What Will Be The Future Of The SUV?

Let's face it: Americans have a love/hate relationship with the SUV. Although the term is rarely uttered without at least a smidgen of irony, if not contempt, buyers just keep snatching up these gas-guzzlers. To what do we owe this overwhelming popularity? Well, obviously there are those losers who buy sport-utes just because they think they're cool. You know who we're talking about -- those over-privileged young punks who have no intention of ever taking their so-called "utility" vehicle off-road, but instead shelled out the extra dough for a Lincoln Navigator because they dig the chrome trim and like to use the vehicle's bulk to intimidate other motorists.

But not all SUV buyers are like that. Some people buy them for their perceived safety benefits, some buy them for the extra cargo space and commanding view of the road, and then there are those - bless their hearts - who actually use their trucks to take advantage of the Great Outdoors. Never mind that by piloting these thirsty behemoths, they're actually depleting Mother Nature's resources and polluting the air. But we digress; the purpose of this article is not to further slander the sport-utility vehicle's reputation, but rather to examine the reasons why consumers favor these trucks and to determine how their needs may be better served in the future by less cumbersome and more earth-friendly vehicles.

But first, a stroll down memory lane. The past decade's love affair with the user-friendly sport utility began with the introduction of the Ford Explorer in 1991. Sure, trucks like the Chevy S-10 Blazer, the Ford Bronco and the Jeep Cherokee had long since been available, but the Explorer was the first vehicle to combine off-road capability, impressive cargo capacity and plenty of creature comforts. It was a huge success; consumers loved the idea of a car that proved equally capable both on-road and off. The rest is history.

Today, we find ourselves at a crossroads. Sport-utility vehicles of all makes overrun our highways and people driving smaller cars are becoming increasingly annoyed, not to mention fearful for their lives. Ironically, safety is often cited as a reason to buy an SUV, attributable to the idea that the bigger a vehicle, the better protected its occupants. This argument can be called into question by the tendency of sport-utes to roll over. Furthermore, this philosophy completely dismisses the safety concerns of people driving smaller cars. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the majority of traffic fatalities in the U.S. last year can be attributed to accidents involving passenger cars and light trucks, dubbed "mismatch" collisions. Occupants of the smaller vehicles account for four out of five deaths in such accidents. So it's not surprising that people driving passenger cars are starting to be resentful; SUVs are not only an annoyance, but also a proven threat to smaller vehicles.

Nevertheless, plenty of people love the big, hulking land yachts. The commanding vantage point, the generous interior space and the security of all-wheel drive are reasons enough to sustain this segment's popularity, even among those buyers who have no intention of ever taking their vehicles off-road. So what if the consumer could get all of those things in a vehicle that didn't guzzle gas, have a tendency to tip over or stigmatize their owners as poseurs?

Ah, but they can. Automakers have been craftily refining the sport-utility vehicle into something more and more car-like throughout the last decade. Meanwhile, station wagons have been getting steadily beefier and more capable in adverse driving conditions, thus blurring the line between the two segments. Is it possible that America's love affair with bullish, truck-based sport-utes will soon turn sour?

Unibody sport-utes and mini SUVs have become especially popular in the U.S., for the very reason that they offer car-like handling and decent fuel economy. Quasi-utes like the Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, Subaru Forester and new Ford Escape/Mazda Tribute look like SUVs, but behave like cars. At the lofty end of the scale are the Acura MDX, BMW X5 and Lexus RX 300, which are essentially trendy minivan replacements with impressive crash-test ratings and serious snob appeal.

And then you have the aforementioned station wagons on steroids. The needs of a large percentage of SUV buyers would just as easily be fulfilled by a wagon. Vehicles such as the Audi allroad quattro, Volvo V70 Cross Country and Subaru Outback VDC Wagon all combine the performance capabilities of a car with the utility of full-time all-wheel drive and generous cargo space. Furthermore, they're loaded with safety features, and the allroad even features a height-adjustable suspension! In fact, Audi's station wagon/SUV is probably the best example of where the future of this genre lies.

Audi's allroad quattro is based on the A6 platform and boasts a 250-horsepower, 2.7-liter V6 engine. However, although the allroad's exterior styling resembles that of the all-wheel-drive wagon, it incorporates a rough-and-ready design all its own. Its ultra-trick height-adjustable suspension can provide up to 8.2 inches of ground clearance should it be necessary to go off the paved path. It can also hunker down to 5.6 inches for optimum aerodynamics at high speeds. In fact, the vehicle lowers automatically as speed increases, thereby rendering itself idiot-proof and especially stable. Other safety features include ABS, stability control and a full array of airbags, including drop-down side curtains for head protection. If all of these nifty features aren't reason enough to forego that Toyota Land Cruiser, factor in the allroad's installable rear-facing third-row seat, which ups passenger capacity to seven. Not bad for a wannabe sport-ute, eh?

The Volvo V70 Cross Country doesn't have quite the split personality of the allroad; its impressive 8.2 inches of ground clearance is non-negotiable, which translates to impressive off-road capability, for a wagon. Not surprisingly, the V70 XC is also safety feature-laden, with such thoughtful standard features as all-wheel drive, traction control, ABS, a plethora of airbags (including side curtains), and Volvo's anti-whiplash system.

Subaru's Outback VDC Wagon only offers 7.3 inches of ground clearance, but its all-weather capability is especially awesome, thanks to full-time all-wheel drive and Subaru's Vehicle Dynamics Control (VDC) system. VDC is an advanced stability system that prevents skids under acceleration and poor driving conditions by monitoring and correcting under/oversteer. Standard ABS, a "ring-shaped reinforcement" body structure and side beams for impact protection add to the Subaru driver's peace of mind. This might not be the best vehicle to take off-road, but it may be the most capable in rough weather when driving on-road (which is where most SUV buyers drive, despite the rugged, active lifestyle they try to portray).

Other vehicles that blur the lines between SUVs and minivans or wagons, dubbed crossover utility vehicles (CUVs), like the Chrysler PT Cruiser and Pontiac Aztek, are also seeing an increase in market share. According to the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), sales of traditional SUVs slowed during the second half of this year, while CUV sales rose 121 percent during the last three months ending on October 31. The proven demand for these newly introduced crossover models will no doubt encourage automakers to pursue the trend.

Does this mean that oft-maligned but nonetheless strong-selling utes like the Ford Expedition, Chevy Suburban and GMC Yukon are about to fade into obsolescence? We wouldn't count on it; most of the new quasi-utes and crossover vehicles don't offer a viable alternative for people who actually need 90-plus cubic feet of cargo capacity or serious towing capability. Nor do they serve for family-hauling duty of Brady bunch-like proportions. No, these crossover vehicles are more likely to usurp such midsize segment-leaders as the Ford Explorer, Toyota 4Runner, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Dodge Durango and Honda Passport. Luxury SUVs, an odd phenomenon in themselves, are also likely to be replaced by upmarket all-wheel-drive wagons, which offer all the safety and creature comforts, but in a less unwieldy and pretentious package.

Quite frankly, we here at Edmunds.com look forward to an era when owning an SUV is no longer synonymous with being a yuppie, when young adventurers and growing families alike learn to embrace the idea of a vehicle that offers not only the illusion, but the reality of safety and capability, and at the same time doesn't frazzle the nerves of other motorists. Long live the all-wheel-drive wagon (even those that like to pretend they're short SUVs)!

--First published on December 19, 2000