The 1989 Mazda MPV was the world's first 3-row crossover

"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein) 12/09/2014 at 15:35 • Filed to: None

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The original Mazda MPV never did a particularly good job of being a minivan. Mazda introduced it when all the car companies felt like they needed a minivan, but hadn't yet perfected the concept of copying Chrysler's minivans while adding reliability. Which kind of makes the MPV the world's first 3-row crossover.

As a kid growing up in the late 80s and early 90s, I was at the forefront of a revolution in family transportation. When I was born in 1982, the typical family hauler looked very much like this 1982 Ford Country Squire wagon.

But within a few short years, two vehicles would revolutionize the family hauler market. First up, in 1984, were Chrysler's new minivan twins: the Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager.

Like I said: a transportation revolution.

The other huge leap forward in 80s family transportation was the Ford Taurus wagon, which came out in 1986. It was still a wagon, but it replaced the baroque, wood-paneled styling, gigantic proportions, terrible gas mileage, and rwd body-on-frame platforms of dinosaurs like the Country Squire, with a modern, unibody fwd platform with much more reasonable dimensions and fuel economy.

I mean, just look at the difference. It's so... round . Ford kept selling the Country Squire all the way until 1991. Imagine walking into your Ford dealer in 1989 and and seeing the Taurus and Country Squire next to each other. That's exactly what my parents did, and they bought the Taurus: a gray 1989 Taurus LX, fully loaded with gray imitation leather seats, not-even-close-to-realistic wood trim, and the all-important (to my mom) sunroof.

So, in the late 80s, when the most popular family haulers were Chrysler minivans, and the Taurus (and Mercury Sable) wagon, several people at Mazda got together and decided, "Hey, what America really wants is a minivan that's smaller than Chrysler's but still has 3 rows of seats, with part-time shift-on-the-fly 4wd, and one rear door that swings out like a car."

Mazda's advertising even played up the supposed off-road-iness of the MPV. Look at that majestic mountain range. Well, maybe this isn't a press shot. I don't know. But that's a glorious 4WD decal.

Shortly after my mom got her Taurus wagon, my neighbors across the street got a 1st-gen MPV. Their dad was my little league basketball coach. Whenever he caught carpool duty, he'd drive us around in the MPV, with a mug of coffee in the cup holder that flipped down from the side of the passenger seat.

Not a travel mug, mind you. A regular ceramic coffee mug. It never spilled. In 1989, cup holders were still a pretty rare car feature, and 7 year-old me was very impressed with how they were mounted to the side of the seat.

The MPV sold well its first couple of years on the market, but pretty much tanked when more car companies started jumping into the minivan game with minivans that had actual minivan traits like sliding doors and long wheelbases. So how did Mazda respond? By adding another regular-car back door to the driver's side, and more SUV-aping body cladding, of course.

So what do you call a vehicle with 3 rows of seating but less room than a minivan, a car platform, and SUV-aping styling and off-road pretense? That's right, a crossover.

Now let's go muddin.

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > Textured Soy Protein 12/09/2014 at 15:45

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LIES.

You only want to be in the jumper seats at the back.

HammerheadFistpunch > Textured Soy Protein 12/09/2014 at 15:46

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I remember driving one of these when I was 16. I thought it was pretty novel, and had decent power...especially at the 6500 I was driving around at...but it sure looked and felt like crap, inside and out.

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > Textured Soy Protein 12/09/2014 at 15:47

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You just made me want a Mazda MPV. with a liftkit. I wanna go muddin'.

Textured Soy Protein > Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy 12/09/2014 at 15:47

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I spent a large chunk of my formative years sitting in the wayback of that Taurus wagon, making faces at the car behind me.

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > Textured Soy Protein 12/09/2014 at 15:49

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My mother owned a 1996 that kept breaking down. That was the only redeeming feature in ours.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Textured Soy Protein 12/09/2014 at 15:49

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I believe there was also an option of a locking diff too.

Textured Soy Protein > Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy 12/09/2014 at 15:49

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You might also appreciate this overland-ready Mitsubishi Delica .

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > Textured Soy Protein 12/09/2014 at 15:50

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gimme.

Textured Soy Protein > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 12/09/2014 at 15:50

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As far as I know, the 4wd was a basic electronic shift-on-the-fly setup where you could either drive in rwd, or 4 Hi locked.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Textured Soy Protein 12/09/2014 at 15:54

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Its selectable 4WD system is not to be confused with permanent "all-wheel-drive" systems; the MPV can be switched into 4WD with a switch mounted on the column gear selector. A dash mounted switch also allowed the driver to lock the center differential , splitting power equally between the front and rear axles. The 4WD can be engaged and disengaged while moving.

-Wikipedia

Textured Soy Protein > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 12/09/2014 at 16:03

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Fair enough, I guess I just figured since it wasn't full-time 4wd that its only 4wd mode was locked. But it looks like there's an actual center diff, go figure.

RallyWrench > Textured Soy Protein 12/09/2014 at 16:04

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They also do bitchin' burnouts when nosed into lampposts, and slide across lawns & wet parking lots with aplomb. A buddy in high school had one, and it was properly hooned. We used to have backroad van battles between it and my bravely driven Vanagon.

MarquetteLa > Textured Soy Protein 12/09/2014 at 16:11

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And the shifters were properly phallic.

duurtlang > Textured Soy Protein 12/09/2014 at 17:41

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But it's a minivan. It's even in the name, MPV, which is 'European' for minivan, usually with normal doors.

Take this 1984 Renault Espace for example. A full size (for the time) three row minivan.