Originally Posted By: BRZED
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
Before 1980 they were called station wagons
Yep that's what all of those kind've vehicles are,modern day station wagons. I just don't get where the term "SUV" came from,to sound less square and more hip maybe? Imo,a utility vehicle is a box truck or work truck.
Before there were SUVs, there were the Bronco, Scout, Blazer, Jeepster and Jeep Cherokee and Wagoneer. Those vehicles are the ancestors of the modern SUV and they were living happily side by side with wagons. Unlike a wagon, an SUV is built on a truck chassis. A RAV 4 is not built on a truck chassis and is really a crossover SUV, which is a vehicle based on a passenger car that approximates the appearance and form factor of an SUV.
Those were actually heavy duty trucks though that you could actually take off road and use as a utility vehicle. Basically they were trucks with permanent camper shells attached. I couldn't imagine using a soccer mom mobile to perform tasks those vehicles were designed for,they'd either get stuck or fall apart.