The Honda CR-V (left) costs about as much as a Honda Accord (right), and offers about as much passenger space. Which would you buy?
Crossover definition is - crossing. How to use crossover in a sentence. Recent Examples on the Web: Noun During Thursday's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Law & Order: Organized Crime crossover event, the two detective characters, played by Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni, appeared onscreen together again. — Ally Mauch, PEOPLE.com, 'Stabler Returns in the Law & Order: SVU. View the best crossovers, covering affordable crossover SUVs generally priced below $35,000. Compare crossover reviews, specs, and features, then find the best local prices for your top crossovers.
The sedan is dead. By now, you’ve probably heard the dire prognostications for what was once the auto industry’s most popular type of passenger vehicle. The four-door sedan—long a staple of American motoring—has given way to the crossover SUV, and it doesn’t appear that consumers are looking back.
Ten years ago, sedans accounted for approximately 50 percent of all light-vehicle sales. For 2017, that number has slipped to just under 30 percent, and the curve still points downward.
Seeing the writing on the wall, a number of automakers have largely abandoned the sedan, responding to waning buyer demand as well as the heftier profit margins that crossovers typically bring. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), for example, currently retails just two sedans in the U.S.: the Chrysler 300 and the Dodge Charger (and the 300 is rumored to be discontinued after the 2019 model year).
Likewise, last year Ford famously announced the demise of not just its sedan models, but all of its traditional passenger cars save for the popular Mustang. You can read more about Ford’s decision here. General Motors is also killing off sedan models—the company is deleting the Cruze and Impala from the Chevrolet lineup, and dropping the Cadillac ATS, CTS, and XTS, as well as the Buick LaCrosse.
As depressing as all that may sound, Japanese brands seem committed to building sedans. Honda, Nissan, and Toyota have all recently redesigned their midsize sedans, and the Nissan Versa subcompact sedan and Toyota Corolla compact sedan are both redesigned for 2020.
So, you may be asking, should I buy a car or crossover? Is the crossover craze just hype, or are there good reasons for folks to abandon their sedans? To answer these questions, let’s look at how most consumers use their vehicles, and how well each body type addresses those needs. For comparison’s sake, Let’s look at two popular examples of the breed: the Honda CR-V compact crossover and the Honda Accord midsize sedan.
Should I Buy a Car or Crossover?
On the Highway
Advantage: Sedan
Thanks to its lower, longer silhouette, the average sedan enjoys several meaningful advantages over a comparable crossover in highway driving. First, thanks to a longer wheelbase (the distance between the front and rear wheels), sedans usually provide a less choppy, more-composed ride than crossovers do. In the case of the CR-V and the Accord, the latter boasts a meaningful five inches more length in wheelbase.
Additionally, a sedan’s lower, more aerodynamic shape generally affords better fuel economy and reduced wind noise at speed. Indeed, the editors of Consumer Guide typically find the Accord to be the quieter vehicle on the highway.
As for highway fuel economy, an Accord EX-L with the same 1.5-liter engine and CVT automatic transmission earns an EPA highway fuel-economy estimate of 38 mpg—4 mpg better than a front-wheel-drive CR-V EX-L with the exact same engine and transmission.
Finally, drivers and passengers alike may find the legs-extended driving position found in sedans more comfortable for long-haul driving than the upright, chair-like seating found in crossovers.
2019 Honda CR-V Todoist time.
In the City
Advantage: Crossover
For urban dwellers, a crossover’s tall, boxy shape affords a number of advantages over a comparable sedan. Thanks to their reduced overall length, crossovers tend to be a bit more maneuverable in tight quarters. The CR-V, for example, is almost exactly a foot shorter than the Accord, making it the easier vehicle in which to navigate parking garages, weave through traffic, and parallel park. The upright seating position also affords drivers a more commanding view of the cars and pedestrians around them—something that can help reduce stress while commuting in congested environments.
Another advantage of crossovers in urban use is door size. Crossovers tend to have taller and narrower doors than sedans, which can be beneficial in tight parking spaces and small garages.
Hauling Passengers
Advantage: Crossover
As Honda claims the same 40 inches of rear-seat legroom for the CR-V and the Accord, the difference here comes down to ingress and egress. For most passengers, especially older folks, sliding sideways into a crossover is preferable to lowering oneself into the seat of a sedan.
