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Subaru Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive

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Full-time Traction for Your Full-time Life

At Subaru, we believe in traction. Better traction expands a vehicle's versatility and capability. It creates better handling and control. It can be the difference between you avoiding a dangerous situation or you being caught in one. Keeping a sure grip of the road increases the confidence you feel behind the wheel.

We've spent nearly 40 years developing and perfecting our systems for traction and control. The result is Subaru Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive. Its unique design keeps more power routed to all four wheels and keeps the vehicle exceptionally balanced for poise and tight handling. Not every all-wheel drive system is the same, and none provide traction and control in quite the same way as Subaru AWD. It's why Subaru owners believe in their vehicles, and why they feel the freedom to live more of the life they love.


When You Need Subaru Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive

Every season. Every condition. Every time you drive. Confidence behind the wheel comes from one place -- where your tires meet the road. A sure grip of the road can give you the control to step around danger. The assurance to tackle any road surface, or brave challenging weather conditions. And the poise and responsiveness to make every mile more engaging. Subaru has spent nearly 40 years developing a system for traction and control that employs an almost perfectly symmetrical layout to maximize power delivery, and to generate balance and stability for control that's inspiring in almost any condition.

All Weather Conditions


Seasons are beautiful things. But snow, rain and other conditions can surprise even the best planners and intimidate even the most adventurous. Subaru Symmetrical AWD can help give you the power to embrace every turn of the weather. It keeps power fed to each of your tires so your vehicle holds on to every bit of road traction available. And if it gets really slippery out there, Subaru Symmetrical AWD reacts to slippage by routing power away from the wheels without traction to those that have it. Even if you encounter challenging weather conditions between you and your destination, with a Subaru, you're always ready.

All-Road Agility


Sometimes the best adventures begin when the immaculate asphalt stops. Subaru Symmetrical AWD combined with the rugged build of our vehicles helps give you the freedom to stray off the beaten path onto gravel, dirt, or other road types. Subaru AWD sends power continually to all wheels to help securely grip nearly any surface, and its balanced design and poised handling helps you navigate rough spots with a feeling of confidence. What's more, it reacts quickly to slippage by redistributing power away from the wheels that slip to the wheels that have hold of the road.

Spirited Handling

You deserve the power to delight in every mountain road, every curving onramp, every tight turn between you and your destination. With Subaru Symmetrical AWD, conquering curves can become pure inspiration. Power flows continuously to each wheel -- giving a feeling of being connected to the road as you enter a curve. Balance and stability coming from the symmetrical layout of Subaru AWD help you track precisely through the curve. And as you exit, each wheel engages the road, helping you accelerate quickly and predictably, and helping reduce the chance of understeer or oversteer. The stable chassis then helps you nimbly regain your balance and get ready for the next one.

Accident Avoidance

When danger steps into your path, the safest route is to step right around it. Subaru Symmetrical AWD routes power continuously to all four wheels, which means each of your four tires are as fully engaged with the road as possible at all times. Should you encounter a hazard, you're more likely to have the traction to react and get out of the way. While securely holding the road can make a decisive difference in dry conditions, it's especially important when road conditions are less than ideal. And because you need exceptional control and poise to make that evasive maneuver without overcorrecting, the balanced layout of Subaru Symmetrical AWD helps give you the stability to act quickly without making a bad situation even worse.


Why Subaru Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive is Better

Every all-wheel drive system is not the same. In 1972, we began developing our all-wheel drive system with a commitment to simplicity, to working in harmony with the forces of nature, and to making every moment behind the wheel a rewarding experience. Nearly 40 years worth of development later, Subaru Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive stands out from the crowd with advantages like the stability of its almost total side-to-side symmetry, the brilliant efficiency of its power delivery, and its quick response to wheel slippage.

Better Balance

We build every Subaru model with all-wheel drive from the ground up. Each one features the longitudinally mounted SUBARU BOXER® engine. Designed to work in concert with Subaru Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive, it feeds power into the system in a straight line. Some other AWD systems need extra components to direct engine power through multiple turns in order to get it to each of the wheels. The resulting simplicity allows us to build a balanced, more efficient drivetrain with nearly perfect side-to-side symmetry. Better balance means stability that helps make driving safer and agility that makes it more fun.

