I stop and start on nasty sand (2+ feet deep) using cheap-ass A/T sand/snow tires with my Subaru.
Do you own an AWD vehicle? They outperform 4x4s on everything except rock.
Do you own an AWD vehicle? They outperform 4x4s on everything except rock.
Absolutely not. My 2015 Subaru will selectively apply braking to individual wheels for traction control. That is an advertised feature, even.
AWD can shift power back and forth between the wheels. Its wheels do not have locking diffs and can turn at different rates all the time. This means you can selectively apply brakes to only tires which have traction to stop, or brake the tires without traction and let the gripping tires do the work to get you moving in trash road conditions.
And that's before you even get into tire consideration.