If an SUV Is Too Big and Too Thirsty, Try a Crossover

Aunt Ann hates trucks.  

She’s nearly ninety, uses a cane, and can’t climb into a truck’s front seat because it’s too far off the ground.

But Aunt Ann does like her niece’s Honda CR-V, a small sport utility vehicle that’s one of the first of the so-called crossover vehicles.
  
It’s low enough so Aunt Ann can get into it gracefully, large enough to haul furniture back to the house from Ikea, and comfortable enough to make a 500-mile drive to visit relatives.

Crossovers like to proclaim their versatility.
  
So what is a crossover vehicle? It depends on who you ask.
 
One key answer is what it is not: a car, a truck, an SUV, or a minivan.
  
Edmunds.com, an automotive buying and information Web site, says, “A crossover can be just about any vehicle with unibody construction, a relatively high seating position, available four-wheel drive (or not), and a reasonable amount of cargo space.”
  
Some auto experts define them as vehicles that combine attributes of cars, trucks, SUVs, or minivans, while others say they are sport utilities built on a car chassis. Many of the older and bigger SUVs are built on truck chassis. That explains the rougher ride as well as the toughness to handle rougher roads.
  
While minivans can meet most families’ needs, there’s still that soccer mom stigma attached to them.
  
For someone who wants the utility, safety, and hauling capacity of an SUV, but doesn’t want to pay for it with every fill-up, crossovers meet the need. And nearly every automaker has one in the showroom or will soon.
 
They’re the hottest segment of the industry right now as Americans struggle with gas prices nearing $3 a gallon, yet still want a car-like ride in a vehicle with lots of cargo-and passenger-carrying utility. About fifty vehicles meet someone’s definition of a crossover.
  
Crossovers come in all shapes, sizes, and price ranges. Some are sporty, performance-oriented vehicles, while others look more like station wagons. Some are based on car platforms; others are built on all-new chassis. Some even have hybrid engines.
  
General Motors is in the midst of wheeling out three crossovers—siblings that will carry the Saturn, Buick, and GMC nameplates.
  
The GMC Acadia, for example, doesn’t have the heft of the big trucks GMC is known for, but inside and out, it gives the driver a sense of security from its size and high seating position. Yet, Aunt Ann can even get into the front seat.
  
The Acadia is one of newest larger crossovers. It has three rows of seats, but the last one folds flat to open up a good-size cargo area. And it still gets up to twenty-six miles per gallon on the highway. 
 
GMC has proclaimed it the make’s first crossover, “combining the capability of an SUV with a smooth, responsive, car-like driving experience.”
  
Compared with GMC’s stable of trucks and truck-based SUVs—some of them among the largest passenger vehicles on the planet—the Acadia does handle more like a car. The 275-horsepower, 3.6-liter V-6 is a small engine for GMC, but it is adequate to move the vehicle, which weighs in at more than 4,700 pounds.

It’s sleeker than its trucky big brothers, too, more aerodynamic with a tapered roofline, so it won’t catch the wind like a full-size Yukon.
  
The third-generation Honda CR-V, based on the automaker’s Civic platform, was redesigned for 2007, with Honda touting its “sedan-like performance, SUV versatility.”
  
Older models look more like a boxy SUV, with seats for five adults and a modest cargo area. The new CR-V is still among the smaller crossovers, yet sleeker, more like a tall station wagon. It gets up to thirty miles per gallon on the highway.
  
The five-passenger vehicle is powered by a 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine that produces 166 horsepower.
  
Both Toyota and Honda were among the first automakers to call their small sport utilities crossovers. Now, Honda’s CR-V is sold in more countries than any other Honda vehicle.
  
Ford unveiled a new crossover vehicle, the Flex, at the New York auto show earlier this month. It may look like a boxy minivan, but it doesn’t have the minivan stigma, Ford design chief J. Mays told Automotive News. The key, he said, was replacing minivan-style sliding doors with conventional doors. It is expected to go on sale in the summer of 2008 as a 2009 model.
  
So if crossovers aren’t minivans, SUVs, or cars, what are they? They’re just about anything you want them to be.
  
You want luxury? Both Lexus and Mercedes-Benz build crossovers.
  
You want performance? Even Porsche and BMW have crossovers.
  
You want to save gas? Ford, Lexus, Toyota, and Saturn all make crossovers with hybrid engines.
  
You want to make a statement? Subaru has long marketed its Outback and Forester crossovers to nature lovers who want all-wheel drive to get into the wild, yet want to conserve resources. Then there’s the Hummer H2 SUT, a combo sport utility and truck that doesn’t even pretend to be environmentally friendly.
  
They’re all crossovers. In fact, the term is getting so overused by automakers and the media that it’s nearly lost meaning. A crossover, generally speaking, is a car that works for Aunt Ann and might for you, too.