Introduction
Nowadays it is hard to drive for any amount of time without coming across an SUV (Sport Utility Vehicle). Whether it’s a mid-size, compact or full size, they are appearing now at an alarming rate. They seem to offer most of the practicality of a mini van, while looking much better and being more agile on the road.
And in recent years sports, or performance, SUVs have also increased in popularity. These are, as the name suggests, SUVs that are performance oriented. So now not only do they offer a decent amount of practicality, they’re also fast. But is this a good thing? Usually when something tries to do two things at once, it winds up not being particularly great at either of them. Like a laptop that is also a tablet, typically it ends up both not being a great laptop or tablet. So, are sports SUVs as great as people make them seem? Or are they neither good at being fast nor practical?
I can’t comment on the practicality, but I can assure you that they are damn good at being fast, in fact surprisingly so. Read on to find out just how fast they really are!
The Rise of SUVs
SUVs started to become popular in the late 90s and early 2000s, since then they have become the most popular vehicle type on the roads in North America. But what makes them so popular?
Well as I alluded to above, one major reason is the practicality. Most people don’t quite need the amount of space or seats that a mini van offers, but most people sometimes do need more space than a sedan. This is where the SUV fits in, it is a good middle ground between these two vehicle types.
The ride height is another practicality point. Most people don’t need the sky-scraper level ground clearance or off-road capability of a pick-up truck, but they do usually need more ground clearance and off-road capability than a sedan would offer. This is especially true for people who live in regions that are exposed to Winter. We’ve found another sweet spot that the SUV hits here.
The final reason is the looks; SUVs look good for what they offer. Given that their only real competition when it comes to practicality are the mini vans, they do look far better than the average mini van. Arguably there are some pick up trucks out there that would look better than SUVs though.
The Sports SUV
Now that we understand why SUVs have attained such popularity in North America, we can begin to discuss the Performance SUV. Performance SUVs have been becoming increasingly popular over the last 5 or so years. And to be clear, when I say Performance SUV, I am referring to an SUV that displays remarkable performance, think along the lines of the BMW X3 Comp, SRT Trackhawk, Lamborghini Urus, Porsche Cayenne, and RSQ8 (of course there are plenty more examples that I did not mention here).
Is it really any surprise that these became popular? They offer all the same practicality that made normal SUVs popular, while also being fast and fun to drive. Perhaps the question we should be asking is why have they only now become popular?
There are some factors that I think played a role in their delayed popularity. The first is the cost, up until recently, the only Performance SUVs on the market were quite expensive. For a while the Porsche Cayenne was the only decent Performance SUV, and they typically all went for well above $100,000. Nowadays there are several options priced below that mark. This served to increase their popularity in two ways I think. Firstly, it is simply a fact that more people were able to buy them. Secondly, a by product of the first item is that since there were now more of them on the roads, more people could see and learn about them, which undoubtedly increased popularity once again.
Another factor is the advancement of technology. Performance SUVs always existed, but they generally always paled in comparison to sedans and coupes with respect to performance. It used to be the case that even a mid-level performance sedan could out-perform a Performance SUV around a track with ease, but not anymore. The performance technology that now exists in Performance SUVs has ascended to a point now where they can compete with the sedans and coupes.
To be clear, I am not saying that an SUV will go around the Nürburgring faster than a GT3 RS. But to understand what I am saying, you will need to read on a little further.
How fast are they?
Alas, we are approaching the rousing conclusion of this article, and do not worry, I will not keep you waiting much longer.
To discuss how fast SUVs have become we will first need to settle on a criterion we will use for comparisons. 0 – 60mph/100kmph acceleration times is always a tempting option, but here I feel it does not make sense. We are aiming to compare performance, and there is much, much more to performance than straight line acceleration. Because of this I have chosen to use Nürburgring lap times as a performance comparison. Going around a track requires much more performance engineering than straight line speed alone.
This choice does however limit the SUVs we can use for comparisons, because not very many Performance SUVs have published lap times. We will be using the Porsche Cayenne GTS as our benchmark; it is a roughly $150,000 (CAD) vehicle that shares the platform of the Audi RSQ8 and Lamborghini Urus. I would have much rather used a more “average” Performance SUV as our benchmark, but unfortunately this is the only one that I could find reliable lap times for. So, without further ado, let’s dive in!
The Porsche Cayenne GTS makes it around the Nürburgring in 7 minutes and 38 seconds, which I think is quite a respectable time. It is, as you will read below, quite a bit faster than many sporty coupes and sedans.
The Porsche Cayenne GTS beats the BMW M2 F87 around the Nürburgring, which has a lap time of 7 minutes and 58 seconds. The BMW M2 is no slouch, it is a 2-door coupe that is quite light and nimble, but yet it has been outdone by an SUV.
The 2023 Civic Type R has a lap time of 7 minutes and 44 seconds, which is the current record for any front wheel drive (Click here to read my article about drivetrains!) vehicle on the Nürburgring, ever. This is also a purpose-built track vehicle, many reviewers have concluded that the suspension in this iteration of the Type R is too stiff for the street! Despite all this, it was beat by an SUV. By 6 whole seconds.
Our SUV also beat the AMG C63s around the Nurburgring, which had a lap time of 7 minutes and 44 seconds. This coupe features a mind bogglingly powerful, loud and large V8. And yet it was also defeated.
Finally, and this one may surprise you, our SUV is faster around the Nurburgring than the Lamborghini Gallardo, which has a lap time of 7 minutes and 40 seconds. Yes yes, I know that the Gallardo is old, but it is still a mid-engine, V10 super car. And it was beat by an SUV.
Conclusion
I know that the Porsche Cayenne GTS is no normal SUV, but I still think this article serves as a testament to how fast Performance SUVs really are. If you had told me 15 years ago that today we would have an SUV that gets around the Nürburgring faster than a Lamborghini Gallardo, I would’ve laughed. And yet, here we are.
As always, feel free to watch this articles’ corresponding YouTube video and TikTok (don’t forget to subscribe and follow!).
Sources: Wikipedia, Statista, CarBuzz, Car And Driver, Honda Canada, PistonHeads, MotorTrend, C! Philippines, Paradigm Shift Driver Development, Porsche Newsroom, FastestLaps.com
