It's Time To Stop Pretending Off-Roaders Are Comfortable
One of the biggest fallacies in motoring is the idea that off-roaders are comfortable. People look at them, see big cars on tall suspension and assume they must ride well. Well, that’s absolute nonsense, but first we have to separate the genres, because not everything that looks like an off-roader actually is one.
Yes, they’re often big, and yes, they’re usually on tall suspension, but proper 4x4s are cars built to do a rough job, unlike candy-ass soft-roaders that are just pretending. There’s a growing gap between those cars built to eat dirt and crap victory, and those built to take babies Tarquin and Arabella to Waitrose. But to the untrained, non-car-guy-eye they might look the same.
Lifestyle off-roaders (most SUVs, these days), aren’t built to take on mountains. Even the ones that can, like Mercedes’ GLE, have to be optioned-up beforehand with special off-road packs that upgrade key aspects of the car’s makeup. Softer standard suspension is great for cruising along pothole-scarred roads in town, but on trails a springy setup will just see the car’s underbelly kissing the mud, logs and rocks an unhealthy amount. You don’t want to start ripping parts off the chassis, do you? You just can’t call these cars off-roaders any more than you can say the same about a Volkswagen Golf.
There’s also a much greater chance of suspension damage. Slamming down off big drops too often could eventually punch pieces of the suspension through the bonnet, and if that happens you’d better hope it stays metaphorical.
Maybe when you look at what you think is a big, muscly, bearded off-roader, you might actually be looking at a big, comfy family bus. Then again you might be looking at a working man’s snot rag; a car built to take abuse; a car not to be looked after but to always carry on anyway. Take most modern double-cab pickups, for example, and any large SUV that’s actually built with the rough stuff in mind.
These cars are often about as comfortable as a night at the bottom of a well. Stiff, commercial vehicle-derived springs mean a lifetime of starry-eyed rock-hopping wonderment, but the shock that they transfer to the cabin over expansion joints, potholes and those nadgery little speed bumps can ultimately leave you on Christmas card terms with your chiropractor. Not ideal if you’ve got Junior asleep in his car seat, and even worse if your mother-in-law has a sensitive bladder.
The fact that big off-roady SUVs and pickups don’t handle well is a given. They’re too tall, too heavy and their steering is too slow. Sorry, Porsche, but even the hilariously mad Cayenne Turbo S feels too fat. The fact that so many SUVs are also damn uncomfortable most of the time makes their impressive sales figures all the more baffling.
The majority of Nissan Navaras, Volkswagen Amaroks and Mitsubishi L200s are sold as high-spec lifestyle-focused models, so they’re not necessarily working for their crust. There are so many other kinds of car that are better suited to daily life on Tarmac, and the problem isn’t limited to pick-ups. Get into a Jaguar F-Pace on 22s and after a few miles you’ll wish you’d bought something designed for your granddad.
On one side of the industry are SUVs that are built for comfort but could never hack it off-road, like the Lexus RX. On another are those that are built for pretend sportiness but still with no credible nod to off-roading. Then there are those that are built with roads as an afterthought; built primarily to take a beating on farms, mountains and coastlines around the world. Step forward, Isuzu D-Max.
What if you want the best of all worlds? Good luck finding that unicorn, because the Range Rover isn’t it. It’s hugely comfy, but too big for its own good on forest tracks. Just pick your poison and learn to live with it.
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It all depends on what sort of offroading you do, but generally suspension is setup to be soft to allow the suspension to flex easier. I’ve owned both hard and soft riding lifted trucks and soft riding is better in every aspect on and off road apart from cornering
Hummer doesn’t agree
Hummers are terrible
Having driven hundreds of vehicle’s, I agree with Matt. SUVs and truck don’t have great ride quality. Especially body on frame trucks/SUV’s. I drove a Ford Raptor recently and was surprised by how bumpy it drove. On the way back I drove a 2016 Explorer Sport (unibody car frame) and it drove smoother even with big wheels and low profile tires. A raptor is still a lot smoother than an f-350 super duty because heavy duty pickups stiff to handle big loads. Jeep Wranglers ride very bad too, every bump is felt, short wheelbase doesn’t help either. The most comfortable off roader is an old Mercedes. I bought one for that reason.
https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--pZAwOrR9--/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/17h2k2dg3q54ujpg.jpg Golf feels offended
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Matt Kimberley I’m sorry but you have not driven enough 4x4s, pickups, SUVs. You’re wrong on so many levels. I had to register just to post about this.
You obviously haven’t driven a well set up 4x4, My 98 Toyota Landcruiser live axles front and rear is the most comfortable car I’ve driven, it was decent in standard form and you’ll find from 98 onwards with Landcruisers they got more and more comfortable in stock form, with the 200 series being quite comfy on road all while still capable of handling moderate trails with ease and comfort.
Now back to my Land cruiser it is set up with ICON stage 4 suspension and 35 inch tyres it soaks up pot holed and bumpy roads, you can’t feel and thing and I can drive over 100km down harsh corrugated Aussie roads for hours when that would destroy lesser cars and when it comes to strict off road on the trails it has insane amounts of articulation matched with front a rear lockers it crawls smoothly over rock and muddy ruts.
And with this suspension and tyre setup in the city it’s great, don’t feel speed bumps, manhole covers, tram lines, potholes nothing and it’s smooth on the highway.
Now there’s a lot of very uncomfortable 4x4s out there stock and modified and pickup trucks have leaf springs in the rear so yeah they’re not going to be great. And modern SUVs/4x4 are meh they don’t know what they want to be so their not that comfy and 99% of them can’t go off-road with the exception of the 200 series and JK wrangler.
THATS MY CAR IN THE THUMBNAILLLLLLLL. AJSJJDOSOWIWHDHDHSJSOW
Imo, unibody SUV is for softies. Had driven a D40 Nissan Navara and it rides quite well on the road with on-road tyres, but it wasn’t meant to be driven on the tarmac so installed big off-road tyres on it, road noise coming from the off-road wheels is a bit of a problem but comfort is still intact. These modern body-on-frame vehicles with leaf springs and live axle really do have a stiffer suspension to take the comfort down against urban roads compared to a unibody with independent suspension. A Toyota Fortuner, or even an Isuzu Mu-X that shares the same frame with their pickup twins, the Toyota Hilux and Isuzu D-Max respectively have a good ride comfort as they are designed to go on tarmac roads and also ventures through mountenous trails. The only disadvantage of these type of vehicles is body roll. High speed cornering is not very comfortable but still manage to stay stable to match unibody counterparts.
Lifestyle purpose SUV, for example the Honda CR-V, really do rides very well on-road, but once you took it to a higher level of off-road difficulties, it wouldn’t stand a chance of getting stuck on the mud or even scratch it’s underside with rocks and logs. These vehicle suitable for soccer-moms who lives on a suburban area where typical road have potholes or only have rocks on the surface.
I dont really agree that de Lexus RX is that bad well see for yourself
https://youtu.be/_BNyFYsXyJw
My Discovery is very capable off road and very comfortable on road.
My Defender is VERY capable off road and not so comfortable on road, although more now that i have removed the centre seat and moved mine towards the middle to give me more elbow room.(other owners will know what i mean and should try this too!)
As for my Series 2, it may have been ‘cutting edge’ in 1961, and can go surprising well off road, on road…
If rattles, draughts and vague steering were virtues, it would excell!
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