Soft-roaders: How far can you go?

18 December 2023 By:Byron Mathioudakis

Australia’s most popular type of vehicle is the SUV. They represent over 55 per cent of all new-vehicle sales in their many and varying guises.

About the only things that SUVs seem to have in common with each other are taller bodies, higher-set seats and extra ground clearance compared to regular low-slung sedans, wagons and hatchbacks, as well as a tailgate.

And one important thing they definitely do not all share is the ability to go off-road. Doing so can be damaging, expensive and even dangerous. Read on to find out why.

Is a soft-roader and four-wheel drive the same thing?

Of all the SUVs available in Australia, the so-called ‘soft-roader’ varieties are far and away the bestsellers. These are the familiar models such as Mazda CX-3, Toyota RAV4, Subaru Outback and Kia Sorento.

To understand what a soft-roader is, it’s important to know what it is not.

The clue is in the name. Soft-roader is a play on the word – and also the opposite of – ‘off-roader’, which is another term for a four-wheel drive vehicle. It refers to an SUV that has been designed and engineered to literally go off the road, bitumen or beaten track.

These are many popular and even iconic four-wheel drives, such as the Toyota LandCruiser and Prado, Nissan Patrol, Suzuki Jimny, Land Rover Defender and Jeep Wrangler – the latter being the descendent of the original go-anywhere off-roader developed during World War Two. Tackling demanding terrain is what a 4WD is all about.

Most traditional four-wheel drives feature a reinforced body built on a separate chassis – instead of the lightweight monocoque all-in-one body/platform construction most on-road-only road cars and normal SUVs have – for extra toughness, strength, durability and clearance from the ground below.

Typically, four-wheel drives are sturdy, heavy vehicles with visibly higher ground clearance to avoid the nose, underbelly and rear overhang from scraping over obstacles. Sump guards also provide the same protection for the bottom parts of the engine bay.

They wear off-road-specific wheels with chunkier tyres, brandish larger and more rugged axles, and include long-travel suspension for better ground contact – especially useful in deep ruts, over rocky terrain or when fording rivers. They are aided by low-range gear ratios to be able to power in and out of challenging environments, often at very acute inclines and declines, as well as lockable differentials to redirect drive to the wheels with the most ground contact.

To use an Aussie colloquialism, they are, therefore, proper bush-bashers. Solid, tenacious and brawny, you could almost call them hard-roaders. But nobody does.

RELATED:Electric SUVs available in Australia »

The pros and cons of soft-roaders

And there-in lies a problem for owners and drivers of soft-roaders, who may believe that, because they’re behind the wheel of an SUV that looks like a four-wheel drive, with all that extra ground clearance, chunky bumpers, black plastic cladding around the wheel arches and integrated roof bars, they too can go off-road like a LandCruiser can.

Yes, most soft-roaders might have enough ground clearance to avoid some smaller obstacles driving over level unsealed loose gravel roads or very shallow sand, but most won’t have sufficient clearances, traction or muscle when the road ends to get much further than that.

Deep sand, mud, wet grassland or any other low-friction surfaces are generally out of bounds, even in a soft-roader offering all-wheel drive (where drive is sent to all four wheels part of or all of the time, depending on the vehicle).

Pros of soft-roaders

With soft-roaders, there is no need for their manufacturers to over-engineer their vehicles for off-road use.

Instead, they are built just like regular passenger cars, meaning they have monocoque construction, with the body integrated within a platform structure. There is no separate chassis. Yet you still get to enjoy high seating, for commanding views ahead, in an SUV that can handle unsealed or gravel roads. The gentle stuff.

This in turn means there is no need for extra body bracing, heftier suspension that must be able to withstand a wide range of environments, heavier axles and additional drivetrain components like differentials that require additional regular service maintenance, higher ground clearances that undermine aerodynamics and can even destabilise a four-wheel drive during cornering or in strong crosswinds at higher speeds, and knobblier tyres using harder compounds that reduce grip on-road and transmit noise and vibration through to the cabin.

A soft-roader’s monocoque body construction brings a host of advantages when driving on-road compared to proper four-wheel drives. These include:

Control

Firstly, it results in better vehicle control to avoid crashes, because a soft-roader by definition does not have the extra weight required to over-engineer a four-wheel drive. Thus, the steering, suspension and brakes are not burdened by excess kilos, working more effectively with driver inputs. A lower centre of gravity also helps with control, especially at speed during emergency manoeuvres that require agility to get out of harm’s way.

