AWD Battle! Forester Symmetrical AWD vs CX-50 E-Skyactiv vs Equinox RS AWD. Slip N' Grip

Oh my, the handling is absolutely garbage. Oh my God, this is, I do not want to be in an all-wheel drive like this. It hooks better, that's for sure. Come on, go! Whoa, that Mazda. Come on, Subaru. Welcome back to another episode of Slip & Grip, where we test out the all-wheel drive system of different vehicles. And in this case, we've got the 2025 Subaru Forester, which uses a symmetrical all-wheel drive equipped with winter tires. Next to that, we've got the 2025 Mazda CX-50 Hybrids. Now this one uses what's called an eSky Active System, essentially equipped with an electric motor in the rear to power the all-wheel drive system. And last but not least is the 2025 Chevy Equinox RS with an on-demand all-wheel drive system. It's essentially a GM all-wheel drive and also equipped with winter tires. It is minus six today at the runway where we do our drag races. It's got snow, there's ice, it's thick, it's slippery. I fell, I'm okay. But we brought three cars to test out their all-wheel drive systems. They're very different from each other. And today we're gonna find out how they compare. You know how they tell us that we've got the best all-wheel drive system, our all-wheel drive system can conquer anything? Well, we're gonna find out today how they do. On top of that, we are going to test out the tires because these three have different tires. We've got the Mazda on my side, which has got Michelin. There's Bridgestone in the Subaru. And we've got Continental on the Chevy Equinox. Now, these three tires are different from each other. And this is what the manufacturer offers. Now, some of you guys say, well, you should switch the tires from one side to the other. Well, I don't have all that money to buy separate tires for these. I'm not allowed to alter, modify the vehicles in any way because I have an agreement with the individual manufacturer. Also, the biggest issue is the fact that it costs a lot of money for me to pay out of pocket, to buy tires, hire someone to replace those tires. That's a massive cost, unless I had a sponsor. So if you are a tire manufacturer watching this video and you'd like to sponsor us, please let me know because I could find a way around in terms of replacing those tires with each individual automaker. Next up is the specs. Let's talk about what these three vehicles offer under the hood and the all-wheel drive system. The first one is the 2025 Chevy Equinox, which is also available in electric. This one though, uses a 1.5 liter turbocharged engine inline four, making 175 brake horsepower and 203 pound-feet of torque. It is all-wheel drive system on demand. It's called all-wheel drive system with an eight-speed automatic transmission that weighs 3,705 pounds. Next up is the 2025 Mazda CX-50 Hybrid, which uses a 2.5 liter inline four, naturally aspirated in this case, combined with the electric motors. This one makes 219 brake horsepower and 163 pound-feet of torque with a curb weight of 4,068 pounds. Because it is hybrid, it is heavier. Next one is the 2025 Subaru Forester, which uses a 2.5 liter flat four, making 180 brake horsepower and 178 pound-feet of torque, uses CBT all-wheel drive, symmetrical all-wheel drive in this case, and it weighs 3,656 pounds. So we've got an on-demand all-wheel drive. We have a hybrid sort of electrical motor, all-wheel drive, also known the eSky Active, and then we've got the symmetrical all-wheel drive from Subaru to test out. First thing we're gonna do is the drag race between the three vehicles, and then we're going to do our UL test for handling to see which one does the best time and which one handles the best. And if you're looking for one of these vehicles, guess what, you can use CarSnap. CarSnap is an application based off artificial intelligence. You can download it for free on Android mobile devices or iOS. All you have to do, take a picture of a vehicle. It will tell you the specs, list things around your area, and YouTube review. So everything you need is right there in one app. It's for free. Give it a try. When I say three, two, one, go, on go, we go pedal to the metal. Okay, here we go. Hands on the wheel. Three, two, one, go. Come on, Subaru, let's go! Whoa, that Mazda. Do it! Bye, guys. Yep, Mazda power, guys. I just destroyed those guys. Come on, Subaru. Come on, Subaru! Yeah, I got the Chevy. I got the Chevy. Whoa, that Mazda is gone, boys. The next test is what we call the slalom style. Essentially, we have a bunch of cones lined up with perfect distance between each other, and we're gonna test out the all-wheel drive system, how it handles around sort of corners type, and which one has the best time. Essentially, we have a starting line where the vehicles are located currently, and we go around, where there's just myself doing this test on all three vehicles, and the first one is going to be the Subaru. Unfortunately, because my internal camera did not do the best job in terms of recording me, I have to do a voiceover to give you guys a perspective of how the Subaru Forester handled. So I do apologize again. It's just that inside camera did not capture the best quality in terms of audio and video. Okay, here we go with the Subaru Forester. That was a really good launch. This thing is so much fun around this area with snow and a bit of ice. That rear end loves to break a little bit loose. Look at that. I spun a little bit there, but it just keeps going, and it goes back to where you want it to be. It handles like a jam. I have to admit, I'm a big fan of this overdrive system in snow. It's so much fun to drive, and this thing, once you put your foot down, it handles well, but that back end loves to spin and slide, and I love that for it. It's pretty quick on the inside. It feels quicker, but then again, we're going to time it exactly how fast this thing is compared to the other three, but to be honest, out of the three, this was the most fun, and here we have it crossing the line. That was pretty quick, and again, massive fan of the symmetrical wheel drive with the Subaru. It really handles really well. Okay, so I'm going to keep this in normal mode. I am ready, sir. Let's see the Mazda. Good to go. Go on, Mazda. Come on. It hooks better, that's for sure. Okay, I'm going to slow down here. The steering is really direct on this thing, a lot better than the Subaru, and here we go, and we're going to do a U-turn. It doesn't slide as much as the Subaru, and I'm going a little bit off road. No, actually, I don't. Come on, Mazda. Come on. We can do it. Come on. Here we go. We can do it. Here we go. Okay. Okay, not bad. Man, this thing is so much bigger than the other two guys. It feels like... Oh, that was bad. Oh, this thing has no grip. Wow. Come on, Chevy. Okay. Yeah, this... The handling is absolutely garbage. Oh my God. This is... I do not want to be in an all-wheel drive like this. This is so bad. Wow. This is the worst all-wheel drive system I've ever done in snow. Like, there is literally no grip whatsoever. I'm assuming the time was just as bad, right? No freaking way. No, you've done it wrong. There's no freaking way that I had the fastest one. I was like, it did not feel like that fast. Dude, like, I almost hit the pole, like, just going straight. I didn't even turn. My God, this is... Well, what a horrible... Like, so bad. There's no grip. Like, I'm going and it's like, where am I turning? I also think these Continental tires, they suck. Continental tires suck. Wow. This is... I don't want to be in this all-wheel drive when it snows. It feels very unstable. Like, when I'm going, it's just not even turning. At least those two are turning, but this is not even turning. What the hell is going on with this car? Like, okay, it's... Yeah, it's bad. I can't even turn this thing. Like, it's just going. And it's like the power barely goes so much for the freaking snow and ice. Yeah, no. No, thanks.