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A Txdigest poll: What's your favorite type vehicle?
Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 7:21 am
by Bob Of Burleson
Why Crossovers Conquered the American Highway
The crossover is a mutt that combines elements of cars, SUVs, and minivans.
And this new type of vehicle just may become the most popular vehicle in America.
Alexis C. Madrigal
The Atlantic
Something extraordinary is happening in the American automobile market. A new style of vehicle is taking over the supermarket parking lots, rural highways, and city streets. It's part SUV, part car, part minivan: a mutt of a vehicle.
People call them crossovers, and they've grown from an interesting experiment by Toyota, Honda, and Subaru in the mid-1990s into the biggest thing in the car business since the sedan, which most people know simply as "the car."
What does that change look like? Recently, I pulled into a hotel parking lot in Colorado. There were 24 parking spaces—and slotted into each and every one was a crossover.
For the car business, the crossover is what monumental, generational change looks like.
I am also now part of a demographic category called young families with kids, and being part of this demo means feeling the cold, clammy hand of the market forcing us towards these vehicles. Moms and dads can flail and fight it, but we might as well acquiesce: They're easy to get kids in/out of, they're great for the carpool, they hold lots of stuff.
But all this was just a feeling, or an even less coherent feels. So I called up Stephanie Brinley, a senior analyst at IHS Automotive, to put numbers to the rise of the crossover. Was it just my imagination or were they really everywhere now? Nope, they're really everywhere.
These days, three times as many crossovers are sold as SUVs and minivans combined. Even SUVs in their Clintonian fin-de-siècle glory days cannot touch the growth of the crossover. Just take in these numbers.
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Re: A Txdigest poll: What's your favorite type vehicle?
Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 7:25 am
by dublusk
My Jeep Wrangler is the best car I have ever owned!
Re: A Txdigest poll: What's your favorite type vehicle?
Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 8:18 am
by John in Plano
My paid off cars are my favorites, even though one is a door ding magnet.
Re: A Txdigest poll: What's your favorite type vehicle?
Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 8:36 am
by crocmommy
Not sure if my HHR is considered a crossover, but it's perfect for me right now. Wish Chevrolet still made them.
Re: A Txdigest poll: What's your favorite type vehicle?
Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 9:16 am
by LibraryLady
What is the difference between a crossover and a SUV?
Re: A Txdigest poll: What's your favorite type vehicle?
Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 9:29 am
by John in Plano
LibraryLady wrote:What is the difference between a crossover and a SUV?
Crossovers are built on a car chassis
SUVs are/were based on a truck chassis.
IIRC Lexux was one of the first to build a crossover with their RX300 series. Looks like an SUV and was built on a car chassis.
Re: A Txdigest poll: What's your favorite type vehicle?
Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 9:42 am
by Red Oak
SUVs have off-road capabilities, Cross Overs give the perception of off-road capabilities.
Re: A Txdigest poll: What's your favorite type vehicle?
Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 9:56 am
by LibraryLady
OK, guess it was a cross over we were admiring at the State Fair car show--until we learned it had no spare tire.
Re: A Txdigest poll: What's your favorite type vehicle?
Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 10:03 am
by bodine
John in Plano wrote:My paid off cars are my favorites, even though one is a door ding magnet.
Absolutely. Although I only have one in this category; the one I drive...
We bought my daughter a more dependable car on Wednesday, we bought our son a car in March; so hello car payments. But our deal with both of them was that if they got college scholarships, we will get you a car (used & dependable). Both were able to save considerable down payments. Both bought all wheel drive Saturn Vues; son got a 2008 with 56K miles; daughter found a 2009 with 96K miles. Both required some minor work, but my mechanic has deemed them to be good deals; and better, mechanically sound.
Re: A Txdigest poll: What's your favorite type vehicle?
Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 6:13 pm
by knotlazy
John in Plano wrote:LibraryLady wrote:What is the difference between a crossover and a SUV?
Crossovers are built on a car chassis
SUVs are/were based on a truck chassis.
IIRC Lexux was one of the first to build a crossover with their RX300 series. Looks like an SUV and was built on a car chassis.
So....my Tahoe was an SUV...I loved that thing after I got used to how big it was and the necessary curve getting into a parking space....I moved one of my kids 8 times with that thing...sold it to my SIL when he needed a reliable vehicle...he still drives it.
My hubby bought me a Lincoln MKX a few years ago...it's smaller so I do miss the extra hauling space on occasion...but it's easy to get into any parking space.
I will not drive a car with a trunk if I can avoid it. I hate trunks..I love to be up high on the road..and have lots of cargo space...so Im a "crossover...suv" girl...
Re: A Txdigest poll: What's your favorite type vehicle?
Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 6:45 pm
by planosteve
I've been driving a 2 door floor Explorer since 1999. I'm on my 3rd one, a 2003 which was the last year they made a 2 door. I haven't seen anything since that I like better. But, since it may not last forever, I'm thinking I may get an Edge.
Or possibly an Escape. But, I don't want any electronics other than a radio and a CD. May not be possible. So, it'll probably be a crossover. Probably used, I don't do car payments or leases and that kind of BS.
Re: A Txdigest poll: What's your favorite type vehicle?
Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 9:08 pm
by FlashM
Decades ago, our government outlawed big heavy gas-guzzling sedans, so Americans with big families, tall families and big and tall families got around that by buying much bigger, more gas-guzzling SUVs and King Cab trucks.
SUVs and pickup trucks, due to bumper height non-parity, make the roads less safe and use more fuel than the big sedans they replaced.
If I were queen, big sedans would be encouraged and all vehicles would have matching bumper heights! ::Soap box Emogie::