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5.9" inches of ground clearance for the Panda 4WD puts it out of the running for any serious backcountry use. Some "pavement only" economy cars have that or more. The Subaru Forester has 8.5". Big difference.
The Suzuki Samurai was the nadir in this category. Tough, reliable, and economical, there was an entire cottage industry around mods for it. Unfortunately liberals at Consumer Reports concocted some rigged tests to get it to roll over, and demonized it on the basis of those test. The liberal press took up the cause, and the Samurai was doomed.
Like so many of Jeeps models in the last few years, Jeep can't seem to get it right for the first couple of years of a new model. The Cherokee Trailhawk is a great example. Just about every review of it pans the 4 cylinder engine as a dog. The V6 performs better, but gets little better fuel economy than a full size Ram 1500 4WD with the Pentastar 3.6 V6--and the Ram weighs way more and will carry much more. If Jeep's American management people had any brains, they would have made sure the Trailhawk was available in the US with the very good and fuel efficient 2.0 L CRD (diesel) engine that is available in Europe. It would outperform both the gas 4 and V6 and get better fuel economy than either. Instead, the US Trailhawk got a dog gas 4 or a thirsty V6. Another case of American "ready, fire, aim" automotive manufacturing and marketing.
All SUV's these days are made for women with one more more kids to go to the grocery store or drop kids off at soccer practice. I would say the last SUV that was an off road vehicle was the Jeep Cherokee around year 1996 or maybe a D90, but they were really rare and banned from the US. The Cherokee was only 3000 pounds. SUVs are marketed to women and they are women's vehicles really. It is all about marketing. I guess you could get a Wrangler 4 door, but man are they ugly and so primitive. I can't understand why they get such horrible fuel economy in this day and age even if the vehicle is a box on wheels.
Considering that it performs better than the small block V8's of just a few years ago, I would say quite a few. It also is only the second most fuel efficient full-size pickup on the market--second only to the Ram 1500 with the 3.0 V6 Ecodiesel.
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