2008-2010 Hummer H3 Alpha
After nearly a decade marketing gargantuan SUVs, Hummer finally launched a smaller vehicle for the 2005 model year. The H3 was based on the Chevy Colorado’s bones, and so it had the pokey inline 5-cylinder engine of that vehicle. In 2008, when the company slid its powerful 300-hp, 5.3-liter V-8 into the compact H3, the power shortcoming was fixed. Finally, this design had the muscle to match its brawny appearance. The H3 Alpha was able to reach 60 mph in 2 to 3 seconds faster than the five-cylinder models.
2008-2010 Hummer H3 Alpha
1984-2001 Jeep Cherokee (XJ)
Although fans of GM and Ford would argue that the first “downsized” compact SUVs were the 1983 S-10 Blazer and Bronco II, it was the Jeep Cherokee XJ that really set the stage for what would become modern SUVs and crossovers. Conventional body-on-frame construction was not used by the Cherokee. Instead, XJs were a unibody that, like passenger cars, combined the body and frame. And perhaps most important, with two or four doors, the Cherokee was available. Up until 1991, the Chevy and Ford wouldn’t get proper four-door versions.
1984-2001 Jeep Cherokee (XJ)