[Tannaton]

So back to the OP is AWD a waste of time?

I have some land we keep our animals on in the East Yorkshire wolds and its on a gradient, there is one part where to exit a field there is about a 1 in 5 hill for say 100 feet and at the moment it is covered in waist to shoulder high grass, nettles and thistles. There are two vehicles we use in the field, a 1996 Discovery 300 Tdi which has Defender running gear and is shod with nearly new Goodyear Wrangler, and the 2003 XC90 which is shod with Cooper Discoverer - so quite closely matched.

With a run up the Disco will get up the slope with some wheel spin, if it's slightly wet then you need diff lock or it will stop. The XC90 will stroll up it at any speed, any weather you can even accelerate gently up it.

To be fair the main difference is the older Disco doesn't have traction control, so it will sit there spinning one wheel on each axle. But Haldex cars can and are very capable off road workhorses.