SUVs and Crossovers- What’s the difference?

While searching for a vehicle to purchase it is likely to come up with the body types SUVs or crossovers. But to be true, most of us might not even know what exactly the terms mean or how they’re different from each others. It is important for an individual to know the similarities and differences between them if one is about to purchase anyone of the two. Both SUV and crossover are family oriented vehicles, but still there are differences between the two. So, let’s do some homework and know what exactly they are before buying.

The basic difference between the two is of the platform. A crossover is based on a car’s platform (unibody) with a V6 engine, while an SUV uses the chassis of a truck. SUVs uses “body on frame” design, i.e. body is built separately from the frame and later placed together. While in crossovers, body and frame are one piece. SUVs are built on light truck base and posses load carrying capabilities owned to an optional V8 engine. The unibody construction of crossovers is lighter and more rigid than SUVs as they don’t need the heavy frame of support.

The SUV is a type of passenger vehicle which possess passenger-carrying and load-pulling abilities with the efficiency of a pick-up truck. SUVs, large cabins, higher ride height, and safety attract buyers towards them. These vehicles have a separate engine area, although passenger and luggage area are enclosed together. Some compact SUVs even offers decent gas mileage. In fact, if one has a big family, or frequently carries large loads of cargo, then it is the ideal vehicle to go with.

During 1990s crossovers hit the automobile market with the models such as Honda CR-V, Lexus RX in the luxury segment. Like SUVs, crossovers come with many attractive features such as upright seating position, spacious interiors, flexible cargo capacity, higher ground clearance. So, in general language, crossovers look like small SUVs, but they drive like regular cars. Their features are generally derived from passenger cars, mostly from station wagonsand hatchbacks. As crossover offers useful attributes of many vehicle types, they are becoming popular among people.

Crossovers have lower center of gravity in comparison to SUVs, hence are at less risk of rolling over. They also have easy maneuverability and more fuel-efficiency than SUVs. However, for off-road driving SUV is more appropriate vehicle than crossover as the SUV is all-wheel drive and crossover is front-wheel drive.

Sometimes it becomes confusing when manufacturers use the term “crossover SUV” or “SUV crossover”. The term is used to describe that the vehicle possesses the characteristics of a crossover, while the vehicle itself is an SUV. Hope, the above stated differences cleared some of your doubts regarding the SUVs and crossovers. The differences between the two are quite visible. It depends completely on the buyer choose between the two, depending upon their requirements.

Summary:-
One surely have somewhere either read or heard the term crossover vehicles and SUVs. For an average person with the little interest in cars it is quite difficult to tell the difference between the two. The basic difference between the two is of the platform, a crossover is based on a car’s platform , while an SUV uses the chassis of a truck. However, along with these differences, there are other characteristics also that separate the two of them. Read the article to get more know-how regarding an SUV and a crossover.