Honda CR-V Cargo Area
A Crossover Life
Hauling Cargo
Advantage: Crossover
Thanks to its wagon-like profile, the CR-V is the preferred ride when it comes to carrying stuff. Honda lists the Accord’s trunk volume at about 17 cubic feet, but the CR-V boasts a commodious 39 feet of space with the rear seatbacks in place, and a generous 76 feet with the seatbacks folded. Note that the Accord’s seatbacks also fold flat, but the space created is not as large or as usable as that in the CR-V.
An AWD CR-V costs slightly more to own than an Accord.
Cost of Ownership
Advantage: Draw
According to a 2018 article posted on the website Fleet Financials, the average total cost of ownership for a crossover is 10-12 percent higher than that of a sedan. These figures were arrived at having considered all vehicle ownership costs, including purchase price, fuel economy, insurance, and depreciation, with most of the cost difference between vehicle type being attributed to the initial purchase price.
However, these numbers were calculated by comparing the ownership costs of all crossovers to that of all sedans. In the case of our CR-V versus Accord comparison, the two vehicles are priced very similarly, with a 2WD CR-V costing slightly less than the Accord, and an AWD example costing slightly more.
Were a Honda shopper to have purchased the more-expensive midsize Pilot instead of the compact CR-V as an Accord alternative, then the Accord would have been the clear low-cost winner. That said, Honda representatives say that one of the vehicles the CR-V is most often cross-shopped against is the Accord, which makes sense given how close the two vehicles measure in cabin space and price.
We will call this comparison a draw—the understanding being that sedans will usually cost less in terms of fuel usage and insurance, while crossovers will typically retain greater value and be worth more as a percent of the original purchase price at trade-in time.
Intangibles
A Crossover
Advantage: Crossover
This is mostly anecdotal, but many drivers report feeling safer in crossovers. And why not? As American roads continue to be populated with greater numbers of relatively taller, larger crossovers, riding low to the ground in a car can certainly lead to a sense of vulnerability. Additionally, as most crossovers sold in the Snowbelt are equipped with AWD, drivers enjoy an added sense of security.
Auto enthusiasts often bristle at the suggestion that crossovers can be made to handle as well as cars do. These aficionados contend that cars, largely because of their lower center of gravity, are naturally the better-handling vehicles, and are thus safer and more fun to drive. While this is likely true in extreme circumstances, anyone who has driven a BMW X3 or, say, a Ford Edge ST must admit that crossovers can be tuned to handle nearly as well as a car—and, within reasonable limits, every bit as well.
Finally, there’s perceived value. To most consumers, a crossover simply looks like more vehicle for roughly the same money. A big grille, huge cargo hold, and general truck-like presence—this stuff sells crossovers. Torrent maker for mac.
Final Thoughts
My guess is that it won’t be long before we stop using the word crossover. The vehicles we identify with this tag are becoming so common we may well start calling them cars. Additionally, the term is no longer accurate. Crossovers were once car-based vehicles that shared some design characteristics with old-school SUVs. That is no longer the case. What we call crossovers now are an entirely distinct class of vehicles that are generally designed independently of other products.
So, which should you buy: a car or a crossover? The easy answer is: Which do you like more? Unless you do a lot of highway driving, or just really resent the fact that they have taken over the automotive market, you probably should seriously consider a crossover.
Ultimately, it’s your money, and you should be happy with what you buy. We recommend you test drive as many vehicles as you can before making a purchase decision, and do what feels best. Just because sedans are losing favor doesn’t mean they aren’t great vehicles. And, because sedan sales are slowing, it’s likely you can strike a better deal on one.
Car or Crossover
Have you ever wondered how the tweeter and wooferhave their responses combined in a speaker system, or what the crossovernetwork is and how it works? If so, thisarticle will shed some light on the least seen and perhaps most undervaluedpart of the speaker system, the crossover network. Unlike the electronic world where the filtershave gone from using tubes, to analog computers to digital signal processors,modern day passive crossovers, a pair offrequency selective filters designed to work together as a single network, arebasically the same as they were about 100 years ago when the speaker businesswas in its infancy. While crossovercomponents and materials and construction have changed, the underlying theoryand practice has not.
What does the Crossover Do?
