Without going into definitions of various types of vehicles by which they can be assigned to one or another class, to understand what a crossover is, it is enough to translate the word "crossover" from English. It can be interpreted as a hybrid, some kind of intersecting phenomenon. In relation to a car, this means combining in one vehicle the advantages of several other types of machines.
Understanding what a crossover is is difficult until the distinguishing features of such a car are determined. These include:
- clearance, like an SUV;
- a high landing driver and a high ceiling in the cabin, like a minibus;
- comfort and convenience, like a sedan;
- the presence (not always, but as a rule) of all-wheel drive, allowing to overcome easy off-road and bad road;
- modern and stylish design.
Already a simple listing of the design features inherent in this car allows us to understand what a crossover is. In fact, this is a city car, providing its owner with the opportunity to comfortably move in a variety of conditions, both urban traffic and on the highway, as well as with light off-road conditions. Such a vehicle has a fairly roomy trunk, capable of transporting several passengers with the necessary comfort and level of security.
However, any car, except for the advantages, has disadvantages. In relation to the crossover, the following can be noted:
- its operation is more expensive than a conventional car;
- the center of gravity of the crossover is high, which leads to a roll in corners;
- the braking distance is slightly increased due to increased weight;
- maneuvering in the stream is difficult due to the large dimensions.
Despite some disadvantages of crossovers, their popularity is constantly growing, and more and more of these cars fill the streets of our cities. Accordingly, there are new and modernized old machine models. And as a result - an attempt to determine the best crossover. There are many magazines and other auto publications in which the car is given its own ratings, and each publication has its own choice of such a crossover. However, this does not mean at all that the car they have chosen is indeed the best.
Another, no less popular, is an attempt to determine the most economical crossover. And this occupation can be considered unpromising. It's not that cars do not pass the necessary checks. The problem will be different. The numbers obtained in the tests are not always, or rather, rarely, when they are repeated in actual use.
For testing, a specially prepared sample is provided, on which in the factory conditions the engineers made the necessary adjustments and made the necessary settings. It is often simply impossible to repeat such conditions during actual operation, and to an unskilled consumer. Actual data on consumption and cost of
operating costs will be higher than promised by the manufacturer.
Despite such possible discrepancies of reality with the results of tests and tests, they in no way affect the understanding of what a crossover is. Briefly, it can be described as a universal city car with a certain ability to move out of the city on poor quality roads.