are all pick-up trucks 4x4 nowadays?

A 4x4 is an option. Since you pay in fuel mileage, If you don't need it, don't get it.

Depending on where you live, and the general common hobbies of your area you will see more 4x4's. In snow country, wherer i live 4x4 is so common its hard to find a 2x4 on ther road at the moment. Many have a newer 2x4 that they use in the summer and an old beater 4x4 that they use in the winter. In california you may see many more 2x4's then 4 by's. Its all personal choice and preferance.

Yes, and they all have CTD HOs with heated seats.

FMB

I've driven trucks for years 4x4 and 2wd, if you actually spend a little bit of time learning how to drive then you don't need any weight in the rear. But to answer your question, they can be bought with just 2wd, 4x4, or even some kind of AWD. Honda even makes a front wheel drive minivan they call a truck so you could get one of them and pretend its a truck too if you beleive that front wheel drive is somhowe good.

A true 4x4 system (not AWD) doesn't make any significant difference in milage anymore. For example my 2004 4x4 silverado gets better city milage than a friends 2005 2wd F150.

Just got a 2006 Silverado 2WD. Put 240 lb of sand bags in the bed but was driving it without on snow covered roads. Has a V6 so was not so powerful as to break traction without conscious effort on the gas pedal. I reasoned that the 4x4 with 3.73 diffs, larger tires and the extra weight couldn't get the same bang for the buck as the 2WD with 3.23 diffs. The insurance company wants more for the 4WD too and it was 3 grand more just to buy it. Maintenance costs more over the long run too.

You would be suprized how may 4X4s there are here in CA that will never be used....

As all else have mentioned, 4X2's are still made and are easy to get, and yes, it depends on where you live as to what you need, but more often what you are going to be doing with it. I made the decision to get my '99 F150 Lariat fully loaded with all options, but as a 4x2, simply because although I live on Long Island and although you can drive on the ocean beach, I was not going to take a brand new 30K truck out by the salt water. We get snow here, but not enough to warrant 4WD and it's as flat as a pancake.

You would be surprised at how many 4 X 4 are used here in Canada :-)

Thats another myth too, there isn't really any more maintenance on a 4x4 unless you really like changing fluids.

I still put a few bags of "tube sand" in the back of my 4WD and I really never get stuck, even when "out in the Meadows" with quite a bit of snowfall on the ground.

But I think the real winter traction power are the snow tires. I put Cooper Discoverers on a couple years ago and they've been great!

Not certain what proportion of trucks sold in the US are 4WD versus 2WD. I wouldn't be surprised if it is close to 50%. Around here (western MA), seems almost all of the newer ones are 4WD.

No front wheel drive pickups AFAIK (???).

SMH

I have a RWD old chevy (car tho) and I put bags in the truck to control weight distribution. Even in the summer if you hammer it on a loose surface, you could break traction. Nothing wrong with fixing what the manufacturer got wrong. ...thehick

snipped-for-privacy@canada.com writes in article snipped-for-privacy@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com> dated 25 Dec 2005 04:43:40 -0800:

Except that you're increasing the total weight of the vehicle and therefore reducing your city mileage.

Another "fix" I've heard of is to install the battery in the very back of the vehicle. Other than the long cables, it's weight-neutral and really helps shift the center of gravity to the back.

-- spud_demon -at- thundermaker.net The above may not (yet) represent the opinions of my employer.

I load concrete blocks in the back of my S-10 pickup truck and it goes through snow better than a 4 wheel drive truck.

Obviously Tom has never driven a 4 wheel drive truck!

I've seen some people with a 4x4 and cheap tires get stuck where my little

2wd s10 would drive right through. A skilled driver in a 2wd can easily match an unskilled driver in a 4x4.

I don't bother with sand anymore. I carry a shovel and fill the bed of the truck up with snow. When I don't need it anymore, hey, it goes away on its own!