4 Wheel Drive Zone

A Crossover, or CUV (crossover utility vehicle) is a marketing term for a vehicle that derives from a car while borrowing features from an SUV.

The crossover combines, in highly variable degrees, the design features such as tall interior packaging, high H-point seating, high ground-clearance, or all-wheel-drive capability of the SUV — with design features from an automobile platform such as car-like handling, ride, or economy. Most importantly, a crossover forgoes the body on frame construction of the SUV in favor of the car’s unibody or monocoque construction. CUV’s typically are designed for only light off-road capability, if at all.

The term crossover began as a marketing term, and a 2008 CNNMoney article indicated that “many consumers can’t tell the difference between an SUV and a crossover.” A January, 2008 Wall Street Journal article called the CUV’s, “wagons that look like sport utility vehicles but ride like cars,” While the segment has notable historical antecedants, it had come into strong visibility in the US by 2006, when crossover sales “made up more than 50% of the overall SUV market.” Sales in the crossover market segment increased in 2007 by 16%, Notably, the crossover segment is one of the the few segments of the light truck market where import brands lead domestic brands, and the segment has strong appeal to aging baby boomers.

The broad spectrum of CUV’s or crossovers includes:

1. Compact to mid-sized sedan-derived CUV’s: e.g., Lexus RX 350, BMW X3.
2. Station wagon or hatchback-derived CUV’s: e.g., Volvo XC90, Ford Taurus X, Cadillac SRX, Subaru Forester.
3. Minivan-like vehicles: e.g., Dodge Journey, Chrysler Pacifica (now retired).
4. The European MPV or large MPV may broadly resemble the crossover, including vehicles such as the VW Golf Plus, Ford Kuga, Renault Koleos and Ford S-Max. Notably, during the development of the Dodge Journey CUV, Dodge benchmarked the S-Max

The sport utility market continues to expand despite higher than normal gas prices. The reason? Because, these do-almost-everything-vehicles provide just what consumers want. Sure, sales are down right now, but they will recover as more economical vehicles enter the mix. SUVs carry people, haul stuff, pull stuff, can go off-roading [okay, maybe not the Equinox], provide superior handling than many cars, etc. Fortunately, not all are gas guzzlers either. Chevrolet’s Equinox and the Land Rover Freelander are two that come to mind. Let’s take a look at these two compact SUVs.

Chevrolet Equinox – I like the looks of the Equinox, Chevy’s car-based SUV that is only slightly smaller than the mid-size TrailBlazer. By car-based I mean a vehicle that handles and drives more like a car and is actually built on a car platform [like the Ford Escape and Toyota RAV4, for example]. This means that the Equinox is built chiefly for the road, so if you want an off road experience you would need to opt for the TrailBlazer or get the Freelander. Okay, I digress.

The Equinox is available as either a front wheel drive or all wheel drive vehicle. Seating five passengers, the Equinox comes equipped with a 3.4L V6 that produces 185hp. The engine is paired with a five-speed automatic transmission; no manual transmission is available. A traction control system is standard with the front wheel drive Equinox while all models come equipped with ABS and electric steering. Standard equipment for the Equinox includes power windows, power mirrors, and power locks with Remote Keyless Entry; AM/FM stereo and CD player with six speakers; and air conditioning. The Equinox has received a 5 star rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for frontal crash and side-impact crash tests. Starting prices for the Equinox are very competitive with comparable models in its class. Base MSRP for the FWD is just over 22K; 24K for the AWD.

Land Rover Freelander – The smallest of all Land Rovers is the Freelander, a compact full time all wheel drive vehicle available as either a 3 or 5 door SUV. Unlike the Equinox, the Freelander has full off road capabilities as do every Land Rover model. The Freelander comes equipped with a Four-wheel Electronic Traction Control system; ABS; a 2.5L Quad Cam V6 engine paired with a 5 speed automatic transmission; an AM/FM stereo/CD system with RDS radio; air conditioning; fog lamps; a perimeter security system; and much more. The Freelander, a five passenger vehicle, sells for a price starting at just over 27K.

The Freelander is produced in England while the Equinox is built in Canada, In all, both the Equinox and Freelander represent well built compact SUVs with two different purposes: the Equinox is built primarily for the highway and around town and has the stronger engine, while the Freelander is built for both highway and trail.