LARGE SUVS ARE NOW A POPULAR CHOICE IN NZ
Large SUVs are a very mixed bunch. From supremely capable ladder-chassis-based off-roaders to full-blown luxury machines and everything in between, there are few categories as far reaching as this.
And they are very popular in New Zealand.
But which are the best?
Here, we pick the top three SUVs in three price categories; under $100,000, under $150,000 and over $150,000.
For the sake of simplicity and fairness, we have excluded any extreme performance variants that skew the price ranges.
Jeep Grand Cherokee
Price range: $66,990 (Laredo 4X2) to $99,990 (Overland V8)
Okay, so we may as well start as we mean to go on by cheating a bit: the Grand Cherokee range does actually go over the $100K mark with the insanely angry SRT8 model, but we are ignoring that because the rest of the range is just so damn good. And a lot of it is significantly under $100K. With even the cheapest models packed with technology and high specification, the Grand Cherokee is, at its heart, a Big American Truck.
But it is a damn good Big American Truck that is immensely comfortable, impressively brisk and remarkably well built.
Hyundai Santa Fe
Price range: $57,990 (2.4 petrol) to $79,990 (Elite Limited diesel)
Handsome and incredibly well equipped, it is no wonder the Santa Fe is one of New Zealand’s favourite SUVs. A great ride is well matched to the strong diesel engines in particular, with effortless, frugal performance.
With a range of petrol and diesel engines (including a FWD-only V6 version), the Santa Fe line-up covers a massive price range and a wide range of buyer needs.
Although not exactly set up to tackle much more than a gravel track in terms of off-roading, the Santa Fe more than makes up for that with its exceptional on-road behaviour.
Ford Everest
Price range: $75,990 (Trend) to $87,990 (Titanium)
Though we have yet to experience it on local roads, the Everest managed to impress us on its international launch in Thailand. We have been disappointed by a vehicle’s transition to local roads before (the Nissan Navara is a prime example), but the Everest has the big advantage of being based on a known quantity — the excellent Ford Ranger ute.
While Ford insists they are quite different vehicles (and they actually are), in this case the comparison bodes very well for the Everest. Big, comfortable and (in the case of the Titanium) incredibly well specced, the Everest impresses on a number of levels already.
Volkswagen Touareg
Price range: $89,900 (TDI V6 150kW) to $135,900 (TDI V8 250kW)
Amazingly good on the road and surprisingly capable off it, the Touareg has always been an impressive package, but the latest version takes it even further. Powerful diesel V6 and V8 engines propel the Touareg at an impressive rate for something so large and luxurious (between 9.0 and 6.8 seconds to 100km/h, depending on the engine), and interior quality and comfort are also exceptional.
Though the TDI V8 is a mighty vehicle, the Touareg is arguably most impressive in its sub-$100K TDI V6 150kW guise, with its air of luxury, capability and performance.
Volvo XC90
Price range: $97,900 (D5 Momentum) to $136,900 (T8 R-Design)
One of the first big, luxurious, serious SUVs to make a break from equally big engines entirely, the new XC90 is powered exclusively by 2.0-litre power plants. And it really doesn’t show. The only real giveaway is the petrol T6’s distinctly 4-cylinder sound, but its performance doesn’t let on ...
Powerful, frugal and staggeringly well built, designed and equipped, the XC90 is a remarkably complete package, even in base Momentum specification, and it boasts what is almost certainly the best interior in not only this segment, but quite a few others.
BMW X5
Price range: $112,500 (xDrive25d) to $149,500 (xDrive40d)
Just as we cheated a wee bit for the Jeep Grand Cherokee, we are also cutting the X5 a bit of slack in our price categories. The X5 also features two performance versions that utterly shatter the $150K mark — the $175,500 M50d and the $199,900 X5 M, which we are going to ignore.
This is because, like the Jeep, the less ferocious X5s are so damn compellingly good that it would be insulting to exclude them.
Packed with technology and some of the best engines in the game, the X5 is also extraordinarily handsome.
Add in a healthy dose of the BMW “Ultimate Driving Machine” DNA and you have a compelling package indeed.
Porsche Cayenne
Price range: $137,500 (3.0-litre diesel) to $251,600 (Turbo)
For a company that made its name in sports cars, Porsche sure does make a damn fine SUV. So good, in fact, it saved the company.
The purists have largely got over the fact the Cayenne exists and a few have, no doubt, even come to love it.
And not just because it is the reason you can still buy a 911, but also because it is everything that is great about the VW Touareg on steroids.
Bulk up the luxury, bulk up the spec, bulk up the performance and you have a deeply impressive SUV. And that is the Porsche Cayenne.
Mercedes-Benz GL-Class
Price range: $153,900 (GL 350) to $188,900 (GL 500)
There is a good reason that, in line with Merc’s new naming policy, the big GL will be renamed the GLS at its forthcoming facelift — it is every bit an S-Class on raised suspension.
As convincingly luxurious as a Range Rover (but in a very German way, you understand) the GL-Class is superbly modern, yet still feels like it should smell of rich mahogany and leather-bound books. Yep, it’s kind of a big deal. And kind of massively big too. And that size is most impressive on the inside, where the CL’s stately-home demeanour is most obvious. It almost echoes when you shout down the back.
Range Rover
Price range: $160,000 (TDV6 HSE SWB) to $238,000 (Supercharged Autobiography LWB)
One of the most convincing luxury cars on the road also happens to be pretty handy off it.
However, we don’t know if anyone who would drop $238,000 on a vehicle would ever hit the mud with it ...
Contemptuously good at pretty much everything, the big Range Rover is capable of keeping up with a much smaller, nimbler vehicle on a winding back road, and that isn’t because of the monstrous, supercharged V8 that comes in some of them — although that is a particularly incredible engine too.
And it does all this with all the luxury and refinement of a fine gentleman’s club.
Porsche Cayenne
Price range: $137,500 (3.0-litre diesel) to $251,600 (Turbo)
For a company that made its name in sports cars, Porsche sure does make a damn fine SUV. So good, in fact, it saved the company.
The purists have largely got over the fact the Cayenne exists and a few have, no doubt, even come to love it.
And not just because it is the reason you can still buy a 911, but also because it is everything that is great about the VW Touareg on steroids.
Bulk up the luxury, bulk up the spec, bulk up the performance and you have a deeply impressive SUV. And that is the Porsche Cayenne.