how capable are modern crossovers offroad compared to old school 4x4s?

I worked for an OEM doing Traction Control and ABS calibration. A few years ago they started pushing for more offroad capability from their SUVs, potentially a lot but mostly raising the minimum across the board. I was sent to in one of their first few groups to be Offroad certified (even though we were already mid development and I'd been tagging along for support already). Essentially boiled down to dirt/mud and sand/dunes courses. We were already well versed in Snow so not included. We primarily drove retired late development (2016+) AWD SUVs. No locking axles just a clutched rear diff. No lift kits (export models had higher ride heights though). One car had geniune mud tires to demonstrate, the rest were on all seasons or the newer hybrid AT tires with aggressive looks but are all seasons underneath. I learned way more and had a ton more fun wheeling the generic SUVs than I did driving our kitted out JK rubicon that we used as a recovery vehicle. When I had a chance to contrast the two, driving the Rubicon was just easy mode, didn't struggle at all, felt like it was on cruise control over most obstacles. That said, i had to actually try and genuinely think about obstacles with the SUVs. I wasn't sure I was gonna make it up each slope and had to plan my route and get aggressive sometimes to have enough momentum to make it or end up having to back down and try again. If you're interested the journey and learning how to get better, there's nothing wrong with taking a modern SUV as long as you've got recovery gear and a buddy to help get you unstuck when it inevitably happens. If you just want to get there with minimal effort, go ahead for something offroad dedicated. One of the instructors said something about the Rubicon that really stuck with me though, "it just means you'll get stuck even deeper in the woods" so be prepared for that.