Buy/Drive/Burn: 2018 High-end Luxury SUVs for Over $100,000
Obviously the B&B are all about brand-new imported luxury SUVs, as their great value, utility, and long-term prospective ownership costs put them in a class all their own.
Trolling opener aside, we’re going to talk about expensive SUVs today. Up for grabs are three contenders around the $140,000 price point, from Range Rover, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW.
Range Rover Supercharged Autobiography
The most commercially popular of our trio is up first. The Supercharged Autobiography trim is third from the top, and as high as you can go without adding an SV to the trim name. Base price is $141,995, and the Autobiography piles on unique features over the standard Supercharged with its 5.0-liter gasoline V8 (518 horsepower). Terrain Response 2 ensures you don’t get stuck in off-road situations, and pairs with a locking differential. Upgraded LED headlamps light your way outside, while a panoramic glass roof brightens up the interior. Semi-aniline leather is yours as well, and rear seats recline and are heated and cooled. A full driver-assistance package is standard, as well as eight boring colors (other colors cost lots extra).
Mercedes-Benz G550 Designo Manufaktur
Tracing its roots right back to a military SUV from 1979, the 2018 G550 is a last-of moment. For 2019 the G-Wagen enters its second generation and picks up much modernization. This is your last chance to buy a new O.G.-G. There are many ways to configure the G550 to your liking. All are powered by a 416-horsepower, 4.0-liter bi-turbo engine, driving all four wheels all the time. Three lockable differentials ensure you can take your lux box off-road (don’t scrape the dual side exhausts). Driver aids have been added to the G over the years, with adaptive cruise and parking assist among others. The Designo Manufaktur is the top trim of the G550, and opens up a world of exterior and interior colors to mix and match. Nappa leather and wood are here, as well as rear seat entertainment and the adaptive suspension package. Total cost ends up at $141,995.
BMW X5M Individual
Rounding out our trio is the most powerful X5 that money can buy; the one with the M badge on the back. Stomping the other two competitors, 567 horsepower is provided by BMW’s familiar 4.4-liter V8 and two turbochargers. Sixty miles an hour occurs in just four seconds, and must feel shocking with this sort of mass underfoot. The price of this performance is less off-road capability than either of the others here today. With a lower starting price than the other two competitors, we can load up the X5M with every option. An Executive Package adds driver assist, head-up display, surround exterior cameras, WiFi, and heated and ventilated everything. It’s easy to spring for the Bang & Olufsen sound, rear entertainment package, night vision, and M driving package. All this is layered on the Individual trim, allowing you to pick from a selection of premium exterior and interior colors. The speedy X5M is the value option even when fully decked out, at just $123,350.
Which gets your nod and the Buy title? Common and modern, prestigious but old, or less capable but blisteringly fast?
[Images: Jaguar-Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, BMW]
Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.
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Buy: G550 - Resale, looks, ability. (Disclaimer: I used to own a 2002 G500. NOT a good year, or truck... many issues...) Drive: Range Rover. Assuming you're under warranty. Burn: X5. Meh.
Burn em all, give me an Escalade or a Suburban.