Jeep Wrangler 4H Auto vs Part-time

[Josh S]

So, I am several drives under my belt now and loving it...

On my first Carnity drive I was advised to drive my JL in 4H Auto and keep the car in automatic. I did this for 3 drives.

Over the weekend, I completed a drive with another large, leading offroad club in Dubai (sorry Carnity!) and the lead driver is an active instructor. He told me that I should be driving in 4H Part time + Manual which is the opposite of what I heard in Carnity. Could I please seek clarification?

Finally, this particular club offers courses in addition to their weekly drives (Beginner, Intermediate and Night). Although I am now 4 drives in and feel confident, the lead instructor advised that anybody would progress significantly faster with a course or two under their belt - learning the exact techniques as opposed to just following.  I had always planned on being self-taught, but if I can become a safer driver, and progress more quickly, it could be a winner.

Has anyone here participated in a beginner or intermediate course, even after some experience.

[Frederic]

22 minutes ago, Josh S said:

So, I am several drives under my belt now and loving it...

On my first Carnity drive I was advised to drive my JL in 4H Auto and keep the car in automatic. I did this for 3 drives.

Over the weekend, I completed a drive with another large, leading offroad club in Dubai (sorry Carnity!) and the lead driver is an active instructor. He told me that I should be driving in 4H Part time + Manual which is the opposite of what I heard in Carnity. Could I please seek clarification?

Finally, this particular club offers courses in addition to their weekly drives (Beginner, Intermediate and Night). Although I am now 4 drives in and feel confident, the lead instructor advised that anybody would progress significantly faster with a course or two under their belt - learning the exact techniques as opposed to just following.  I had always planned on being self-taught, but if I can become a safer driver, and progress more quickly, it could be a winner.

Has anyone here participated in a beginner or intermediate course, even after some experience.

Hi @Josh S

The main reason we generally advise Newbie level drivers to use auto is because there’s already so much to focus on during these first couple of drives.

Depending on your car and your own preferences you might indeed feel after 5-10 drives that you have a preference for shifting gears manually. I know many people who keep driving in D in all levels, and equally many people who prefer taking matters in own hands and choose to upshift or downshift on their own timing.
 

There’s no real right or wrong on this topic. 
 

About the courses, Carnity was actually the trailblazer in this segment and the first one that started doing the 1:1 Masterclasses , and by now other clubs have noticed the success and started doing  the same. You’ll find the links to the masterclasses here:

https://carnity.com/desert-driving-course/

They are indeed worth it if you want to expand your experience and learn valuable off-roading skills in a personal 1:1 environment. Up to you where you get them 😉

[Benjamin]

Hi @Josh S, it’s not surprising you were advised to use 4H-part-time this is because on the Jeep wranglers part-time is technically “full time” meaning the all 4 wheels will be spinning constantly. Unlike 4H auto which will use the onboard computer to control when you do or don’t need all 4 wheels spinning. Ideally in Newbie drives you generally don’t need part-time in fact I rarely use it myself all the way up at intermediate. However it does come in handy when you need power and all 4 wheels at an exact press of the pedal. 
 

it’s all based on preference. Follow what @Frederic mentioned about tiptronic manual. Highly recommend you take a good few drives to understand your car once you know the RPM threshold start experimenting. Personally I started driving tiptronic on late fewbie-intermediate drives. 

[Looper]

As a Newbie driver we do advise you to just drive in 4H Auto (assuming it’s JL). In the 4H Auto the computer in the car manages where the power need to go and depending on the requirement it might just act like 2H or 4H when needed. TBH I and most of us JL drivers drove in 4H Auto even Intermediate drives and never ever felt any issues with the power delivery. I started to drive 4H part time only after I started to lead. And even now, sometimes I drive 4H Auto and I find very less differences. The reason for it is the computer is used to my desert driving and manages accordingly.

4H Part time is actually misleading. Because it is full time 4x4 and power is delivered to all 4 wheel at all times. It’s the traditional 4x4, hence better.

Following is my personal opinion: You can do advance courses in different clubs including in Carnity, and it will definitely help you to learn finer details much more quickly and will be your prerogative to decide if you want to do those courses or not. While you will learn what to do, quickly; you will still need to practice and it will take as many drives, but at least it is not a learning experience anymore, but rather practice.

[Gaurav]

4H Auto is capable of doing almost everything you want most of the time. To put in numbers you can practically drive your Wrangler in 4H Auto up to 90-95% of the time. You only need 4H Part-time (which means full-time, as Ben mentioned) in tricky terrain, where onboard computers fail (very rare) to do the required power split among the front and rear wheels, so you shift to part-time to have 50:50 power split to negotiate tricky terrains - like soft sand, a tricky slow and fast climb which require split-second change of power.

