Experienced X drive in action

[bigwave2255]

ive had my 3.0d 8 months now and use it mostly to commute to and from work,

anyway last night i had to pick something up from a fellow who lives on acreage, and as i was reversing around to leave i inadvertently backed off his drive, so the back wheels were about a metre on to his lawn.

as i accelerated to leave i felt this slight grabbing feeling, and just drove out, leaving two skid marks on his lawn, seems the moment the car detected rear wheel slip, it did its thing and applied the brakes to the rear wheels and power to the front-----very smooth

i guess 369 foot pound of torque could really have chewed things up otherwise.

might have to experiment some more with this thing, see what it can do

[Fraser]

I think you are a little confused between xDrive and traction control. The xDrive controls the front to rear power bias and doesn't rely on the brakes being applied. The other system at play here is the traction control, which does use the brakes to limit wheelspin. Traction control takes care of cross-axle control whereas the xDrive system takes care of inter-axle control. I think what you experienced was probably action by both systems as they are highly integrated. Pre-xDrive models rely solely on the traction control as the centre planetary diff is passive, rather than active, as is the case with xDrive models.

[bigwave2255]

thanks Fraser, your probably right , it was very seamless in operation,

i have a raised XJ jeep i use for off road and beach driving, and the x is my daily driver

being as heavy as it is i have been hesitant to get it off road at all, however little things like this experience build confidence in the cars ability, might have to try it a little more hehehe

[Fraser]

xDrive is actually a very good 4WD system and similar to Jeep's Quadra-Trak as used on the WK/WH Grand Cherokee. The problem with the X off-road is the very limited wheel travel, the lowish ride height and the lack of dual-range gearing. However, with suitable tyres you'll find it very handy in sand (with the stability control turned off and lower tyre pressures) and also good in mud. Just don't try any rock-hopping...
I've got an old (1990) Range Rover for knocking around in the bush but the X does plenty of muddy farm tracks, gravel roads, dirt roads, and even some easy fire trails as we live in the country and that's just the daily driving regime around here. For this sort of stuff it's excellent.