Many SUVs look more butch than they really are, but just how capable are four-wheel-drive models on the rough stuff? Welcome to our off-road megatest
Neil Winn neil.winn@haymarket.com
INTRODUCTION
IT’S FAIR TO SAY that the UK has something of a love affair with SUVs, due to their high driving positions, spacious interiors and, not least, their rugged looks. But shall we let you in on a little secret? Peel the body panels away from a lot of modern SUVs and you’ll find that they share underpinnings with regular family hatchbacks. That’s good news for comfort, fuel economy and handling, but it tends to limit their capabilities off the beaten track.
So, what if you need a car that won’t be phased by a steep, rock-strewn hill, a flooded road or a deep quagmire? Which cars fit the bill? To find out, we’ve gathered together 10 SUVs equipped with four-wheel drive and divided them up into rival pairs.
The relative bargains of the group are the sub-£25,000 Dacia Duster and Suzuki Ignis. These models may be similar in price, but they plough very different furrows when it comes to design and mechanical make-up.
Electric power is championed by our next pairing, the Nissan Ariya and Subaru Solterra. However, while both of these have four-wheel drive, only the Subaru is claimed to have real off-road chops, so it’ll be interesting to see how the Nissan compares.
Representing the old school, the Ineos Grenadier and Jeep Wrangler use traditional methods to get the off-road job done. The Grenadier is a relative newcomer, while the Wrangler can trace its roots back to the early 1940s, so we’ll be finding out whether the young upstart teaches the old-timer a thing or two.
At the other end of the tech spectrum, the Ford Ranger Raptor and Land Rover Defender let electronics do a lot of the hard work. Finally, the BMW X7 and Range Rover represent the pinnacle of luxury off-roading.
We took them all to a specialist off-road centre to assess how well they climb, crawl and wade. To make direct comparisons, we concentrated on specific obstacles. We started off with smooth gravel inclines ranging from 26% to 35%. If a car could handle these, it was on to the sand and silt hills, which have looser, more rutted surfaces. Even trickier is the Horseshoe, a slippery, churned-up incline with a sharp bend at its peak. We also used offset ditches and humps to test suspension travel, and a rough ‘green lane’ (dubbed the Dragon’s Back) to assess ease of driving.
