I'm not sure AWD is all it's cracked up to be (sorry about the pun). Have you been watching the S4 quattros spinning all over the race tracks of various SCCA and other touring car events? Seems when power is quickly applied and the AWD system shifts some of that power to a different axle, the car can become squirrely and uncontrollable. It will be interesting to see if the Volvo implementation is better....and I'd like to see them on the same track as M3, RSX, and the quattros.

On the major races I've seen where all three drive options race simultaneously the order of finish is almost always RWD first, followed at some point later by FWD, then AWD.

Top FWD finisher is usually an Acura RSX.

The AWD has one clear advantage. In a race begun from a standing start, the quattros near the front of the starting order jump off the line and get to the first turn....first. They just don't finish that way.