We have many leads in Carnity driving and leading drives in 4H Auto, and only switch to part-time when needed.

4H Part time should be used as a trump card, similar to 4Lo so that you have something to fall back on when you need it.

Most clubs even advise ppl to drive in LO gear for various reasons: 

1. Too lazy to get newbies stuck and recover and teach the right features, instead tell them to put on LO gear and let them blast all the way to glory.
2. Backed by the garage, so the sooner you break the car in LO gear, the better it is for their business.

In an ideal world of off-roading you and all other 4x4s should use a car based on the below order in sand:

1. 4H Auto + D 
2. 4H Auto + tiptronic (manual selection of 1st or 2nd gear)
3. 4H Part time + tiptronic (manual selection of 1st or 2nd gear)
4. 4Lo + tiptronic (only for self-recovery and recovering others)

This way you will learn your car and car will learn your driving style and also you have options to switch when you enter serious terrain or get stuck so you have room to shift to LO gear.

[Josh S]

Thanks for all of your comments, however, I am now even more confused!

To try and get a clear understanding, once and for all, why would somebody choose to use Auto instead of Part time? If Part time uses 4x4 all the time, surely there are no disadvantages to doing that, whilst there are disadvantages to Auto. ie - if you drive in auto, there may be occasions you need to move to part time, however if you drive in part time, you’ll never need to move to auto  

I’m getting the impression this is purely down to personal preference and different people will teach in different ways?

Also @Frederic - what are the requirements to become a Carnity instructor in terms of driving experience and teaching experience? Is there a general level shared across all UAE clubs? Many thanks. 

[Krishna R]

Okay, The below is my progression with offroad skills with respect to my driving style and gear preference.

My car has 4H, 4L ONLY. NO 4H part time.

In Carnity:

Newbie & Fewbie - 4H - D. Had no performance issues. Car shifted as per requirement.

Fewbie plus - Same gearing as above but learnt to control the power with my foot on the gas.

Intermediate - This is where I felt the car was shifting the way i did not want it to. Tried manual in 4H and the car did what I wanted. After a few intermediate drives, I went back to 4H - D and learnt to push the car without it upshifting automatically.

Other clubs - There were a few drives where everyone was driving in 4L and I obviously couldn't do some of the manoeuvres they did as I was driving in 4H. I was advised to try 4L which i did and was pleasantly surprised with the stability and torque. What I was doing at 5K rpm in 4H, I was doing it in 2K rpm in 4L, However, I did not continue in 4L so as to not wreck the car. The Xterra has a weak front diff.

Based on my experience with other popular clubs, I can second to what @Gaurav has mentioned above. Most of them are backed by garages and after a few drives with them, you would be pressurized to add unnecessary mods ( i have seen newbie fj owners recommended extra transmission cooler, headers etc.) and also safety usually takes a back seat.  

As for specialized classes, I have friends that have taken the classes and benefitted. 

I, personally learnt by going on drives. Cant say I know much but I am happy with my learnings and the pace of it. It is highly subjective. I have no plans to enter the desert on my own anytime soon but I will eventually get there in an year, maybe 50 more drives.

 

[Gaurav]

12 minutes ago, Josh S said:

If Part time uses 4x4 all the time, surely there are no disadvantages to doing that

Surely there are few:

1. Cornering will not be as agile as the front and rear have the same power split.
2. The car will be sluggish at high speeds above 40-50 kmph, as when you go above 40, Auto favors 70-80% power to the rear and 20% to the front to make driving effortless.
3. Higher fuel consumption (slightly).

Go to empty sandy terrain, try both, and see for yourself rather than getting confused.

[Gaurav]

18 minutes ago, Krishna R said:

The Xterra has a weak front diff.

Before that, you will damage the transfer case as LO gear in most 4X4 is meant for "Low" speeds under 40 kmph. It's an age-old scam or myth in the UAE off-road scene.

Check your owner's manual for specific speed limits for LO gear before attempting again.

 

[Benjamin]

33 minutes ago, Gaurav said:

Surely there are few:

1. Cornering will not be as agile as the front and rear have the same power split.
2. The car will be sluggish at high speeds above 40-50 kmph, as when you go above 40, Auto favors 70-80% power to the rear and 20% to the front to make driving effortless.
3. Higher fuel consumption (slightly).

Go to empty sandy terrain, try both, and see for yourself rather than getting confused.

Adding onto this if you happen to get into a refusal when your already in part-time you’ll begin to dig down to you chassis a whole lot faster than if you were in 4-auto. However if this were to happen the other way around you may be able to use part-time to get out of the situation 4-auto got you in… if that makes sense. 
 

it has worked for me in a practical sense a few times