Quicker Response

The more your wheels are engaged with the road, the more control you have. Some other AWD systems engage all four wheels only when a loss of traction is detected. By then, your control has already been compromised. Subaru Symmetrical AWD keeps power routed to all four wheels all the time, helping to better prevent slippage before it happens. And if slippage does occur, its simple and efficient design -- with power flowing in one direction and minimal mechanical components -- allows it to respond more quickly. It immediately reduces engine power to the slipping wheel and gives it to the wheels that have traction.

Efficient Design

Because some systems lack the simplicity of Subaru Symmetrical AWD, they therefore not only sacrifice efficiency, but also can incur more wear and tear. The engine on a Subaru is mounted longitudinally -- in line with the driveshaft -- so power routes directly from the engine to all four wheels. The components of some other systems -- like those with transversely mounted engines -- needed to change the direction where power flows are not needed on a Subaru. Less components means less things to break down, and it also means less power loss due to friction. And with power continually flowing with maximum efficiency, you experience the advantage of seamless traction whenever you need it.

Dynamic Acceleration


Wherever or however you drive, if you want action, you need traction. Whenever you take off from a stop, or accelerate out of a corner, getting power to the pavement and holding the road is essential. If you lose traction when accelerating, it takes away from the control you have over the vehicle, and it robs the power you need to move forward. Subaru Symmetrical AWD maximizes power delivery to each of the four wheels and offers balance and stability that help the vehicle take advantage of every bit of traction available. Which in turn allows you to take advantage of every bit of engine power available.


How Subaru Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive is Different

Many all-wheel drive systems found on other vehicles don't start as all-wheel drive. These systems are adapted from 2-wheel drive to be all-wheel drive. Each Subaru model, unlike most other vehicles in its class, starts out as all-wheel drive. This allows us to build a system for holding the road unlike any other offered. Power is fed directly from the engine, through the transmission, then to the driveshaft and then delivered to each wheel in the most direct route possible. The result is constant traction for continual confidence.

Symmetrical AWD vs. Front-Wheel Drive-based AWD

All-wheel drive systems adapted from front-wheel drive typically feature a transverse-mounted engine. This engine configuration requires additional drivetrain components to transfer power through several 90-degree turns in order to get it to the rear wheels. This increases weight, reduces efficiency and makes creating a symmetrical layout virtually impossible. Also, these systems are often 2-wheel drive under most conditions -- the rear wheels only engaging when the system detects wheelspin. By then, you've already sacrificed some control.

Subaru Symmetrical AWD vs. Rear-Wheel Drive-based AWD

Some all-wheel drive systems start with a rear-wheel drive platform that is adapted to be AWD. This system requires power to be sent to a differential with an additional driveshaft that directs power to the front wheels. This additional driveshaft reroutes power, changing its direction so it can be sent to the front wheels. This extra routing sacrifices efficiency, and the extra componentry creates a drivetrain layout that is not symmetrical and balanced. Often in such systems, most or all of the power is routed to the rear wheels. When slippage is detected, the front wheels are engaged, and by the time power is rerouted, further slippage has already occurred.

Subaru Symmetrical AWD vs. Front-Wheel Drive

A front-wheel drive system leaves the rear wheels without any power, so they can't help you regain traction if you encounter slippage. Also, if traction becomes loose when you enter a corner, centrifugal forces that act on your vehicle during a maneuver can cause the front to drift to the outside. This effect -- understeer -- disrupts your ability to steer and track confidently through a corner.

Subaru Symmetrical AWD vs. Rear-Wheel Drive

It's much easier for your vehicle to break traction if only two tires are required to handle all the engine's power. And if slippage occurs when only your rear wheels are engaged, your control is greatly compromised. The rear wheels can move sideways, out of alignment with the rest of the vehicle. You'll feel an unsettling loss of control, and possibly experience oversteer in a corner. In a worst-case scenario, a highly dangerous spinout may result if the rear wheels don't regain traction.