The Fastest SUVs around the world
It’s one thing to turn a two-seat sports car into a 13-second quarter miler, but quite another to pull off the same feat with a two-ton-plus aerodynamic brick of an SUV. That doesn’t mean it hasn’t been done, of course.
The horsepower-crazed engineers at Mercedes’ AMG tuning house are especially adept at it.
So when you’re living life a quarter mile at a time getting the kids to the soccer game or making it to Home Depot, there are some options out there, most with fire-breathing V-8s.
2007 Mercedes-Benz ML63 AMG
The AMG-tuned version of Benz’s second-smallest SUV runs in a dead heat with the Cadillac XLR-V and Pontiac G8 GXP and comes out ahead of the twin-turbocharged BMW 135i and HEMI-equipped Dodge Challenger SRT8, among others. The facelifted 2009 model will likely be just as fast — if not more so. Keep bringing The Hammer, AMG.
2005 Mercedes-Benz G55 AMG
The laws of physics don’t really apply to the G55 due to its supercharged 5.4L V-8. In 2005, the powerplant was good for 469 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque and in 2007, AMG threw in an extra 24 ponies to bring it up to 493 hp. Disclaimer: The G55 is not the best choice for chasing highly trained assassins driving beaten up Volga cabs around the streets of Moscow. That Jason Bourne sure can drive.
2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8
Whoever said Jeeps were slow never got behind the wheel of this Street Racing and Technology Frankenstein. The Grand Cherokee STR8 is only a half-second slower in the quarter than a 2003 Mustang SVT Cobra and only a tenth behind the Audi S8 and Jaguar XF Supercharged.
2005 Porsche Cayenne Turbo
The second-fastest version of the world’s most practical Porsche may only be three-tenths of a second slower than a Cayman S in the quarter mile, but for the price of one Cayenne Turbo you can get a matching his and hers Boxsters with enough change left over for a Carribean vacation. Decisions, decisions.
2009 Infiniti FX50 S
BMW-chasing Infiniti is the only representative from the Land of the Rising Sun to crack the top five, first with the 390-hp FX50 S, which bests both variants of the Mitusbishi Lancer Evolution X and the Ford Shelby GT Convertible by one-tenth.
2007 Chevrolet TrailBlazer SS
GM went with its tried-and-true “when in doubt, put a small block in it” philosophy and shoved the LS2 under the hood of the not-long-for-this-world TrailBlazer. The result: it beats the much smaller Subaru WRX and Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart by two-tenths.
2008 Infiniti EX35 RWD
Some say the EX barely qualifies as an SUV. Those people are probably driving 2006 Volkswagen R32s, losing to the EX by a tenth. The EX slows down substantially when equipped with the optional AWD system, to the point that it would drop off this list, clocking in at 6.5 seconds for the 0 to 60 mph run along with a 14.9 second quarter mile at a trap speed of 94.5 mph.
2005 BMW X5 4
The 4.8is was the top of the line model of the previous-generation X5. The redesigned version launched in 2008 is larger and heavier — and likely to be slightly slower.
2009 BMW X6 xDrive35i
The X6 weighs in at just a hair away from 5000 lbs, making it one of the heaviest utes on this list. That BMW’s 300-hp 3.0L twin-turbo I-6 is potent enough for a 14-second car with all that heft to contend with makes it that much more impressive. In case you’re wondering why the V-8-powered X6 xDrive50 is missing, the answer is simple: we haven’t been able to get our hands on one. Given the performance of the smaller X6, the 400 hp version of BMW’s “Sports Activity Coupe” would surely end up near the FX50.
2009 Infiniti FX35 AWD/2008 Porsche Cayenne GTS Tiptronic
Japan and Germany share tenth place honors but these two SUVs are separated by 1000 lbs, 102 hp, and $30,000. The slightly cheaper Cayenne GTS manual should also be slightly faster!
An honorable mention goes to the 2008 Toyota Sequoia, a three ton behemoth with a 6.2sec 0 to 60 mph time that runs a 14.7 sec quarter mile at a trap speed of 93.7 with “only” 381 horsepower and 401 lb-ft of torque coming from its 5.7L V-8.
Thank you, Samantha for the email!