Like yourown brain, the crossover network is a director.In addition to its primary function, the passive crossover in practiceis expected to do more than simply split the frequency band in two.
1) The crossover allows you to placetwo 8 ohm speakers in parallel, one for the highs and one for the lows, andstill present an 8 ohm, not a 4 ohm load to the amplifier (which is what theamp would see without the network)
2) The crossover allows you to matchtwo drive units of different efficiencies so that the combination of the twodoes not result in a large shelf in the frequency response.
3) The crossover allows you to equalizethe frequency response of either the woofer or tweeter, making the compositeresponse smoother than the unfiltered curves of either driver (woofer ortweeter) would seem to indicate is possible.
Let’s getback to the basic job of the crossover, and see if we can understand how itaccomplishes this by learning a few new but simple concepts. The basic job is to send the high frequencyinformation to the tweeter, and eliminate this same band of high frequenciesfrom the woofer. Next, send the lowfrequency information to the woofer, and eliminate this same band of lowfrequencies from the tweeter. Acrossover is in essence two frequency filter sections working in parallel. A high pass section and a low passsection. These terms are selfexplanatory. The high pass passes highfrequencies, the low pass passes low frequencies. The high pass is placed in series with thetweeter, and the low pass is in series with the woofer. A normal two way crossover will have sixterminals. Two in, and four out. Usually the two sections (high-pass andlow-pass) are in parallel and both sections ONLY work properly when the wooferand tweeter are both attached and operational. To understand how the crossoverdoes its job, we must first understand the concept of impedance.
The threemain passive elements used in all crossovers are resistors, inductors, andcapacitors. Impedance is a measure ofhow much the resistor, capacitor or inductor impedes the flow of electrons atany given frequency. Resistors are thesimplest components, and the easiest to understand. The have a constant resistance to the flow ofelectrons which does not vary with the frequency of the signal. Resistors do not change the phase of the signal, the time relationshipbetween voltage (electrical pressure) and current (flow of electrons). Theyonly consume power and convert it to heat.That is all they do. In a perfectspeaker system there is no need for resistors at all. Of course, while there are no perfectspeakers, all the basic crossover theory's we use start with that premise.
The secondelement we shall consider is a capacitor.The capacitor impedes the flow of electrons through it in a waywhich is NOT independent of frequency. (It would not be technically correct touse the word resistance, but you can certainly think of it as such toconceptualize this). The capacitor has an impedance which is inverselyrelated to frequency. This is to saywhen you double the frequency of a signal applied to the capacitors terminals,its impedes that electrical flow by half as much as it did at the lower frequency. If you halve the frequency applied, thecapacitors impedance (How much it impedes the flow of electrons) isdoubled. This is a very usefulcharacteristic which we use to create networks which are frequency selective(like a crossover).
The Maths
Theimpedance of a capacitor is determined by the equation: Z = 1/j(2piF*C)
Where Z =Impedance magnitude,
J = thesquare root of (-1) ('Imaginary' component to describe the phase)
pi = 3.1414etc
C = Valueof Capacitance in Farads; 1 Farad = 1,000,000 ufd
I think thefirst time I read about the square root of (-1) I had an allergicreaction. So, for those of us who arefinding it difficult to comprehend phase for the first time, we can pretend itis not there, and to simplify the discussion we will admit to this equationbeing somewhat incomplete without the “j”, but for the determination of thesteady state and not transient value of the impedance, we are OK.
When acapacitor is put in series (shares one electrical terminal) with a resistor,the capacitor acts as a high pass filter. At some frequency it has the sameimpedance as the resistor, and at a much higher frequency it is like a short,just a piece of wire with little to no resistance (at least in a perfectcapacitor). At very low frequencies theimpedance of the capacitor becomes so high, that essentially nothing can passthrough it. It is this characteristicwhich is used in endless electronic circuits to allow AC signals to passthrough yet completely block DC voltages from one part of the circuit to another.
Figure 1
Lets say wehave a 10 ufd capacitor and put in in series with an 8 ohm resistor. At some frequency, the capacitors impedancemagnitude will be equal to the 8 ohm impedance of the resistor. (Which ofcourse is still 8 ohms at any frequency from DC to daylight.)
Lets do the math.
