Crossover SUV fuel efficient myth

[SAAN]

Originally Posted by humanresources

what crossovers are you comparing them to?

2015 Kia Sorento 4cyl - 20 city 27 highway, 23 combined

2015 Mazda CX-5 - 25 city 31 highway, 27 combined

2015 Honda CRV - 27 city 33 highway, 29 combined

Those are from fueleconomy.gov website and I picked three crossovers off the top of my head to look up.

None off these crossover replaced an actual SUV from the past. They are all pretty much glorified station wagons by a different names.

[SAAN]

Originally Posted by Checkered24

A truck based 1998 4.0L V6 Explorer 4wd is rated 14 city 18 highway. It offered 160 HP, 225 lb ft of torque to move around a 3692 lb SUV.

The comparable 2016 car based Explorer is rated 16/23, it also grew nearly 20 inches in length, put on over 700 lbs in the growth, increased power to 290 from 160, and still manages better fuel mileage in all situations (city, hwy, etc).


I must be missing the "myth" here.


If we are talking Jeeps, the V6 Cherokee is as close to the Wrangler as we can get and it is rated 19/26 in 4WD trim vs that 17/21 of the JK Wrangler.





I am missing the myth here too.

The crossover craze didnt real take off until after 2005+, so if you look at a 2006 Ford Explorer, it was 15/21 and much bigger than the current explorer, but only got 1-2mpg less.

https://www.google.com/search?q=2006...d+explorer+mpg

if we were to take the same 3.5-3.6L car engines that are going in many full sized crossovers today and put that same engine/6pd transmission combo in those past truck based SUV, im sure thy would get the same exact MPG.