Yet another variant ...
My Explorer has "automatic 4 wheel drive". Apparently this is different from the "on-demand 4 wheel drive" in your Pathfinder, since I don't have to do anything to cause it to engage when needed.
It normally runs in 2WD. By using buttons on the dash, I could manually engage 4WD-high range, or 4WD-low range if needed, but for me, that almost never happens. However, if the rear wheels begin to spin, it engages 4-WD-high automatically - I don't have to take any action. I can feel a little lurch as the 4WD engages and takes up the load, and then another little lurch as the 4WD disengages when the need it over.
Since I don't live in snow country any more, I find that I don't need 4WD very often - but when I need it, I really need it. The incidents are similar to those mentioned above. For example, I go to a place or an event where the trailer parking parking is down a wet grassy slope. To get out, I have to back up that slope. How often? Maybe once a year. But if I can't back out, I'm in trouble.
Another example. When we leave our cabin in Colorado, we have to negotiate a PopBeavers scenario - a hairpin turn, uphill, sloped the wrong way, on a loose gravel surface. My rig can't make this turn without 4WD, and there is no alternative route.
I would not take the various hits associated with 4WD - added weight and higher initial cost - if I didn't feel I need it. But I am unwilling or unable to avoid some of these situations, and I don't want to face having to call a tow truck or a farmer with a tractor. Many / most people have a different situation. Yours is the one that counts for you.
Bill
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