Crossover SUVs have a weight problem and no one’s talking about it…
It’s impolite to bring up weight gain, but when it influences vehicle safety, it’s an uncomfortable discussion that needs to happen.
Modern cars have been gaining features and size for decades, without anyone really keeping count of the kilos. That means there’s been a stealthy increase in vehicle weight that’s gone unnoticed. The reason? All the cabin comfort, luxury features and screens that buyers have come to expect
It’s important to know how much your vehicle can legally carry. If you inadvertently overload it (and that’s easy to do, as we’ll explain) and go over the legal gross vehicle mass (GWM) limit, you could have a very nasty insurance or legal surprise if there’s an accident.
More weight is always worse
The best automotive engineers know weight is a problem. A heavier vehicle is always worse, dynamically, than a lighter vehicle with the same platform, tyres, mass, weight distribution and suspension design.
Weight does not improve vehicle stability; a low centre of gravity does. When you add weight, you increase component wear because the brakes need to work harder, requiring bigger discs and callipers. Plus oversized suspension components and bushings. You get the idea.
In every possible metric, a heavier vehicle is worse. It takes longer to come to a full stop during emergency braking. Weight also overloads the tyres and exceeds their grip levels more rapidly during an emergency avoidance manoeuvre.
The heavier a vehicle becomes, the more engineering upgrades it requires. This includes bigger brakes, which complicate suspension packaging and steering angles. But also more robust suspension components to handle the higher cornering loads due to all that weight.
Why ‘real’ SUVs are heavy
If you’re thinking about SUVs for heavily loaded adventure road trips, the suspension and structure need to be over-engineered to withstand the impact loads transmitted through the tyres, wheels, and suspension components.
An under-specced, fully loaded crossover or SUV driving regularly on a corrugated dirt road won’t last long before requiring a lot of maintenance. But making a crossover or SUV truly all-terrain capable does increase weight.
All that weight has a corrosive effect because it reduces your legal weight limits. And that’s something marketing people never mention when introducing a new vehicle. It’s something owners should know, however. Why? To ensure they aren’t exposed to legal recourse in the case of an accident. Or a warranty claim for premature component wear.
Weight limits aren’t a guide
Despite knowing that weight is a problem, product people and engineers have allowed modern cars to become incredibly heavy. All while marketing people have done an excellent job of ensuring that buyers and drivers never ask questions about vehicle weight. Specifically, the legal consequences of having an accident with an overloaded vehicle.
The laws are very simple. Like commercial trucks, passenger vehicles have a kerb weight (an unloaded/dry vehicle weight) and GVM. It’s the latter number that really matters because it’s the legal weight limit of a vehicle fully loaded with passengers and luggage.
If you are involved in an accident and there is evidence of overloading, you have a significant legal problem. If an accident-reconstruction specialist can prove that you overloaded your vehicle, your insurance policy could lapse.
For ownership and warranty agreements, it’s the same. If a dealership or brand discovers evidence of overloading, you will enter a dispute cycle over possibly denied maintenance and service plan costs.
About that GVM problem
Adventure-vehicle owners who take their body-on-frame SUVs and bakkies on overland journeys are deeply aware of GVM. They know how much influence heavy loads have on braking, lateral vehicle stability and tyres.
Overlanders don’t want suspension or tyre failure in the middle of Namibia or Botswana. That is why they pack meticulously and ensure their vehicles stay within GVM limits. To counter this challenge, they often upgrade the suspension and brakes.
The issue is that, with so many crossover SUVs on the market, many vehicle owners are under the false impression their vehicles are much more capable regarding GVM and payload than they actually are. Blame the designers who craft adventure-vehicle designs on humble passenger-vehicle underpinnings. It creates the impression that a rugged-looking vehicle has heavy-duty load ratings – which it doesn’t.
The general rule is that a family SUV needs about 600 kg of payload capacity. That’s why South Africa’s most popular and proven true SUVs, body-on-frame vehicles like the Ford Everest, Toyota Fortuner, and Land Cruiser Prado, have payload capacities that exceed 600 kg.
Search for a Ford Everest on Cars.co.za
Why some GVM numbers are low
Crossover SUVs aren’t tough. They are engineered for comfort and highway driving. They aren’t designed to carry a high GVM across harshly corrugated Karoo roads.
The suspension components fitted to most crossover SUVs are not that different from what you’d have had on a family sedan a few years ago. These vehicles don’t have over-engineered suspension links or heavy-duty, large-diameter shock absorbers to handle heavy loads. It shows in their low GVM numbers.
Jetour’s T2 has been all the rage over the last few months. With its rugged design, stacked standard feature list, and value-led pricing, the T2 appeals to South Africans who want a family adventure vehicle that is easy to drive daily.
But when you look beyond the appealing design, the T2 isn’t a proper adventure vehicle – it’s a monocoque crossover engineered as a highway car. From a product-planning perspective, that makes sense; most T2s, like nearly all crossover SUVs in South Africa, are used predominantly on the highway.
Search for a Jetour T2 on Cars.co.za
The T2 GVM example
The Jetour T2’s 2.0T derivative is AWD, yet has a payload of only 375 kg. That’s very little when you start adding passengers and gear, not to mention rooftop tents, awnings, and all manner of other accessories shown in the T2’s marketing images.
For context, the 3-door Suzuki Jimny, a much smaller vehicle, has a payload of 340 kg. That proves just how much difference a body-on-frame structure and off-road grade suspension makes to payload ratings.
Interestingly, the new T2 PHEV‘s payload rating isn’t worse than a turbopetrol T2’s, despite the weight of the PHEV version’s battery pack. How is that possible? Jetour has clearly upgraded something to increase the T2 PHEV’s GVM to 2 485 kg from the T2 turbopetrol’s 2 255 kg. But the fact remains: the T2’s 375 kg payload is low for a mid-size family crossover SUV.
If you’re buying a large crossover SUV, you need to think about GVM. A 5- or 7-seater vehicle needs a payload closer to 600 kg. That’s why large-platform Chery luxury crossover SUVs, such as the Omoda C9 PHEV and Tiggo 9, feature better suspension components and overall structures. They are engineered to meet the payload needs of large families – in the case of the Omoda, more than 500 kg.
Search for an Omoda C9 on Cars.co.za
PHEVs and EVs are the worst
When Mercedes-Benz launched its G580 Electric, there was very little critical discussion about its enormous and apparent weakness. Lost in the G580’s impressive power numbers and pointless G-Turn technology was its problematic kerb-weight-to-GVM ratio.
The legal maximum GVM for the G580 is an impressive 3 500 kg thanks to its over-engineered steel ladder-frame chassis and heavy-duty suspensions. However, due to its enormous battery pack, the G580’s kerb weight is 3 085 kg. It ruins the payload capacity.
The math is not complicated. Five adult passengers at 80 kg each total 400 kg. That means you can only take 15 kg of luggage, or water and snacks, in a G580 on a road trip. Ridiculous, but true.
Search for a G-Class on Cars.co.za
Avoiding the GVM problem
South Africans love the status and image a passenger vehicle that looks like an off-road adventure vehicle projects. However, it’s important to realise the limitations of GVM, especially when it comes to PHEVs and EVs. Their batteries easily add 200-400 kg, impacting how much you can pack.
When you’re considering that crossover SUV that looks great, also look critically at the spec sheet. And do the GVM math to know exactly how much (or how little) you can legally load.
