What Defines a Crossover?

"DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!" (daft-ryosuke)
12/13/2018 at 19:52 • Filed to: None

To many on Oppo, a crossover is a demon spawn from the darkest depths of hell. While that may be somewhat true, there seems to be a lot of misconceptions as to what actually constitutes as a crossover. I see a lot of people that seem to call every new, tall, 5-door vehicle, no matter what’s underneath. It’s true that the general definition of a crossover is somewhat obscured, but I think I’ve finally cracked the perfect criteria and scale of which to score what a CUV is versus what an SUV is. I’d like to share this with you all.

The Three Basic Criteria of a CUV

From what I’ve found over the years of research, there are three basic criteria that defines a crossover versus a basic sport-utility vehicle.

A crossover usually has these three things:

A unibody architecture

Are largely based upon a regular family car or compact

Are usually front-wheel drive based

Let’s take a look at an example of a car that meets all three criteria.

Say hello to a car that I despise, the Dodge Journey. My thoughts on the Journey aside, it is a perfect example of a tried and true crossover. It is a unibody frame, with the platform from a Chrysler Sebring, and is usually front-wheel driven, with an optional FWD-based all-wheel drive system. No one will ever confuse this for a real SUV, besides marketing buffs and some unaware soccer moms.

Now on the complete opposite side of the spectrum, we find a vehicle like this GMC Yukon. The Yukon is a dinosaur in comparison to the crossover wave of today. It features zero of the criteria I listed above: it’s a classic body on frame build with no connection to any regular car built by GM, and in its most basic form it’s a rear-wheel drivetrain. This is most certainly a sport-utility vehicle, if I’ve ever seen one.

So, case closed right? Not exactly, because there are a lot of vehicles that seem to fall in a sort of grey area that feature at least one or two of the criteria featured above. This is where it can get difficult sometimes, and the reason why some vehicles like the Dodge Durango get incorrectly (in my opinion) labeled as a CUV.

This beauty is, as you all know, the amazing Alfa Romeo Stelvio. The Stelvio is interesting because it does crossovers a little differently. While it is a unibody, its Giulia-based platform means it’s actually rear-wheel drive. Some might call it an SUV just based on that alone, but I still think it falls into CUV territory because of it being a sedan-based vehicle, even though you can drift it.

And then we get to the Jeep Grand Cherokee. It’s not car-based, and it isn’t FWD, but it is a unibody platform. But because it just has one of the criteria, I think it can still be classified as an SUV. Besides, the Grand Cherokee is one of the cars that made SUVs highly popular in the first place.

So, to finish all this up, I think those criteria are what makes a CUV a CUV, and if a vehicle has a majority of them, it knocks it into the territory. Some of you may say, “Well duh,” but I hope I can help some others truly understand this craziness. Or maybe I’m just rambling about crossovers again. You be the judge.

DISCUSSION (22)

ranwhenparked > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
12/13/2018 at 19:56

Something with worse ride quality and handling than a station wagon or hatchback , but with an otherwise similar body style.

DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! > ranwhenparked
12/13/2018 at 19:58

There’s a lot of them that are just those with some ride height added to them. They still fit the criteria.

Spanfeller is a twat > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
12/13/2018 at 20:00

You’re wrong because... trying to define anything that isn’t a hatchback or a sedan is virtually impossible in this day and age without upsetting at least one sector of the internet.

But I agree with you, if anything is an SUV, it’s the Grand Cherokee.

ranwhenparked > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
12/13/2018 at 20:04

Yep, the added ride height is what ruins them.

Urambo Tauro > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
12/13/2018 at 20:07

I was struggling with this the other day and never did mak e up my mind. “Crossovers” by definition seem to straddle more than one category, and my brain really doesn’t appreciate not being able to organize things neatly.

Part of me just wants to say that crossovers simply don’t exist, that they’re just stupid buzzword nickname s for vehicle s that a lready belong to another category.

DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! > ranwhenparked
12/13/2018 at 20:11

I quite like my Outback thank you

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
12/13/2018 at 20:13

And I really like the Golf Alltrack

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
12/13/2018 at 20:14

I’ve always thought of it as

CUV=FWD based

SUV=RWD Based

But that would mean that the original CRV and RAV4 are CUVs and I don’t think that’s fair

CRider > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
12/13/2018 at 20:33

Kinja'd!!!

What is this?

CRider > ranwhenparked
12/13/2018 at 20:33

Kinja'd!!!

DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! > CRider
12/13/2018 at 20:46

CUV.

CRider > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
12/13/2018 at 20:48

I think Mercedes calls it a station wagon. Wouldn’t they call it a CUV if it meant more people would buy it?

KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
12/13/2018 at 21:17

Crossover.

To enthusiasts: A mediocre, lowest common denominator abomination from the deepest darkest depths of hell motoring hell, born out of marketing and purely created to suck the life out of all driving pleasure with no seemingly significant advantage over a wagon or a hatch, and and affront to the mechanical purity of it’s antithesis- A simple and straightforward RWD manual sportscar

To the General public: A perfect family vehicle that does everything a sedan or hatch does but better from an everyday practicality perspective, drives decent, with desirable ride height, ease of ingress/egre s s, doesn’t break your back putting in and taking out the baby, space for baby and baby’s stuff, good safety and tech with lots of different styles to choose from, available AWD where desired and not much of a fuel efficiency or price penalty.

TheRealBicycleBuck > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
12/13/2018 at 21:49

Well, our 2014 Explorer is generally considered an SUV despite being unibody and FWD. There is an AWD option, but not a traditional transfer case.

BigBlock440 > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
12/13/2018 at 22:03

But that would mean that the original CRV and RAV4 are CUVs and I don’t think that’s fair

Why is it not fair? By any definition, they were CUVs, since they were based off the Civic and modified Corolla platforms.

DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! > TheRealBicycleBuck
12/13/2018 at 22:41

Yeah, I think the Explorer is more of a CUV this go round. Perhaps this next generation that’s supposed to be RWD will knock it back into SUV territor y.

Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
12/14/2018 at 07:33

SUV: BOF or built on a truck chassis.

CUV: Anything that doesn’t fall into SUV. Generally a sliderless minivan with awd.

Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness > TheRealBicycleBuck
12/14/2018 at 07:34

Definitely a CUV, also know as a denial minivan. ;)

TheRealBicycleBuck > Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness
12/14/2018 at 07:44

Just don’t tell my wife it’s really a tall station wagon. I made that mistake. O nce. :D

Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness > TheRealBicycleBuck
12/14/2018 at 10:02

Just tell her it’s a sliderless minivan. That’ll really make her day.

Fuzzy86 > CRider
12/14/2018 at 18:54

The greatest vehicle ever made?

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!
12/19/2018 at 12:30

I don’t think driven wheels really matter.

And I think, in a few select cases, unibody vehicles can be considered SUVs, like the Grand Cherokee, and my old R50 Pathfinder. Is the availability of 4 low (an old school transfer case 4x4, not just AWD ) required to be considered an SUV?