Performance SUVs aren’t to everyone’s taste: they’re big, heavy, thirsty and usually pretty in-yer-face in the way they go about things. However, there’s no denying that the latest crop is a massively capable bunch, deploying supercar-like pace and handling in a way that completely disguises their massive heft and high centres of gravity.
As SUVs get ever more popular, fast versions are very much here to stay, so if you can bring yourself to like these massive, noisy beasts, these are the best ones you can buy right now in our book.
7. Audi RS Q8
Audi RS Q8
The Audi Q8’s in-yer-face looks definitely won’t be for everyone, but driving the rapid RS Q8 version will simply make you forget all that. With 631bhp from its 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8, it’s the most powerful combustion-powered Audi ever, including every version of the R8 supercar. Where it really impresses, though, is managing to feel remarkably lissom and agile in the corners.
This is all the result of buckets of tech rather than old-fashioned chassis engineering, but it’s all the more impressive when you remember the reputation hot Audis once had for being understeery puddings. Inside, it’s as plush and pleasant as you expect from an Audi, but it’s let down a little by a punishing ride and frustrating infotainment system.
6. Maserati Grecale Trofeo
Maserati Grecale Trofeo
Maserati launched its long overdue mid-sized SUV, the Grecale, in 2022, with the high-performance Trofeo following a year later. It shares its engine, a 3.0-litre, 523bhp twin-turbo V6, with the stunning MC20 supercar, albeit with nearly 100 fewer horsepower. That’s still enough to send it to 62mph in 3.8 seconds and, because it’s not German, on to a 177mph top speed.
It’s ultimately not as razor-sharp as some of its rivals, but that gives it a different, more fun-loving personality. It also has a far better interior than some recent Masers, but most of all, a proper cracker of a V6. And who secretly doesn’t want to say they own a Maserati?
5. Lamborghini Urus SE
Lamborghini Urus SE, front 3/4, driving
An SUV from Lamborghini was never going to be subtle, and sure enough, the Urus pitched up in 2018 looking like it wanted a fight. Still, it was unsurprisingly a massive success, very quickly becoming Lambo’s best-selling car by a big, big margin.
It may share plenty with other Volkswagen-group developed cars, a couple of which are also on this list, but brings its own dash of Lambo-ness with its pointy exterior and hexagon-filled interior. In 2024, it went hybrid-only, its combo of 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 and electric motor kicking out 789bhp, which makes 3.4 seconds to 62mph and 190mph possible. It does the usual physics-defying act, and if making a statement is important, not much else will do.
4. Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid GT Package
Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid with GT Package
Emissions regs mean Porsche can’t sell the properly bonkers Cayenne Turbo GT in Europe anymore, but the substitute is pretty impressive. The Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid is already a mighty thing, with its combo of 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 and electric motor delivering a massive combined 729bhp.
The optional GT Package reworks the air suspension, and throws in wider wheels and tyres, rear-wheel steering, and more camber. Ceramic composite brakes complete the package, and all make for a car that goes like stink, hitting 62mph in 3.6 seconds and topping out at 190mph. It also corners like something with a Porsche badge should, and this latest generation of Cayenne has a fantastic interior.
3. Aston Martin DBX707
Aston Martin DBX707
It’s appropriate that the Aston Martin DBX707 shares part of its name with a quad-engined jet airliner, because it goes like one. With a slightly silly 697bhp from its AMG-sourced 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8, the performance numbers are staggering for a 2.2-tonne SUV: 0-62mph in 3.2 seconds, and a 193mph top end.
It’s not just a straight-line hero, though, with a hilariously capable chassis, top-notch steering and a raucous soundtrack. Obviously, all that performance and that badge mean it ain’t cheap: prices start at £205k, and that’s before you get acquainted with the options list. The biggest weak point of the DBX, though, was always the instantly-dated interior. A facelift has just fixed that and made it better still.
There’s an even more serious DBX S in the pipeline, bringing some lightweight bits and a power bump to 717bhp courtesy of the turbochargers from the Valhalla supercar, so watch this space.
2. Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio
Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio
Yes, it’s quite old; no, the interior quality isn’t really befitting an £84k car; and no, the driving position isn’t to everyone’s taste, but all of this is forgivable. 10 years ago, we never would have guessed Alfa Romeo would be building one of the best performance SUVs on the market, but the Stelvio Quadrifoglio silenced the doubters.
Its 2.9-litre, twin-turbo V6 – which may or may not just be a Ferrari V8 with two cylinders lopped off – is a gorgeously raspy, sonorous thing, and while 512bhp means it’s down on power next to some rivals, it’s one of the lightest of the bunch at 1850kg. With a heavily rear-biased four-wheel drive system, hyper-quick steering, and a firm but finessed ride, other cars on this list may play the relaxed daily better, but very few will be as exciting to drive. This generation won’t be around for long, but what we previously thought would be an EV-only successor might get a petrol version after all.
1. Range Rover Sport SV
Range Rover Sport SV – track driving
It took three generations, but the Range Rover Sport – a car that shocked and offended upon launch nearly 20 years ago – finally sits at the top of the fast SUV tree in SV guise. Gone is the old 5.0-litre supercharged V8, replaced by a BMW M5-sourced 4.4-litre twin-turbo motor making a mighty 626bhp. The result is 0-62mph in 3.8 seconds, and a 180mph top speed. In something with a Range Rover badge!
A tricksy hydraulically cross-linked damper system and beautifully balanced handling mean it stays level, predictable and composed when you’re on it. When you’re not, it’s as plush and refined as you’d hope from a Rangie, and nearly as comfortable despite its sporty remit and optional 23-inch carbon wheels.
Initially just a limited-run thing, the SV is now a full-time member of the Range Rover Sport, erm, range, complete with three different versions to choose from.
What about the rest?
‘Where’s [insert car here],’ we hear you angrily yelling at the screen of your preferred electronic device. Well, there are reasons for a few seemingly obvious omissions from this list.
Mercedes-AMG G63
The Mercedes-AMG G63 and Land Rover Defender V8 are both hugely characterful things, but their SUV status is debatable: we think of them more as old-school 4x4s fused with muscle cars. On the other side of that debate is the Ferrari Purosangue, which focuses far more on the ‘S’ part of the SUV equation than the ‘U’. Then there’s the Bentley Bentayga: undeniably fast, but more of an effortless luxury barge than a proper sporting machine – although the reborn and now V8 powered Speed version, complete with an actual drift mode, could change that.
The Mercedes-AMG GLC 63 has good bones, but is let down too much by its complicated, uninspiring four-cylinder hybrid powertrain. Maybe the rumoured switch back to V8 power can fix this in a couple of years. Finally, the BMW XM: as the first solely M-developed SUV, it could have been brilliant, but it has a confused personality and monstrous looks that even the staunchest defenders of some of BMW’s recent designs have failed to take to. Shame.
Jaguar F-Pace SVR
There are also a couple of cars formerly on this list that have dropped off by force of no longer being in production. The old BMW X3 M Competition did a decent impression of an M3 on stilts, but there’s no full-fat M version of the new X3 yet, and we’re not sure if there will be.
Similarly, the Jaguar F-Pace SVR was a hugely likeable old brute with its supercharged V8 and surprisingly fluid chassis, but it, like the rest of Jag’s range, has been killed off to make way for the brand’s big rebirth.
#Performance #SUVs