Bear with me on this because
1) I’ve got a Mk 1 Forester and
2) I give this sort of thing waay too much thought haha.
So anyway I have this theory about 1st gen SUV (or crossovers depending on your country of origin) - you know - Foresters, CRVs, X-Trails, Freelanders, Jimnys et al.
They’re generally a bit naff. Bit hairdresser. Bit curse word. Trying too hard and failing at most.
The whole SUV ethos is a pretty much a dream made up by marketeers.
But—the one thing I think they have going for them is a sort of inbuilt retro appeal.
Why?
Because the whole ‘it’s a bit like a lite-jeep’ ethos means that when they first started coming out in the nineties, they all aped that Land-rover/Nissan Patrol/Land Cruiser/Jeep Cherokee utility thing, and essentially kept the lights burning on the outdated, boxy, angular (ie straightforward) car shape long after everything else had gone the way of the Jelly-mould.
So what if you lower them, strip off some of the faux ‘4x4ness’ and tidy them up?
Well - you get some surprisingly nice looking semi-retro wagons is what.
Like what Volvos used to be like, but beefier.
So are 90s and 00s SUVs the last true wagons?
(most modern ones seem to be succumbing to the jelly mould look now)
To prove my incredibly dodgy-thesis - some dodgy photoshops.
Some don’t look half bad with 2 inches drop and some detail work… Some, er less so.
I think this totally should be a thing! (I know lowered Foresters are a thing, but what about all the others?)
I'll be quiet now. Feel free to tell me I’m mad)
Starting with original and best:
Forester
Vitara LWB
Nissan X-Trail
Honda CRV
Honda HRV
Mitsubishi Shôgun Pinin
Freelander 1
Freelander 2
Disco 1 Estate
Jeep Patriot
VW Toe-rag
OVLOV XC90
Skôda Yeti
Suzuki Jimny
1) I’ve got a Mk 1 Forester and
2) I give this sort of thing waay too much thought haha.
So anyway I have this theory about 1st gen SUV (or crossovers depending on your country of origin) - you know - Foresters, CRVs, X-Trails, Freelanders, Jimnys et al.
They’re generally a bit naff. Bit hairdresser. Bit curse word. Trying too hard and failing at most.
The whole SUV ethos is a pretty much a dream made up by marketeers.
But—the one thing I think they have going for them is a sort of inbuilt retro appeal.
Why?
Because the whole ‘it’s a bit like a lite-jeep’ ethos means that when they first started coming out in the nineties, they all aped that Land-rover/Nissan Patrol/Land Cruiser/Jeep Cherokee utility thing, and essentially kept the lights burning on the outdated, boxy, angular (ie straightforward) car shape long after everything else had gone the way of the Jelly-mould.
So what if you lower them, strip off some of the faux ‘4x4ness’ and tidy them up?
Well - you get some surprisingly nice looking semi-retro wagons is what.
Like what Volvos used to be like, but beefier.
So are 90s and 00s SUVs the last true wagons?
(most modern ones seem to be succumbing to the jelly mould look now)
To prove my incredibly dodgy-thesis - some dodgy photoshops.
Some don’t look half bad with 2 inches drop and some detail work… Some, er less so.
I think this totally should be a thing! (I know lowered Foresters are a thing, but what about all the others?)
I'll be quiet now. Feel free to tell me I’m mad)
Starting with original and best:
Forester
Vitara LWB
Nissan X-Trail
Honda CRV
Honda HRV
Mitsubishi Shôgun Pinin
Freelander 1
Freelander 2
Disco 1 Estate
Jeep Patriot
VW Toe-rag
OVLOV XC90
Skôda Yeti
Suzuki Jimny
)