A few thoughts from an earlier post on the subject...

Hmmm...

The electronic transfer case. Well I'd really like to see exactly what they went with. When GM first started with the push-button type, it was really just the same transfercase as before, only where the linkage used to hook up there was an electric stepper motor. I like the same t-case idea, and the motor does have the advantage of being direct mounted ie; no linkage to get knocked/popped of in extreme 4X4 conditions. Admittedly at first I was skeptical of the reliabilty, but the great thing was, the shifter shaft stuck right thru the motor... no matter what happened to the motor, you could always put a wrench on the shaft, and shift into whatever you needed. I liked that feature, but I doubt we'll see it like that anymore. Still I worried, but as the years went by, I noticed that I worked on a lot more 4X4's with linkage/shifter problems than I ever did electrical ones... So I guess I'm ok with it.

Now for our beloved X, what I don't want to see is some air or fluid shifted unit controlled via solenoid valves (or heaven forbid huge electro-magnetic clutches...). Not just yet anyway. I know they work ok in the auto trans but I'm still just a little skeptical.

Heck, I guess we can live with just about everything. The new X has no throttle cable, just electronics, and if you can trust it to run the throttle, why not the t-case too?
MV