I call mine a truck. It may really be an SUV but broncos in my opinion look more baddass and beastly than any other "SUV" beside an excursion, and thats why I call mine a truck. And when i can beat a GMC sierra in a race on the highway i know my TRUCK is more baddass than any actual SUV

 

Wow, yet another resurrection of an old thread. As mentioned earlier, the Bronco (and several other "Off-Highway Vehicles") pre-date the "SUV" designation by many years. The Fed dreamt up "SUV" when importers began shipping these "larger than car" type vehicles to the states and called them "Passenger Cars" to avoid being taxed on importing "Trucks". The Fed. couldn't argue that they were supposed to carry passengers so they nipped it in the bud by creating the "SUV" designation which added a tax level for this particular type of imported vehicle. The Bronco, Jeep vehicles, Blazer, Scout, were all running around this hemisphere as off-highway Utility Vehicles long before that happened. So, while the shoe may fit based on certain criteria established by the Fed., a Bronco remains a TRUCK.

 

My Illinois title lists my 96 as a "Carry-All"

 

Well, mine is listed as a pick-up, and i have "cargo" plates, which meant i had to pay double fare on most parking lots, but usually that also meant i could use cargo spots in those said parking lots.

 

Better than some states, which list it as a Station Wagon.

 

Also in IL, i can run truck or car plates... they let the owner decide

 

Take a look at your door frame sticker for what the Feds officially call it. That affects what safety standards were applicable to the design, and the EPA class for MPG. 1994 for "Type" reads "MPV". Which is Multi-Purpose Vehicle... just like minivans, bwaaahahahaaaaa

Quite a few years ago, the Feds were getting unhappy that trucks were being used as cars, thereby circumventing the safety and MPG standards that applied to cars back then. They wanted to classify anything with a back seat that could carry passengers as a "Passenger Vehicle" (as opposed to a "Truck"). Of course the mfg's strongly disagreed as that would cost them $$. A compromise was worked out, that created the Multi-Purpose Vehicle (MPV) class. These are vehicles that have a purpose to carry loads, but can also carry passengers, therefore, they are a "Multi-Purpose" Vehicle.

Pickups are still "Trucks", back seat or not, as the pickup box is obviously for carrying a load, therefore that is the main purpose for the pickup - carrying a load.

Most/all of what we call SUV's, and minivans, are MPV's.

What marketing calls them, is just for sales and advertising hoohaa. What affects the design is whether it is classed as a Passenger Vehicle, MPV, or Truck.

How states classify them for registration/license plate is up to each state. They make their own rules. They could put a license plate on a dog, if they wanted to

 

I feel silly for even commenting on this topic. On second thought, I'm not commenting on this topic. Hahaha

 

Missouri makes no "car", "truck" or other distinction when registering any vehicle under 26,001 lbs. GVW. If you want to put 8,000lb. GVW plates on your Escort, all you have to do is pay the additional cost for the plates. You could go up to 12,000 lb. GVW's if you really wanted to before you get in to "commercial vehicle" registration.

 

I think they where just considered wagons when Jeep started making them and Land Rover back in the day because they where just wagons on 4x4 chassis. From there most magazines especially C&D call them Tall wagons. As far as I'm concerned thats what they are an SUV is a tall wagon not a truck which is usually a cab and separated bed. Besides not all SUV's are truck based(Escape, RAV4's, late model Suburbans) anyway. I hate it when people call them trucks, just like El Camino's, Ranchero's, Baja's and the like. They are still cars. They use station wagon chassis and are unibody, exception being most foreign "Utes". Because some of them have flat beds.