Most of the reason they are going to auto hubs and all-wheel drive is that the average consumer does not even read the owner's manual. They don't want to have to understand how/when to use it. I knew one guy who was complaining that four wheel drive sucked. Did not work any better than normal. Turned out he never locked his hubs... Of course, he never took the truck off road. Just snowy roads and such.



Just from my experience. Back in college a friend and I had nearly identical trucks except his had auto hubs and an extended cab, and open bed with tailgate net and I had manual hubs, standard cab, and cap. I routinely got two to three miles per gallon more than he did. Totally unscientific test, though.