German Car Forum

Eni wanted me to scan this. Autobild magazines are too large for my scanner so I just scanned the most important parts.

1st Place: Audi Q7 463/600
The Audi Q7 is an allround balanced SUV. It's reasonably sporty, comfortable, the load and tow capacity are good.

2nd Place: BMW X5 446/600
The BMW focuses too much on dynamics and has a poor load and tow capacity, not ideal for the busy family life. Comfort is so-so. The most fuel efficient of the trio with 14.6 L / 100 km average.

3rd Place: Porsche Cayenne 436/600
The Porsche Cayenne was the sportiest, best-handling and fastest (6.8 seconds 0-100 km/h) but also the least comfortable and has an extreme appetite for gasoline. High costs at an unpractical fuel consumption mean last place. This despite having the best offroad characteristics.




THE TRACK TEST


1st Place: Porsche Cayenne
This truck was made for the track. No compromises whatsoever here.

2nd Place: BMW X5
Fast and capable, but not completely made for solely racing it on the racetrack.

3rd Place: Audi Q7
Sporty, but not as sporty as the BMW and Porsche. Excessive body roll on the track - even at 80 km/h.

I pick the X5, it looks the best and the latest product from BMW. Cant go wrong here

BTW the result is as I predicted it.

Also all three scored 19 points in interior quality. Well done BMW for listen to all criticism on GCZ

I almost agree if the BMW and Porsche switch places. The BMW certainly is the prettiest, but that only gets you so far which is apparent with this test...

German car magazines as of late seem to pick the best balanced car as of late, with the exception of Autozeitung (usually) which is pretty sports biased.

please explain more detailed, I dont understand what you mean?

I don't know, do you?

The test isn't about which SUV looks the part of an SUV, but actually which one is the part. BMW can smack all that cladding and put all those vents, lines, and air ducts to make it more "in-your-face," or cool; But at the end of the day it's still a very shallow SUV (or should I say car). So in this tests case the Audi won hands down, and that's how it should have been all along, utility all-aroundness is what this vehicle segment is all about.

but i still dot understand why the toad shall change place with X5

I'll probably get flamed for this, but to me, the best SUV is the SUV that is offroad capable, has a nice towing capacity, reasonably fuel efficient and fun to drive.

THIS SUV...


...did all that for my family. 0-100 km/h in 30 seconds thanks to its 99-hp 2.5-l turbodiesel (which dated back to 1986). 1996 Mitsubishi Pajero 2500 Intercooler Turbo. The slowest car I've ever driven - and one of the most fun cars at that. It might have been slow, but it was extremely fun to drive, was superb offroad and had decent fuel economy and range. God I miss this baby...

Hey, I love German cars, but my favorite SUV is Japanese!

Because it's the best out of the three tested at being an SUV. Don't get me wrong, I would vote the Cayenne dead last as far as aesthetics go, I'm not that crazy.

not by me. Personally I would never buy a SUV, its not my type of car. I rather be buying a 550i Touring

bild and AMS do horrible jobs in these reviews.... THey complain about towing capablitiy but it doesnt even appear that they towed anything with these cars. Did they actually get a trailer hitch and the light adapter to TOW or are they simply looking at numbers and guessing that the X5 doesnt have towing ability? We used to tow boats with the previous X5- I would have a hard time believing it got worse......Bild-YOU SUCK!

I don't see why you would be flamed I've heard nothing but goodness about the Pajeros. Too bad we don't get them here so the next best thing are the Wranglers.

You're kind of right Matt. I don't think the soccer moms out there cares who good a SUV is a towing.
I'm very suprised that the X5 is almost as expensive as the Cayenne.

The Q7 seems like the best choice since it does everything pretty well, besides being really sport but who cares its a SUV. The porsche i would only consider in the Turbo form because otherwise its not as comfy or as practical. I love the X5 and am shocked that it didnt win, its fast, sporty, comfortable and packed with goodies. I think i would have to take a black X5 out of the three

Exactly.
As for the X5 vs the Cayenne my choice would be the Cayenne. Both cost just as much but the Cayenne is sportier, faster and looks better IMO. The facelift is a huge improvement.

Nice review Wimmer thanks! I'm the kind of consumer that buy's things for the purpose it was made for. I like all three of this SUV's but the only aspect that matters to me out of this comparison is comfort and safety so the Q7 would be my choice. If you want a super fast SUV none of these would flip the bill anyway. If performance is what your after you'd most be buying the much more exspensive models, so it's obvious why the Q7 won this comparison.

Yes, and that's why BMW calls this car a Sports Activity Vehicle rather than a Sports Utility Vehicle.

For me personally I would never go for an SUV that is good off road but not as good on-road. I don't offroad, and if I did, why the hell would take these expensive SUV's out instead of a cheap one?

I would go for an SUV/SAV that feels the most like a car. On top of that it has to be luxurious (all of them accomplish this) and somewhat comfortable. The Porsche should therefore be my favorite, but it is really pricey and it just doesn't look good to me. I'll take the X5 in Space Gray.

PS. No test ever ever mentions this, but I bet you if you switched out the Run-Flat tires, the X5 would be a hell of a lot more comfortable. Those tires for 19" and 20" rims must be insane. I've personally worked with 18" RFT's and I thought those were crazy.

also its costs extra for X5 but the X5 has an extra option to make the car more comfortable, the dynamic drive (or whatever they call it).

I'll take none of these three German SUVs - RR Sport Supercharged for me. Yeah baby!

Rolls-Royce Sport Supercharged - king of SUVs!

If I had to pick on of the three, I would go for the Q7. It combines sportiness, looks and performance in a very delicate way. A few months ago, at a carshow in Athens, I had the chance to sit in Q7. I must say, the feeling of the interior is really awesome! When sitting in the Q7, you think you sit in a sports car and that because of the low roof. At the same time, since you are sitting high, it also gives you the feeling that a SUV has. It's brilliant!

I would also choose the Q7 cause it's a superb car and it has more presence on the road than the other two. X5 looks too much lke the previous model which has it's possitives and negatives. Possitive is that it looks more beautiful than the other BMW models (like X3) but negative is that compared to the others it looks a bit conservative. Still a great SUV that i like very much and would be my second choice after the Q7 in this segment.

Can someone check if the X5 had the Sportpack? The X5 is a totally different beast with it because that includes FlexRay. Heard it actually makes the car even more comfortable