Z = 8 =1/{(2)*(3.14)*(F)*(10)*(10-6)}
The capacitor is MICRO Farads, which is millionths of a Farad, so wemust multiply the 10 by 0.000001( 10-6) to convert microfarads intoFarads, so we can solve for the frequency (F) in Hz. By cross multiplying (multiplying both sidesby F and dividing both sides by 8) we get:
F =1/(2*3.14*8*10*10-6)) = 1990 Hz.
What thistells us is that at 1990 Hz (2 kHz if you are among friends) the impedance ofthe capacitor is equal to that of the resistor, so at this point the power intothe resistor is half what it would be without the capacitor. Put another way, at 1990 Hz, the power intothe resistor is 3 db less and this is your crossover point. Above this frequency the attenuation(reduction in power to the resistor) is less, and as we go lower in frequencythe capacitors impedance grows larger, while the resistor is unchanged, so theattenuation of signal to the resistor increases. At a frequency of 995 Hz, the attenuationwill be 6 db. At 498 Hz, it will be 12db. We call this a first order or 6 dbper octave crossover. That is, in anutshell, how this works. It grows incomplexity when more parts are used, but the basic function is the same. Now if your speaker is a perfectly resistiveload, your 10 ufd series capacitor will be a perfect passive 6 db per octaveHigh Pass (HP) filter. Don't worry,life is not that simple.
The otherimportant element used in a crossover network is the Inductor; sometimes calleda choke, and sometimes called a coil.They are all refer to the same thing.The Inductor is in many ways the inverse of the capacitor. It too changes impedance with frequency, butin a way entirely opposite to the capacitor.The inductors impedance grows LARGER with increasing frequency, notsmaller like the capacitor. Itsimpedance grows larger at the same rate as the capacitor grows smaller, and thesimilarity ends there. So if we replaceour capacitor with an inductor in the first case we have a first order low passfilter. (As shown in figure # 1)
Note thatin higher order networks, second order and above, both inductors and capacitorsare used in the same circuit to provide high-pass (HP) or low-pass (LP)filtering. In the HP filter, capacitorsare put in series with the load while inductors are put in parallel. (A resistor represents the load in figure 1,and the speakers represent the load in figure 2). In the LP filter the opposite is true, theinductors are in series and the capacitors in parallel with the load (orspeaker if you are making a crossover network).Hopefully this makes sense if you keep in mind the direction of theimpedance changes of the parts with increasing or decreasing frequency.
Figure 2
In thenetwork pictured in figure 2, the HP blocking capacitor, C1, increases inimpedance with decreasing frequency, while at the same time the shortinginductor L1, decreases in impedance with decreasing frequencies, hence shortingout the low frequencies while the capacitor is increasingly blocking them. The inverse is true of the LP filter. L2 is blocking highs and passes lows, whileC2 is shorting out the highs and passing the lows. This is how the LP filter blocks highs andpasses lows while the HP filter is performing the inverse function. It is this dual action that allows this kindof network to create twice the blocking action (12 db) per octave of frequencythan the simpler 6 db/octave network. Ifyou did not understand this on the first read, that is OK, you have a lot ofcompany. Think about how the capacitorand inductor change their impedance with frequency, and take another look atthis circuit diagram. If you try, youcan figure out what is going on as the frequencies change.
Back to thesimplest network, the 6 db per octave. If I have an 8 ohm resistor, and a 0.001Henry (1.0 millihenry inductor), at what frequency do I have a 3 db attenuationacross my resistor? Let's calculate thefrequency where the inductor equals 8 ohms.
The valueof the impedance of an inductor is determined by the formula
Z ={(2pi)*(J)*(F)*(L)} where F= Frequencyin Hz, L = Inductance in Henries Z= Impedance in Ohm
Like we didfor the capacitor, we shall ignore the imaginary 'J' term and pushahead.
8 =(2pi)(F)(0.001H) Therefore: F = 8/{(2pi)(0.001)= 1273 Hz
If we wantto set the Low Passfrequency equal to the HighPass frequency of 1990Hz, what inductor do we need? We set F =1990 and then we can solve for L.
L =8/{(2pi)(F)} = 6.4 + 10-4 Henries =0.64 millihenries
We have calculated the parts needed for our first crossover network for our 8ohm tweeter and 8 ohm woofer with a crossover frequency of 1990 Hz Network below:
FIGURE 3