In the early days of the SUV revolution, best-sellers were proper truck-based, body-on-frame off-roaders that buyers appropriated as family cars. SUVs like the Ford Explorer and Chevrolet Blazer were once based on truck chassis, despite the reality that the vast majority of customer trucks never left paved roads. The Explorer and Blazer have both fallen out of their top-selling spots over the years, and were surpassed by crossovers like the Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, and Subaru Forester. Based on compact car platforms, crossovers effectively replaced the wagon body style of the compacts with varying degrees of actual off-road abilities. But what if things were different? What crossover do you think would make a stupid, funny, or cool body-on-frame SUV?
I’m a fan of impractical and illogical vehicles, so I would love to see what the little jellybean Buick Encore GX would look like if it were plopped on a ladder frame. Back in the day, there were a couple teeny-weeny body-on-frame off-roaders like the Chevrolet Tracker, and my absolute favorite, the Suzuki X-90. It would be such a silly thing to turn Buick’s smallest entry-level luxury crossover lifted up and kitted out with a bull bar and a fat set of General Grabbers. It would certainly align with the company’s old “that’s a Buick?” tagline.
Body-on-frame construction is optimal for off-road vehicles, but unibody platforms are superior for on-road driving. Most modern crossovers offer more platform rigidity giving them a car-like ride, lighter curb weights, better fuel efficiency, and more car-like handling characteristics at the cost of proper off-roadability. All that stuff is boring though, so we’ll ask you: What crossover vehicle would you rather see as a proper truck-based body-on-frame SUV? Sound off in the comments.
