Let’s be objective for a second.
If we were to look back at the late 60s, the automotive landscape was decidedly easier to decipher. There were saloon cars, estate cars, jeeps and lorries, and the usual assortment of sports cars. Fusion food hadn’t really been thought about yet and neither had anyone thought of a ‘fusion’ automobile, the sort of thing that straddled two lucrative and hotly-contested segments of the market that would later be referred to as the ‘crossover.’
That changed first in the United States, when Jeep introduced the Wagoneer in 1962 as a replacement for the Willys Jeep Station Wagon. The Wagoneer was the first solid move towards popularising the posh, high-riding estate car that could be at home in the bush and on the drive, but because it was limited to North America, it didn’t really move the market in the direction of the SUV as we know it today on an international level.
No, that accolade is reserved for the very British, and very capable Range Rover.
The Range Rover first arrived on the scene in 1970, a good 8-years after the Wagoneer. So shrouded in mystery was the model that it was registered with various organisations and regulatory bodies as the ‘Velar’ (or ‘veiled’ in Latin) to confuse motoring hacks and keep people off the scent. It debuted as a two-door model (replete with a long-wheelbase model that added space in the back but no more doors), before adopting a the 4-door body style we recognise today in 1981.
It was conceived in the mid 1960s when it was thought that perhaps a more road-friendly version of Land Rover’s venerable Defender might be interesting, and its success since is hardly a secret. The term ‘Toorak Tractor’ came about because of the Range Rover and by the mid-90s (then in its second generation), it was joined by the likes of the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado and Jeep Grand Cherokee and cemented its place as the reserve of cashed-up families who wanted to do a little more with their estate car than a regular low-riding family car would permit (or at least make the family seem like the type who do more, even if they actually don’t).
Fast forward to today, and we can only name a handful of brands that aren’t attacking what we used to call the SUV segment with some form of crossover or whatever that has only the most minimal changes over a hatchback sibling to call itself a ‘crossover’ or ‘activity vehicle’ or whatever else some marketing department has decided is cool.
To me, one of the biggest offenders comes in the form of French manufacturer Peugeot. After having languished unloved for many years, their cars have very recently gotten funky, with the 308 and 208 hatchbacks offering more vim and verve than their segments necessarily require. However, the 2008, 3008, and 5008 SUVs that also populate their lineup are perhaps the best examples of the ‘modern’ SUV: They’re not that much higher off the ground than a regular car, they’re not that much more practical than a regular car, and they are all two-wheel drive.
At least the Holden Commodore Utes had the right to say that they offered V8 performance with the ability to move house all in one go. What on earth can I do in a 3008 that I can’t do in a 308 estate? And the fact that they justify the lack of all-paw traction by saying that very few buyers need it further drives home the idiocy of the modern SUV infatuation.
*Right is right.
The argument for SUVs used to be that they permit you to see over other road users and give you a more commanding driving position, but with the arrival of ‘sportier’ SUVs with their hemmed-in cockpits, is that even true anymore? Having very recently driven a BMW X4, I have to say right now that there was more of the world to be seen behind the wheel of a 4-Series Coupe.
The other thing about SUVs is that they used to prioritise the U in that acronym. Utility was a big proponent for buying an SUV, and a 90s Honda CR-V will underline that capability by allowing you to fit half your life in the back and still have room to spare. But anyone who has lately explored the back of a Toyota C-HR will tell you that there’s less room back there than there is in a Corolla. And it’s not even that spacious inside for people, which is perhaps why then there’s so little room for their things.
There’s a recurring argument among the CarShowroom editorial team about what constitutes an SUV and what’s a crossover. The terms are now so vague, wide-reaching and interchangeable that it’s impossible to ever properly figure out what goes where. Reckon a Subaru XV’s body style makes it a crossover? But it has all-wheel drive, and a properly-useful X-Mode off-road system. Ah, but then the Honda HR-V has to be an SUV because of the way it looks… except its powertrain is nearly identical to the Honda Jazz with which it also shares a platform.
Compact SUVs (or are they just crossovers?) are perhaps the most infuriating of them all. This was a segment that used to be personified by the Suzuki Jimny which made up for its diminutive size by being properly, properly capable when the going got tough. Now though you find cars like the Renault Captur, Fiat 500X, and Infiniti QX30, with none of them offering any real off-roading ability unless you define 'off-road' as the ability not to flounder on wet grass (spoiler alert: a regular car should be fine here). These are cars that have had some body cladding thrown at them, their suspensions stretched out, and did not consider breakover, approach, or departure angles at any point.
The SUV recipe used to be simple: Bags of practicality, oodles of space, and a roughty-toughty attitude that could get you up a creek should the mood take you. But with cars like the Hyundai Kona, Volvo XC40, Jaguar F-Pace and BMW X7 either already here or incoming, the question must be asked as to why the SUV as we know it today exists at all. If it’s to inflate your ego and show off your deep pockets, we’ve had limousines long enough. If it’s to carry your crap around with you, the estate continues to prove its merits (often for less money than an SUV, too). And if it’s to tower over other road users, I’m sorry, but there are so many of you on the road that now the traffic’s just raised itself up to the ‘new’ eye level.
If not the CarShowroom team, I personally will forever hold a candle to SUVs that remain true to that original recipe. I have endless love for the Toyota Land Cruiser 200 and the Range Rover, as well as proper off-road propositions like the Suzuki Jimny and the Jeep Wrangler. But honest to goodness, someone has to stop this insistence on putting a lift kit on every other car, and then trying to give them coupe rooflines or in some cases, removing the roof altogether. The SUV should be a car that stays with you no matter there, that gets you there no matter what; What it shouldn’t be is a poser mobile.
So the next time you want to buy a new car and get caught looking at an SUV, think long and hard if you really, really need one. Because chances are, you don't. So save yourself a buck and get an estate, will you?
In other news, Lexus has launched a new, petrol-electric hybrid SUV in the form of the UX, which it calls a crossover. Whoopee.
