04/29/96 JAPAN SWINGS INTO SPORT-UTES

JAPAN SWINGS INTO SPORT-UTES

Like a lot of baby boomers, I've outgrown my present car. Now I'm looking for something with lots of space to replace the sexy but impractical two-seat Toyota MR2 I bought during my second adolescence. My reason? I just acquired a dog. A big dog.
So I'm shopping for a sport-ute--short for sport-utility vehicle--or SUV. It's the hottest segment of the market: More than 1 in every 10 cars sold last year were sport-utes, and they're accounting for 13% of vehicle sales so far this year. They have turned into a status symbol, dampening demand for sports and luxury cars. Many boomers prize the go-anywhere, tote-anything utility of sport-utes. The downside? They're gas guzzlers.
HEAVY DUTY. By and large, the Japanese had been excluded from this booming market. That's because, early on, U.S. Customs officials classified imported sport-utilities as trucks, and thus subject to a 25% duty. Then the strong yen drove prices of Japanese vehicles into the stratosphere. Also, Japanese planners mistakenly chose to devote their precious development resources to luxury cars about the time when Americans wanted much more utilitarian vehicles.
But now the Japanese--having skirted the duty by convincing Customs officials that their SUVs are really cars, not trucks--are moving into the sport-utility vehicle market in a big way. And recent reviews by car magazines and rating services say the new Japanese sport-utes have better quality, durability, value, and on-road ride and handling than their wildly popular American counterparts.
So I set out to drive a half-dozen brand-new Japanese models, all of them introduced to the U.S. market within the past six months or so. They ranged from the quirky (meaning really weird) Suzuki X-90 to the tony (meaning really expensive) Lexus LX 450. What I discovered was that the Japanese are refining sport-utes so that they handle more like cars than trucks, and the good part is that you may save money because of it.
I started with the Suzuki X-90, even though it met none of my criteria. The open-top two-seater has no cargo space, but I couldn't resist this oddball. It's a true four-wheel-drive vehicle, with high enough clearance to take it off-road, but it's a rough rider with lots of rattles. The short wheelbase means that there's much lurching on segmented-concrete freeways, and I had trouble with the over-the-shoulder visibility in the driver's-side blind spot. Also, despite the flashy upholstery, the controls are decidedly old-fashioned: The audio system is a maze of tiny buttons with even tinier labels, and there's nary a knob in sight. But the $13,500 X-90 ($1,000 more for the four-wheel drive version) is a real head-turner and totally irresistible. It would be great for your Generation-X kids at college.
A better example of the new breed of Japanese sport-utes is the Toyota RAV-4, introduced in January. The alphanumerics stand for ``recreational active vehicle, four-wheel drive.'' It looks like a truck but drives like a car. That's because it's built atop a Toyota Celica frame, with parts borrowed from the Camry and Corolla. Still, even in this mini-SUV, you sit high enough off the road to feel up there with all the Ford Explorers and slightly above the Jeep Cherokees. There's no sense that you're going to tip over when you're rounding a corner, and while the rear seats can't be removed without a socket wrench, they easily fold up against the backs of the front seats to provide lots of space for your gear.
TWO SUNROOFS. The RAV-4, which starts at $15,000 for a two-door (or $2,100 more for a four-door, four-wheel-drive version), isn't perfect. The windows rattle at freeway speeds if they aren't completely up or down, and the engine feels underpowered going up long grades. And you can see the results of Toyota's cost-cutting: Seat belts aren't height-adjustable, the wipers aren't intermittent, and there's no light in the ashtray. Still, it has some cool features. For $600 extra, the two-door versions come with two sunroofs, which store neatly in brackets on the rear door. The four-wheel drive is full-time, as in the American SUVs. That's good for driving on pavements that are alternately dry and slippery. And there's no feeling that the RAV-4 is really a dressed-up pickup truck.
That's not the case with Toyota's 4Runner or Nissan's Pathfinder. These are the two classic Japanese sport-utes, the No.5 and No.6 SUVs in U.S. sales. Both are all new this year, but they're going off in different directions. While Nissan has made the Pathfinder into a kinder, gentler vehicle more suited for city streets, Toyota is pursuing the macho, off-road capabilities of its 4Runner, albeit with all the amenities Americans have come to expect in their cars.
The worst thing about the 4Runner is the stretch it takes to get into the thing. The step up is a full five inches higher than the Pathfinder's, and three inches more than the average American sport-ute. Toyota, though, has beefed up the engine on the $19,500 ($21,500 with four-wheeldrive, or $25,000 with a six-cylinder engine) 4Runner, and it has changed the rear door from a hatch and tailgate to a single-piece liftup configuration with a power window, a big improvement. The $22,399 Nissan Pathfinder, while it doesn't look very different from the previous version, is much more carlike. It's not nearly as high off the road and doesn't have the body roll that can make sport-utes feel unstable. The Pathfinder also has more creature comforts. The back of the console, for example, has slide-out cupholders for backseat passengers, along with a 12-volt outlet for portable computers, say, or a cellular phone.
RIDING HIGH. Even though I can't afford them, I also tried the luxury SUVs, the Acura SLX and the Lexus LX 450. Neither is totally new. Just as the Honda Passport is a rebadged Isuzu Rodeo, the Acura SLX is really an Isuzu Trooper. And the venerable Toyota Land Cruiser has been luxuried and leathered into a Lexus model.
The Acura is huge inside, and you feel as if you're sitting on a throne, high above the surrounding traffic. But cornering is a bit scary, giving the sensation that the entire car is tipping over. Outside, the engine sounds like a truck, but the car is insulated enough that you can't hear it inside. A nice touch: The SLX has cornering lights that illuminate turns when the directional signals are on. It starts at $33,900, but a starter Trooper can be had for as little as $25,000.
The Lexus is the more successful transformation. Toyota's Land Cruiser has always qualified as a luxury car. If it were to be introduced today, it would be a Lexus. The carmaker has made it even more so, with leather seats, woodgrain finishes, and a sticker price of $47,500 instead of $40,000. There are other changes as well, including a suspension that is 15% softer and optional cell phones and CD changers that fit perfectly into the center console.
SAFETY FEATURE. Finally, just for fun, I finagled a Honda CR-V for a weekend. This SUV won't be introduced into the U.S. until the end of the year, and Honda promises that it will be priced at under $20,000 for a version that Honda calls ``real-time'' four-wheel drive: It automatically switches when any wheel starts slipping. In Japan, it wiped out Toyota's RAV-4 when it was launched because it's so much bigger inside. While it drives like a car--a Honda Civic--it doesn't give the typical sport-ute feeling of riding high above the traffic. But it's the only one that comes with a picnic table as standard equipment as well as a waterproof bin under the cargo floor that can be used as an ice chest.
My personal favorite? The Toyota RAV-4, for its civilized handling, generous space, reasonable sticker price, and striking good looks--although I'm tempted to wait for the Honda CR-V. A close second is the Nissan Pathfinder, again because it handles more like a refined automobile instead of a cheap pickup. As for Coby, my 120-lb. mastiff puppy, he doesn't really have a preference. He drooled over all of them.
EDITED BY AMY DUNKIN By Larry Armstrong