http://www.forbesautos.com/advice/to...ml?partner=aol
Best SUVs for Off-roading
by Bengt Halvorson
You?ve probably heard some variation of this claim by now: Few SUV buyers ever plan to take their vehicles off-road, and even fewer owners ever actually go off-road. Now that SUVs have become a luxury commodity, many automakers and dealers are treating them more as such. On-road performance takes priority over off-road performance for most SUVs, and things like the number of climate-control zones or the zero-to-60 mph time are often emphasized more on the dealer lot than hauling or towing capacities.
Top 10 SUVs for Off-roading
- Hummer H1 Alpha
Hummer H2
Mitsubishi Montero
Land Rover LR3
Toyota FJ Cruiser
Land Rover Range Rover
Jeep Grand Cherokee
Land Rover Range Rover Sport
Lexus LX 470 - Lexus GX 470
What this has created is a very wide spread in terms of off-road ability ? across the market, two SUVs with a seemingly similar shape and feature list might have drastically different abilities when it comes to rock-hopping and mud-sloshing. Many newer SUVs, like the Cadillac SRX and Infiniti FX35/45, are car-based and tuned specifically for good road performance rather than their off-road abilities.
Gabriel Shenhar, senior auto test engineer at
Consumer Reports, said that if consumers want an SUV for off-roading, ?the most important starting point is defining off-road.?
Shenhar, who tests new SUVs along with his colleagues on a standardized course, added that if you?re going to drive on dirt roads, logging roads or most trails, car-based models will have no problem. ?They?ll work fine, as long as you?re not encountering any hard terrain with built-in steps or ditches to cross,? he said ?Most [SUV buyers] need vehicles that will get them to a remote lake for fishing or to drive on dunes,? but very few do more than that.
For those who do plan to do serious off-roading, Shenhar said there are three things to look for: a body-on-frame layout, a generous amount of ground clearance and the ability to lock or regulate the center differential to send equal or varied amounts of torque to the front and rear wheels when needed.
Approach and departure angles ? the maximum ramp angle a vehicle can approach or depart from while avoiding damage ? are good for comparing the relative capabilities of SUVs on paper. But it?s not that simple, explained Shenhar. ?These angles are good starting points, but they?re all static measurements ? they don?t say anything about wheel articulation or suspension travel.?
http://nmxs-images.forbesautos.com/s..._drive?WID=180
view off-road slideshow > For instance, Shenhar said the Land Rover LR3?s sophisticated pneumatic suspension allows amazing off-road performance with very little ?head-toss? drama in the cabin.
Depending on the use, smaller might be better; on narrow forest paths or rock-strewn fields, the size of the vehicle can become a liability. More importantly, turning circle gives a quick idea of how easily a vehicle can maneuver through narrow openings between trees or rocks, as does whether you can see the corners of the vehicle from the driver?s seat.
On that note, don?t expect your baby to be pristine forever. If you?re going off-road, you?re going to have to expect some battle scars. Dean Waters, managing editor of Off-Road.com, an online publication for off-road hobbyists, says there?s no question that the size of the vehicle and its maneuverability limit where it can go or how much damage it might sustain.
?You can take a full-size SUV on the Rubicon Trail, but there?s almost a 95 percent chance of body damage,? he said, versus a much smaller chance of trouble with a compact SUV. Waters said the same rings true in light-duty off-roading ? such as forest trails ? where big, wide, long vehicles are more likely to be scratched and gouged by tree branches.
Taking into account approach and departure angles, ground clearance and turning circle, along with off-road hardware (like skid plates and differentials), we used these factors to rank our Top 10 ForbesAutos.com SUVs for going off-road. All but one are 2006 model-year vehicles.
Of course, just as few people who buy a 200-mph car actually intend to drive it that fast, few owners will discover the absolute capabilities of their off-road machines. Much of the joy in owning these vehicles seems to be in the possibilities and bragging rights. But we suspect they will all look great in a driveway with a splattering of mud.
To learn more about which cars made our list, click on the vehicle names in the upper left-hand page navigation or
click here to see the slideshow.
Published 04/05/2006
Next: Hummer H1 Alpha