Performance
Once upon a time, it was ludicrous even to discuss on-road performance of sport/utility models. But today, thanks to unibody platforms and advanced powertrain and chassis technologies, several of this year's contestants posted pavement performance numbers that top the average passenger car's.
You'd expect the Cayenne Turbo to be the performance leader of this group, and you'd be right. It'll beat anything else on the way to the off-road path and then continue beating many competitors after the pavement has ended. It scorched the test track with a 5.4-second blast to 60 mph and dusted the quarter mile in 13.79 seconds at 102.47 mph. Just as remarkable is the massive Armada. The run to 60 mph took a scant 7.0 seconds. And despite the big hole it has to blow through the atmosphere, the Armada turned 15.15 seconds at 88.23 mph in the quarter. It bowled over the testing staff with its crisp 134-foot stop from 60. These are full-size benchmark performances, tonnage be damned. Of course, this truck is rated to haul a 9100-pound trailer. A strong motor and serious brakes are vital for that task.
The Cayenne's mighty four-wheel discs hauled the turbo trailmeister down from 60 mph in just 112 feet (Corvette territory), and BMW's tidy little X3 posted the same figure. Both the Porsche and the BMW have huge calipers and brake rotors the size of small trashcan lids. The third-place stopper was the Infiniti FX45. With a wide footprint and sport-sedan running gear, it charged hard and stopped harder, using just 118 feet of brake lane from 60. The longest stop, notched by the GMC Envoy XUV, was still respectable at 147 feet.
But it's toughest for SUVs, with their off-road tire designs and high centers of gravity, to match passenger cars in handling and grip. For perspective, a midsize Toyota Camry goes through our 600-foot-slalom test at about 62 mph. An Infiniti G35 whizzes through around 66 mph. And Chevy 1500 Silverados woggle through at a trucky 57. Among our 13 SUVs, the champ by a large margin, again, was the Cayenne Turbo, at 65.9 mph. Next, the Infiniti FX V-6 and V-8 models posted nearly identical 62-mph-plus speeds. Fourth was the BMW X3 with a 61.3-mph pass, followed by the Cayenne S at 61.0. Slowest carving the cones was the beastly Nissan Armada with a 53.1-mph average, which, given its size and the fixed lane widths, is a decent run. Obviously, it's not the tidiest model for dodging shopping carts in a minimall parking lot.