Safety

Having monocoque construction is also best-practice for optimum body torsional stiffness and strength, ushering in additional significant safety benefits. Basically, this means that a soft-roader’s body should be able to far-better deflect dangerous impact-energy forces around and away from the occupant cell in the event of a collision, reducing the chances of harmful secondary (person to vehicle-interior injuries) and tertiary (internal organ) collisions.

Efficiency

A soft-roader’s lightness compared to a four-wheel drive brings fuel efficiency advantages, as the engine does not have to work as hard while the wind can flow around the vehicle more easily, cutting drag. It may surprise many people how much extra petrol, diesel and – increasingly – electricity off-roaders require just for the urban school run. The expenses really add up.

Comfort

And then there is the potential for a happier vehicle environment inside. That extra steering precision, handling control, suspension suppleness and improved refinement that a lightweight monocoque structure bring compared to a four-wheel drive can result in more enjoyment and less fatigue for all, reducing tiredness, especially during a long trip. For people who travel a lot, a heavy driving, noisy and hard-riding four-wheel drive can be quite the assault on the senses after a while.

Packaging

With a four-wheel drives body-on-frame construction, it means that there needs to be a higher floor to accommodate the chassis, as well as the aforementioned extra drivetrain, differentials and related off-road engineering required. Not only does this result in a higher centre of gravity, it also leaves less room for occupants and their gear. You might be shocked at how shallow a Jimny’s boot is. Additionally, and especially with some older models, the vehicle’s occupants are forced to sit in a more ‘knees-up’ posture, adding to discomfort and further fatigue.

Overall, soft-roaders are designed for solid, stable and smooth roads or tracks that can support the weight of the vehicle. For the consumer, that means less-expensive vehicles that are cheaper to run and maintain, as well as easier to control at speed, reducing the risk of accidents.

Cons of soft-roaders

Unlike a four-wheel drive, soft-roaders are not designed to go off-road. So, don’t try it.

Expensive damage

There’s the risk of damaging the body, engine or drivetrain underneath the vehicle by scraping along the ground, hitting rocks or via water ingress if attempting to cross a stream. Many can result in complete vehicle write-offs. They’re simply not built to withstand the rough stuff.

Insurance hassles

There can also be insurance consequences back home with your own soft-roader, since some companies will refuse to pay out for damage under certain off-road circumstances, especially with smaller, lighter SUV soft-roaders that are clearly designed for bitumen-use only.

This includes every one of them bar the Suzuki Jimny, which is actually a miniature four-wheel drive complete with all the off-road bells and whistles.

Getting Stranded

The majority of smaller SUVs are now front-wheel drive-only. This presents the prospect of getting bogged in even light sand, mud or wet grass. There simply isn’t the added traction to pull the vehicle out of being stuck. An expensive tow truck callout could be your only chance out.

Courting danger

Becoming stuck out in remote places or the desert can present actual peril for people awaiting rescue, with dehydration or other time-critical health emergencies becoming possibilities, along with vulnerability to changeable environmental elements or exposure to dangerous wild animals or people – especially in very hot weather scenarios where waiting inside a vehicle may not be possible for long periods.

Premature wear and tear

Note, too, that in some manual two-wheel drive soft-roaders, people have worn-out clutches spinning their wheels attempting to drive out of sand, mud or wet grass. Either way, this can become an expensive exercise.

Confusion

You can’t blame consumers, though, as most SUVs – regardless of them being soft-roaders or four-wheel drive – are marketed as vehicles for people with adventurous, active-lifestyle aspirations.

Back in the mid-2000s, Ford in Australia suffered a lot of negative word-of-mouth publicity about the alleged fragility of its bestselling Territory – a five/seven-seater large SUV that was promoted as an urban getaway vehicle for the whole family. Basically, some owners experienced serious steering and suspension damage attempting to go off-road.

Though it was a higher-riding wagon available with all-wheel drive, the Territory was based on the Falcon sedan, so did not have a separate chassis, low-range gearing or enough ground clearance like a four-wheel drive alternative such as a Ford Everest, and so was never designed to go off-roading. It only looked like it could.

The future of soft-roaders

With the rise of electric vehicles (EV), eking out maximum battery range through the pursuit of lightness and aerodynamics is pushing the move to monocoque-bodied four-wheel drive.

Fewer mechanical parts, no extra gearing required and air suspension replacing heavy springs are just a few of advantages of going EV.

As Toyota’s recent LandCruiser SE concept promises, it seems increasingly probable for a scalable EV platform to be engineered to go off-road.

It looks as if soft-roaders and four-wheel drive are converging. Even Toyota says this is the future.