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One day, electric vehicles will fill the world’s streets and trails. But that’s definitely not today, as we dive into drag racing a four-way off-roader SUV that’s basically a love letter for the V8. When the lowest powered vehicle packs a 470-horsepower (350-kilowatt) Hemi, you know it’s going to be a good day for speed. That is, as long as an annoying speed limiter doesn’t get in the way. More on that in a moment.
First, the competitors. The Hemi belongs to the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 392, and while it has the least power, it’s also the lightest at around 4,740 pounds. Meanwhile, the Mercedes-AMG G63 is the heaviest and most powerful, with 577 hp (430 kW) and 5,622 lbs. In the middle, you have the Land Rover Defender V8 with 518 hp (386 kW) and the BMW X7 M50i with 523 hp (390 kW). In addition to the same level of strength, the middle child also weighs around 5,480 pounds each, so they should be balanced, right?
On paper, yes. However, anyone familiar with performance SUVs will recognize the X7 unlike the other competitors featured here. If the Jeep, Merc, and Land Rover are legit off-road vehicles, the X7 is meant for off-road adventures. It has precise on-road tires, and is also equipped with launch control. And since this speed contest takes place on a large, paved runway, you might see where this is headed.
In fact, the fantastic AMG G63 puts up a good fight. In two races with standing starts, G chased Bimmer for a quarter mile, narrowly losing out to X7. Meanwhile, the Defender and Rubicon took turns carrying to the back with one loss each. It’s the same for a pair of mile-long rolling races, except things are much more embarrassing for the Wrangler. 470 hp is a lot of power to power an SUV, but with a top speed of 112 mph, it really is left in the dust.
BMW may have won the day, but as the video shows, it wasn’t necessarily a fair fight. Move places into the real off-road environment and most likely a very different story.
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