But is the lingo really misleading? There's nothing incorrect about "all-wheel drive", "four-wheel drive", or "4x4". The engine is turning all four wheels.
The behavior of open differentials is somewhat counterintuitive, but that applies to 2WD cars too. People get one wheel buried or up in the air and can't comprehend why the car is not moving. Is that a failure of marketing or consumer education? Probably the latter.
For what it's worth, I've seen quite a few "real" 4WD cars with locking differentials getting stuck in silly ways, often because the driver simply had no idea how to lock the diff, or didn't turn off traction control, or just kept flooring it and making the situation worse.
To me, the only potential dishonesty isn't the naming, it's the imagery of SUVs traversing rugged terrains. But that's not strictly a lie, more of a missing footnote: "don't try anything more rugged than that".
"often because the driver simply had no idea how to lock the diff,"
Most of the locking diffs out there are automatic, like the G80. They're basically a locking limited slip diff. It uses slip between the wheels to throw a cog (for lack of a better term) that locks the diff. It then unlocks (drops the cog) after the torque is unapproved. This is very different to use from the older way of locking diffs via the hubs or the high end electronic switches that enthusiasts use.
The behavior of open differentials is somewhat counterintuitive, but that applies to 2WD cars too. People get one wheel buried or up in the air and can't comprehend why the car is not moving. Is that a failure of marketing or consumer education? Probably the latter.
For what it's worth, I've seen quite a few "real" 4WD cars with locking differentials getting stuck in silly ways, often because the driver simply had no idea how to lock the diff, or didn't turn off traction control, or just kept flooring it and making the situation worse.
To me, the only potential dishonesty isn't the naming, it's the imagery of SUVs traversing rugged terrains. But that's not strictly a lie, more of a missing footnote: "don't try anything more rugged than that".