Went by my Dodge dealership today with my wish list. We discussed the full-time 4WD versus part-time. Basically, the full-time 4WD is not something the dealerships are thinking about because they keep selling out of all the units they take into stock. That sounds terrible, but they can sell all they can get. They took delivery of two part-time 4WD drive units late yesterday. My salesman claims they have no avenue to request an availability date of the full-time 4WD, but the July date is a rumor they have floating around as well. If there are any dealerships out there that know differently, now is the time to chime in. (How about it AVONDALEDODGE?)
He said that you can select full-time 4WD on the computer order screen, but there is every likelyhood that the part-time unit will be installed at the factory. He said I can take my chances if I like, but there would no guarantees, not from them. There are two places you can check for full-time versus part-time 4WD on any new NITRO. The obvious place is the window sticker. It will have the transfer case type printed on the left column on the sticker. The other way is to simply look in the vehicle. If there is a rotary dial 2WD/4WD selector switch on the center console, it is not full-time 4WD.
He say's the full-time 4WD will not have a switch, because it is after all, full time. If anyone has failed to notice, looking at the '07 sales brochure, all SLT and R/T models were supposed to have the full-time 4WD unit standard, and DCX carefully included no photographs of any interior with 4WD. I guess this doesn't bug the rest of you the way it's buggin' me. The way I look at it, it's not that the full-time 4WD is a no-cost option, it's that it is included in the price, and if you can't get it as standard, then the part-time unit substitution should be a reduction in cost, not be the same cost.
