks torque equally between front and rear axles, then it's a 4WD.

For example the LR3 has no selection between AWD and 4WD but the center diff locks and when it does, it's a traditional (part time) 4WD. By way of contrast, the Acura MDX is AWD and cannot lock torque between front and rear either manually or automatically. It is an AWD.

So the statement above "4wd is selectable between 2wd and 4wd with no differential in the transfer case" is inaccurate.

 

I think houm and m_lars both said the same thing and described the difference between AWD and 4WD accurately. The question "Did the 4x4 activate when I switched the terrain response?" was never really answered though. I honestly can't remember whether the transfer case will ever lock if you are in the standard AWD mode. If it does not, then your terrain response **** serves the function of making the AWD vehicle into a 4WD vehicle. In addition, the primary purpose of the terrain response **** is really to change the manner in which the vehicle responds to driver inputs. For example, throttle response will be greatly retarded in rock crawling mode because you need more control over lower speeds. It will also keep the engine in the maximum torque bands I believe and will be much quicker to lock your transfer case and rear differential. The car will not want to downshift and avoid wheel spin at all costs in the grass/gravel/snow setting. In the sand mode, the car will keep the engine at high revs to give you maximum hp and allow you to power through the sand.

 

I don't remember if the general setting can activate the center diff lock or not....I THINK that it can, but the torque thresholds are so high that it would basically never happen. Agree with your answer to the OP's question. Effectively, when you select a special program, you "wake up" the differentials so that when conditions dictate the center diff should lock, it locks....at that point you're in 4WD.

Curiously, when I watch my 4x4 info screen, sometimes my rear is locked and my center is open....in those cases I'm a posi-track RWD! The LR3 just does whatever it wants...and goes wherever it wants. No reason to over-think it I guess!