Hi! I'm new to the mini game and was looking for an Acty 4wd. I saw a '94 2wd in really good condition. I will mostly be driving on the road. I may go camp or mountain bike that would have me on some fire roads. How capable are the 2WD? Is top speed, comfort, etc, similar to 4WD? Thoughts? Thanks!
I drive since 10 years a Acty 2 WD and never had a problem. Mainly driving on roads, sometimes unpaved roads. No experience on snow, there probably the 4WD is better, but for snow I have chains. I decided for a 2WD, less complicated, less maintenance cost, probably less fuel consumption. wiki says for the version with the E07-A engine from 1996 : The Street could reach a top speed of 115 km/h (71 mph), while the four-wheel drive version only could attain 105 km/h (65 mph).
I daily a Van model with the same 2wd and honestly after owning both a 4wd acty and 2wd van unless you are doing some heavy offroading you most likely will not need the 4wd. And yes getting replacement front cv's is a mjor head ache if even possible.
I own a Suzuki Carry 4wd and I only drive my mini off-road and 90% of the time I am on 2wd. I use 4wd in 2 situations, low adherence and uneven terrain. If you get into any serious mud you will need the 4wd and decent off-road tires. The other issue with these trucks is they articulate like a cinder block, you always get one or more tire in the air when you go into rough stuff. Without a diff-lock its pretty much game over when you pop one of the rear wheel in the air.
This I can most definitely agree too the one time I took my 4wd Acty off roading with the street tires you really could not go into super un-even stuff without the wheel popping off the ground issue.
I'm with everyone else. If you aint going off road then 2wd is fine. I've had a few Subarus and Suzukis over the year, both do not have real/full time 4WD, and never had any issues while in 2wd on roads and even some softer sand and mud.