Motorists who value powerful, spacious, and comfortable cars are divided into two camps: fans of crossovers and all-terrain station wagons. Some car enthusiasts do not see much difference between these two options. But it exists. The Indy Auto Man specialists suggest verifying this by comparing these two body types Americans still choose between when changing a car.
Station Wagon – a universal body type
The fundamental difference between a station wagon and a sedan is the enlarged luggage compartment, combined with the passenger zone, and a roof extended to the rear area. Nowadays, there are not so many station wagons for sale, but they were highly popular at the dawn of their existence.
Station wagons appeared in the lineup of many automobile companies before World War II. However, they were rather highly specialized equipment than passenger cars: ambulances, fire service, and utility vehicles for small businesses. Curiously, the station wagon got its name from a horse-drawn carriage with wooden sides. Genuine wood was used to produce bodies at that time. Later, an imitation of this practice in bodywork became known as the Woodie style, when the bodies of station wagons and minivans were painted to resemble wood.
Station wagons became widespread only in the late 1940s when mass production of such cars with an all-metal body began. The pioneers here were the American brands Willys and Plymouth.
The surge in popularity of station wagons occurred in the 1950s due to the development of the commuter sector in North America, whose population needed roomy but respectable transport. For example, station wagons of various types in those years accounted for more than half of the production program of such American brands as Plymouth.
Until the end of the 1970s, the universal body type was the subject of constant experiments by auto designers who sought to make it more functional and beautiful. This race could only be stopped by the appearance on the mass market in 1984 of the first American minivans – the Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager.
Crossover as a way of life
This type of body, or, more precisely, type of car, was invented on the North American market relatively recently, in the 2010s. Its name comes from the first word in the acronym CUV – Crossover Utility Vehicle, built on a passenger platform with a monocoque body. At the same time, crossovers have certain features characteristic of an SUV (Sport Utility Vehicle) – a daring appearance and a high seating position for the vehicle’s crew. Currently, both of these designations have been integrated from one to the other and have no differences for the majority of ordinary people.
Crossovers used mainly within the city do not demonstrate outstanding off-road capabilities. They need all-wheel drive mainly to increase their stability and controllability on slippery roads or to overcome light urban off-road conditions.
Curiously, crossovers do not have a clear correlation of this with off-road station wagons that are in many ways similar to them, where the Volvo XC70, Audi Allroad, Škoda Octavia Scout, and Subaru Outback are obvious examples. Thus, the automotive press defined crossovers based on their consumer qualities – these are station wagons that look like SUVs but at the same time behave on the road like sedans.