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(Enlarge photo)
Which one of these luxury SUVs is the king of the mountain? We put them to the ultimate test to find out.
(Photo by Scott Jacobs)
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Road Test: Comparison Test
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2004 Ultra Luxury Midsize SUVs Comparison Test
Introduction
By
Ed Hellwig, Lead Senior Editor
Date posted: 01-04-2005
There are plenty of upscale midsize SUVs, but only a handful of them can be considered truly luxurious. With more to offer than just a little wood trim and leather upholstery, true luxury vehicles remind you of their price tags (for better or worse) every time you get in them. They feel better, smell better and in most cases look better than their more pedestrian cousins. They aren't for buyers who want to take a small step up, these are SUVs for those who want it all and are willing to pay for it.
We thumbed through the seemingly endless list of SUVs currently on the market and singled out the cream of the midsize crop. Our final list consisted of just four vehicles, but there was more than enough horsepower, prestige and perfectly stitched leather to go around. Believe it or not, a Lexus was the lowest priced entrant in the group with the GX 470 coming in at just over $54,000. Although it's technically not the top-of-the-line SUV in the Lexus lineup, it was built to deliver all the comfort and performance of the top-dog LX 470 in a slightly more manageable package. There's no doubt about the Range Rover's status, as it has reigned supreme for over three decades as the premiere utility vehicle in the Land Rover lineup. With a somewhat strange pedigree that winds through Germany, England and Detroit, the Range Rover promises the best of many worlds all in one package.
The final two entrants boast a similarly intertwined past as they both ride on the same platform. On the low end is Volkswagen's new Touareg, a strangely named but well-received sport-ute that challenged the notion that VW could only build small, inexpensive cars. Even more outlandish is the fact that it came to the test powered by a 10-cylinder diesel engine that could pull a house down. So much for those cute little VWs. An equally powerful and significantly more costly alternative arrived in the form of the Porsche Cayenne Turbo. With the ability to perform like a sports car on the street, the Cayenne takes a very different approach to the idea of a luxury SUV. Whether it was the right kind of approach was up to us to decide.
In the spirit of seeing just how capable these vehicles really were, we not only got behind the wheel for hundreds of miles of pounding the pavement, we also took them on an extended jaunt down a tricky, rock-covered mountain trail. Sure, few owners are likely to ever subject their gleaming new SUVs to such treatment, but if the manufacturers are going to claim "do anything, go anywhere" status for their sport-utes, the vehicles had better be able to back it up. After roughly two weeks of living with this quartet, we learned a lot about each SUV's particular strengths and weaknesses, but only one vehicle distinguished itself as the out-and-out winner. It might be a surprise to you, but it was an easy decision for us.
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