Top^What is a luxuy SUV?

A Luxury SUV is a full-sized Sport Utility Vehicle that has many features included in the price, along with status, wealth, success, or a possession of cachet for others to admire or envy. This is as per the definition of a prestige or luxury vehicle.

Luxury SUVs tend to be the most expensive SUVs you can buy as a result, with many possessing high-end features and performance that is on a par with a luxury passenger car.

Top^How is a luxury SUV different from a luxury passenger car?

A Luxury SUV is a combination, or crossover, between a prestige or luxury vehicle and a Medium or Large SUV.

Now, while SUV can refer to a four-wheel drive (4WD), all-wheel drive (AWD) multi-terrain vehicle or off-roader, crossover, RV (Recreational Vehicle), four-by-four (4x4), or a wagon with some of the above, a Luxury SUV can also have two-wheel drive (2WD) in rear-wheel drive (RWD) or front-wheel drive (FWD) configurations.

So, unlike a luxury or prestige passenger car, a Luxury SUV is basically a wagon or station wagon or estate with at least two rows of seating, high seating (or H-point) positioning, which can also be referred to as elevated, with some ground clearance and a purpose of off-road ability or ruggedness.

Top^Does a luxury SUV have to be good off the road?

No, a Luxury SUV need never leave the bitumen or highway. Like a glamourous actor, it is not expected to do any of its own stunts.

Nevertheless, many Luxury SUVs have exceptional off-road capabilities as a point of differentiation between themselves and regular luxury passenger cars. Five classic examples are the Land Rover Range Rover and Range Rover Sport, Mercedes-Benz's GL-Class and M-Class, and the Toyota LandCruiser-based Lexus LX.

Top^Does a luxury SUV have to be capable on-road?

No, a Luxury SUV driver can live under the illusion that his/her vehicle is designed to traverse any mountain range, so plenty of leeway is given for on-road dynamic excellence - or the lack of it.

But there are exceptionally well-behaved and invigorating-to-drive Luxury SUVs, such as the BMW X5, BMW X6 and Porsche Cayenne. These Luxury SUVs are blurring the lines between SUV and sports cars, since they deliver outstanding power and impressive handling, roadholding, braking and body control attributes.

Top^Do luxury SUVs come in all shapes and sizes?

Within the confines of the basic station wagon/wagon/estate silhouette that sees a two-box shape with four doors, a tailgate and at least four seats, there is much variation between Luxury SUVs.

Compact Luxury SUVs exist in the form of the BMW X3 and Audi Q3, for instance, that are under about 4.8 metres long, can only seat five people maximum, are designed to deliver exceptional driving dynamics and are city-focussed.

Most Luxury SUVs are Medium SUV-sized, stretching around the five metre-in-length mark, with five seats, decent luggage capacity, six-figure prices and lots of standard features.

Then there are the larger seven-seater Luxury SUVs, as defined by the Land Rover Discovery, Mercedes GL-Class and Volvo XC90.

Top^What engines and transmissions do luxury SUVs come in?

As luxury vehicle buyers are more willing to shell out for nascent technology, petrol electric hybrid availability has already come to the Luxury SUV segment. The Lexus RX 400h is a hybrid Luxury SUV pioneer.

However, many Luxury SUVs are powered by large, expensive turbo-diesel engines in six-cylinder or V6 formats, or eight-cylinder V8 guises, for frugality and environmental reasons.

Nevertheless, big smooth and powerful six-cylinder, V6 or V8 petrol-powered engines are still consideredWhile a few Luxury SUVs are offered in five or six-speed manual gearbox choices, the overwhelming number come with automatic transmission - be they with five-speeds, six-speeds, seven-speeds or eight-speeds.

Top^Is it possible to have a green luxury SUV?

Carmakers like Lexus extol the environmental virtues of their petrol-electric hybrid Luxury SUVs, and they do make a difference around town.

Meanwhile, the mostly European Luxury SUVs with diesel engines make a similar claim since diesel fuel consumption is lower than petrol fuel consumption, backed up by lower CO2 carbon dioxide emissions. But higher NOX Nitrogen Oxide pollution is an unwelcome by product of diesel engines.

Top^What are the benefits of going with a luxury SUV?

Luxury SUVs often have an imposing presence that announces that you have arrived.

Many Luxury SUVs have the luxury of space for both people and luggage.

Luxury SUVs can be quiet, relaxed vehicle to travel in.

Some Luxury SUVs are incredibly powerful and fast, and so make ideal long-distance tourers.

Like their Medium and Large SUV counterpart, Luxury SUVs offer a raised seating or H-point hip-point placement, meaning that vision out is better, and that the occupants are often sitting above the severest point of impact in an accident.

Luxury SUVs provide a feeling of indomitability by dint of their padded, raised position on the road.

Luxury SUVs often feature the very latest in passive and active safety items, for safer and more secure travel.

Luxury SUVs are often so well equipped that they can amuse a bored adult or child for hours on end with their gizmos and gadgets.

Top^What are some of the disadvantages of going with a luxury SUV?

Weight issues associated with Luxury SUVs adversely affect fuel consumption, increase emissions and wear out brakes, suspension and other items on the vehicle more quickly.

Luxury SUV drivers may lose sight of objects directly behind, such as children, animals and objects because their vehicles are so big.

Luxury SUVs are not cheap to buy, service, run or repair.

Luxury SUVs can feel quite unwieldy at speed, or during sudden manoeuvres.

A Luxury SUV can be quite a bother to park in a tight spot, and requires plenty of car-park space.

Luxury SUVs are an obvious target for environmentalists.

Luxury SUVs can crush or destroy a small car it is involved in an impact with.

Luxury SUVs can lose a large proportion of their resale value due to the fickle fashion-based nature of the segment - especially once an old model becomes obsolete.

Top^Can you recommend a great on-road luxury SUV?

BMW offers a couple of superb-driving Luxury SUVs in the shape of the BMW X3, X5 and X6. So does Porsche's Cayenne.

Top^What are some of the better off-road luxury SUVs?

Any Land Rover, as well as the VW Touareg, Mercedes M-Class with the off-road pack, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Audi Q7 and Lexus LX are all excellent off-road capable Luxury SUVs.

Top^Where do most of the luxury SUVs come from?

Germany, Japan, England and Sweden provide the bulk of our popular Luxury SUVs.