2005 SUV of the Year Testing & Off-Roading Ability

Bits & Pieces

Suv Or Not Suv? That Is The Question
--Angus MacKenzie

The folks at Ford were adamant: The Freestyle is an SUV and so should be part of our SUVOTY shootout. But after three days on--and off--the road, the reality is that Ford's roomy, competent multiseater is basically an all-wheel-drive 500 station wagon wrapped in different sheetmetal. With its low ground clearance, vulnerable underbelly, and lack of a dual-range transmission, the closest this thing's going to get to the Rubicon Trail is the carpark near Loon Lake.

SUVs started out as trucks trying to be more carlike: Chevy's all-steel nine-passenger Carry-all Suburban first appeared in the mid 1930s, but it was Jeep's 1963 Wagoneer that set the blueprint for the modern sport/ute, with its slightly smaller size, smoother ride, and creature comforts such as automatic transmission. Now we have cars desperately wanting to be trucks. Why? Because "sport/ute" or "crossover" sound a whole lot cooler to the Madison Avenue marketing mavens than "station wagon."

In an era when even Porsche builds an off-roader and Land Rover is developing a supercharged 400-horsepower V-8 sport/ute, clearly there are no rules anymore. Except this: An SUV must have off-road ability. We're not talking Rubicon Trail rock-hopping, but the ability to take you further down a muddy, rocky, or snowy trail than a regular all-wheel-drive can. That means adequate ground clearance--and approach, breakover, and departure angles--plus good wheel articulation.

Of course, most SUVs never tackle anything tougher than the daily grind to the office or the parking lot at Home Depot on weekends. That's not the point. Most Lamborghinis are never driven at 180 mph, either, but what underpins the glamor and sex appeal that guarantees your Murcielago pole position at the valet stand is the knowledge you could do 180 in it if you damn well wanted to.

Sport/utes started out as off-roaders with a haircut and a clean suit. These days, they can look as streetwise as the newest Nikes or as suavely tailored as an Armani suit. But as long as they have that off-road DNA, they're the genuine article.

Vulnerabilities

How far can your 'ute venture off-road? High ground clearance and big approach, departure and break-over angles are important, but so is the relative hardness of the parts that'll contact terra firma. The Jeep and Land Rover undercarriages are armored for heavy off-roading. Jeep's vulnerable plastic airdam comes off with the turn of four plastic quarter-twist fasteners. Drag the QX56's rear bumper down a dirt hill, and you may snap off the trailer-wiring socket. The spare tire is the rear point of contact on the Pathfinder, so scout your descent for sharp rocks. The Freestyle and Equinox, the only two vehicles that don't carry a rollover-warning label, are the most vulnerable. Cooling lines sprout from the very bottom of the Chevy's transmission, just 9.0 inches off the deck--the same height as the unprotected front corner of the brittle, cast-aluminum oil pan. The Freestyle's fuel lines run unprotected down the middle of the car just 9.5 inches high, and the evaporative emissions gear dangles visibly from the right rear corner.