Auto Trends

Pound per square inch of metal, wires, cup holders, multi-media, and 1.2 bratty kids… which high priced luxury vehicle is the best for your hard earned dollar? Decide for yourself:

2008 Lexus LX570 – The Lexus tops the list of luxury sport utility in Price. Somewhere around $70,000 for the base priced sport utility V-8. It has a healthy 4.7 liter motor and a 381 horsepowers to bring it into the top of the class in this portion of the tests. Lexus has gone one step further this year and given their “pretty boy” a bit of a rugged edge (inherited from the Toyota Landcruiser). So in town kid driving is not the only thing you can do with the Lexus these days. It is still a very technologically advanced SUV with highly adaptive computer suspension tuning, so rock crawling would probably best not be on the menu of everyday affairs. But it does have a variable height clearance switch which could come in very handy on out of the way family excursions.

2008 Cadillac Escalade – The Escalade is a good $10,000 less than the Lexus at around $60,000 in base price and packs a whopping 403 horsepower and 417 lbs torque. The 6.2 liter engine is nothing to be

trifled with. The interior has been upgraded a bit and now resembles what a Cadillac should—elegant and classy. Power and class is what the Escalade do best and they top the charts from its competition here. The Lexus still has the upper hand on quality however and most every expert would agree with that statement. The Escalade also wins out on passenger space. It is not only luxurious, but there is practically enough room to throw a small party in the cabin!

BMW X5 – In the territory of the Escalade with a base V-8 price of $55,000, the X5 does feature a much smaller and refined 4.8 liter 350 horsepower

engine than the Escalade, giving it the appearance of perhaps more overall, usable balance. Unfortunately, the overall body is a bit chunky in comparison to the new Audi A7, so it lacks some of the “punch”! The $55,000 base V-8 gives you some nice features, such as back-up camera and xenon headlights/fog lights that turn with the car, but its body style still remains a bit lackluster for the price tag.. BMW has addressed one problem though… space. The X5 now has around 8 more inches of room, allowing for a third row of seating, but it is still not as big of hauler as the Escalade or Mercedes GL by a long shot.

Volvo XC90 – Volvo has put together a fairly impressive package for around $47,000. It has 311 horsepower and 325 lbs torque, and a rather

smooth 4.4 small block V-8. The Volvo is also considered a bit chunky and won’t be as sporty as those who have an eye on the Porsche Cayenne or Acura MDX. But not everybody is looking for pure performance per square inch of vehicle. In fact some just want to feel safe, and if this is what you are after, the new Volvo is arguably one of the safest and kid friendly SUV’s around. Features such as roll stability, blind spot information system, side airbags, and anti whiplash seats, are just a part of its quality engineering that Volvo has set the standard for.

Audi Q7 (photo bt Huey2006 @ Flickr)- The Audi Q7 boasts and impressive 350 horsepower and 325 lbs torque and all with a very small 4.2 liter. Lots of technology went into this 5 vales per cylinder engine and it is very refined and smooth in the payoff. And the $50,000 price tag keeps it right in the ballpark of the rest of its competition. The biggest drawback

with the Audi, is that it’s heavy—very heavy! But it is not bad for a first SUV for Audi. It still can pull out from a dead stop and hit 60 mph in just a little over 7 seconds, which should be enough for any soccer mom and dad to get their kids from A to B. And this was just Audi’s plan, to create a light duty “Mommy kid hauler” with plenty of refinement and safety and then throw in plenty of horsepower and torque, so the husbands would think it was pretty cool too. Seriously, that was the base design plan of the Q7. But we can expect even more in the years to come from Audi, they are honestly just getting started in this new line of vehicle.

Mercedes-Benz GL550 (photo by Bohemian88 @ Flickr)- You would expect power and refinement here and Mercedes delivers with their 4.7 liter standard 382 horsepower and 339 lb torque rating. They are trying to win some of the SUV consumers who have been sold on some of these other models for the past years. Mercedes and SUV just are not used in the same sentence very often, but they intend to change that if they can. They are off to a good start, if space is at all a concern, as you will find plenty of it here. 76 inches wide, 73 inches tall, and almost 17 feet long, the new Mercedes should be able to handle most any suburban hauling needs. But all this space comes with its negative, such as its 5300 curb weight, but its power capabilities will keep the driving at least somewhat spirited. The handling is also surprisingly well balanced for such a large vehicle.

Acura MDX (photo by Robotography @ Flickr)- Okay, so not really in the “high-priced” section necessarily at $40,000 and it doesn’t come with a V-8, but we thought it would make a good gage to see if the other big boys are worth the extra green.

The MDX packs a strong 300 horsepower, 275 lb torque 3.7 liter V-6, which is light, quick and so far, fairly durable. The big boys got nothing on the Acura in this department. It also handles superbly and is easily categorized with the BMW X5 and Porsche Cayenne in refinement. Speaking of Porsche, the MDX is hard to beat with its 0-60 in just over 6 seconds. This is certainly no roving brick if you are looking for a little sport to go with your utility. The MDX is a good compromise between usability, style, power, functionality, and compact affordability. This “mid priced” alternative is looking pretty good!