When is an SUV an off-roader?
Sorting an SUV with really good off-road ability is not as complicated as you think, reports Damien O’Carroll.
With the recent explosion of SUV sales both locally and on a global scale, the lines between car and SUV have become increasingly blurred.
Traditionally, an SUV is defined as a light truck, based on a ladder chassis, with good axle articulation, that is similar in packaging and layout to a station wagon and usually possesses considerable off-road ability. A low-range transfer case allows it to crawl along tough terrain.
That general definition has been embraced as gospel by many people who are serious about going off road.
But the proliferation of hightensile, low-weight steel, modern manufacturing processes, powerful computer processors and clever off-road electronics in modern vehicles has started blurring even those rules.
After all, Land Rover vehicles are still considered remarkably capable off-road, yet the brand currently sells no models based on a ladder chassis. There are other models with serious offroad ability that don’t even have low-range, relying instead on those electronics and lots of single-range gears (VW Amarok for one).
So what exactly is it that makes an SUV an off-roader?
Well, it’s a number of things, but two stand out as being far more important than the rest – ground clearance and tyres.
It’s pretty self-explanatory, but being high enough to get over something hard and having enough traction to get through something soft pretty much covers the bases for most off roaders.
Of course, a certain robustness is also a prerequisite, which is why the venerable ladder chassis has remained the default choice for so long. But modern high-tensile steel construction processes have made monocoque platforms just as robust, albeit more expensive.
Which is why the ladderchassis, ute-based SUV is still a popular choice for someone wanting real off-road ability.
‘‘The key there is you’ve got to work out what you want to do,’’ says Ross MacKay, editor of NZ4WD magazine. ‘‘Once you’ve worked out what you want to do then you narrow down the vehicles that fit that criteria.
‘‘A vehicle like the Mitsubishi Pajero Sport, for example, is one that you could probably take as far as you wanted to go.
‘‘The Toyota Fortuner is another, but the Ford Everest is probably the most competent – it’s got Ford’s Terrain Management System [a very clever electronic off-road assistant].
‘‘The key is, those are very capable vehicles, but they can be used on the road every day.
‘‘They’ve got height, they’ve got ground clearance, they’ve got excellent approach and departure angles and you sit high, so you can see out. All you need then if you want to go to the back of the farm, rather than the front paddock, would be a set of decent tyres. And you would be surprised how far you can go.’’
But what of the more ‘crossover’ style of SUVs – the ones largely based on cars, such as the Toyota RAV4?
‘‘Those are the occasional 4WDs,’’ says MacKay. ‘‘They are great for ski-fields and that sort of stuff. You can go right down to Subarus, which are really cars but have the capabilities of an SUV with full-time 4WD.
‘‘One of the dangers with ‘over-the-counter’ SUVs that are claiming 4WD off-road ability is that the ground clearance is compromised by the lack of clearance of the diff.’’
So we come back full-circle to that ground clearance thing again. And the issue of tyres, something that was demonstrated to the local motoring media earlier this year at the launch of the Suzuki Vitara turbo.
‘‘The Suzuki Vitara is a really great little vehicle,’’ says MacKay, ‘‘but it has completely changed from being a ladderbased, RWD-biased vehicle, to a FWD-biased, car-based vehicle, but with 4WD.’’
However, despite this apparent step backwards in terms of perceived off-road ability, Suzuki took the brave step of throwing some serious mud tyres on the Vitaras and letting the journos loose in a surprisingly challenging and very muddy off-road course.
As expected, there were a few scrapes from the underside of the vehicle where the diff took a bit of a rubbing, but the tyres’ ability to slog through the deep, sticky mud showed the little Vitara turbo to be impressively capable in some pretty serious conditions.
‘‘Everyone asks us all the time: what’s the best? But it really comes down to what do you want to do?’’ says MacKay.
‘‘Standard tyres will get you a long way, but there will be a point where they will go ‘enough’. If you want to go beyond that, you might end up paying, say, another $250 per corner to get a top-of-the-line tyre that will go anywhere. Much more than that requires modification to your vehicle.’’
However, that is clearly for the true off-road enthusiast, as opposed to someone who wants a vehicle that can do daily duty as a commuter, taking the kids to school and picking up the groceries during the week, but can also head up to the back paddock in the weekend.
Figure out what you want, but appropriately, get the right tyres for the mix of driving you are planning on doing and you will be set.
Ross also dropped in a bit of advice for those ‘other’ SUV buyers. ‘‘If you want the looks, then just buy an SUV that sits high and tell your mates you’ve gone everywhere…’’