Get fuel economy, space in crossovers

Don’t give up on SUVs just because of high gasoline prices.

There are a number of sport utility vehicles on the market that offer decent fuel economy for the number of people and amount of cargo they can haul.

Most of these now go by the new “crossover” designation, which signifies that they are not traditional body-on-frame truck-style SUVs, but instead are built on the chassis of cars.

But they still offer the most popular attributes of sport utility vehicles, including a high driving position, roomy interiors and, when equipped with all-wheel drive, at least limited ability to go off-road.

While these models often do use more fuel on average than similarly powered sedans, the trade-off is that there is still plenty of room inside these vehicles for friends or family —- as well as your gear.

These economical models allow you to have your SUV and drive it, too. The biggest fuel savings come from the lighter weight of the crossovers, which use the unibody construction of cars, in which frame and body are combined. They differ in that respect from the truck-based sport utilities such as the Tahoe/Yukon, Ford Expedition/Lincoln Navigator, Dodge Durango, Toyota Sequoia and Nissan Armada/Infiniti QX56, for example.

Most automakers now offer crossover models, and besides offering fuel economy closer to that of midsize sedans than traditional SUVs, they also provide a more carlike ride and handling than the truck-based sport utilities.

Coming to market this year is the all-new Chevrolet Traverse, with EPA ratings of 17 miles per gallon city/24 highway. It’s a virtual clone of three other popular General Motors full-size crossovers, the Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia and Saturn Outlook.

The Traverse now is arriving at Chevy dealerships with a starting price of $28,990 (including freight) for the base, two-wheel-drive LS model. Three other trim levels are offered: 1LT, 2LT and top-of-the-line LTZ.

The other three large GM crossovers have shown gains this year even as sales of traditional SUVs have cratered.

Ford Motor Co. has introduced the all-new Flex large crossover for 2009, with room for up to eight people and fuel economy of 17 mpg city/24 highway for the two-wheel-drive model.

Flex prices range from $28,295 (plus $700 freight) for the base front-drive SE model to $36,555 for the top-of-the-line Limited all-wheel-drive version.