Amen. I'll take my GT2 out on some twisty Ozark mountain roads on Wednesday and wring it out a bit. No interest in drifting, just love the AWD on corners.
got my awd squirrely once here in Chicago. it was chilly and rainy so may have been slight ice patch but I turned left pretty hard felt the back in come out, gained traction immediately and floored it and just took off. felt like a stunt driver, cars sitting at the light saw me probably laughing 5heir asses off
I managed to (deliberately) break the rear loose in an AWD, first test drive I had.
AWD isn't just about traction in slippery conditions - it actually changes the handling characteristics of the vehicle, hopefully for the better. In my limited experience, I'd say Kia nailed it!