SUV Battle 2020: Audi Q8, BMW X5, Mercedes GLE, Volvo XC90, Range Rover Sport, Jeep, Lexus & BMW X6

Hello everybody! My name is Dias. In this video we are going to compare 7 popular premium crossovers on a long steep climb and define which AWD system is better. 3 BMWs, 2 Audis, 2 Lexuses and P1 Jeep Grand Cherokee, Mercedes GLE and Range Rover Sport. Please subscribe to the channel to not to miss the next video. We will test the AWD system of compact premium crossovers including Audi Q5, BMW X3, Jaguar F-Pace, Range Rover Evoque, Porsche Macan and not premium Toyota RAV4 with the all new AWD system. Before we start I want to note that this test is not fair. The cars have different engine power, different tires and even different condition of the air filters. I can add that the drivers are also different. But I won't. So let's not run ahead, you will see all by yourself. Now make yourself comfortable, we are kicking off. To make the test area conditions more or less equal to each vehicle, the less powerful car will go first. The climb surface gets worse with each attempt and thus the most powerful car will have to put more effort to pass. The 2019 Jeep Grand Cherokee with 3 liter naturally aspirated gasoline engine starts first. The Jeep starts climbing in the standard mode of the transmission. The gearbox is in the drive position. The driver releases the gas pedal too early. The electronic imitations didn't have enough time to engage. Now there will be a little more stepping on the gas and longer holding of the revs. The Grand Cherokee pushes forward keeping its front left wheel high above the ground. The climb becomes significantly steeper and unloaded wheels are practically hanging in the air. This situation is complicated and it's about time to activate the low range of the transmission. The 4WD system will work in automatic mode. Now Jeep confidently pushes forward. Another diagonal suspension, a little more will slip and the Grand Cherokee moves further even on 3 wheels. The final point with the very spectacular lifting of the left front wheel and the Jeep safely handles it. The next contestant is 2019 Volvo XC90 with 2 liter turbocharged petrol engine. A quick note about tires. This video was shot in the middle of March in the region where the night temperature falls below zero and may go up to 20 degrees Celsius the next day. Therefore somebody has already changed the tires and someone still drives on winter rubber. Volvo makes a good pace from the very start and easily copes with the first obstacle. In this part of the climb Volvo cannot drive further in the standard mode and the driver activated the off-road mode. The car pushes back to try to pass the obstacle using the momentum. But no miracle happened. The car rolls back again and passes the obstacle by the easier trajectory. The right front wheel pushes against the rock step and there we have the diagonal suspension. Volvo's traction control system demonstrates an excellent job and we proceed with the next participant. It is 2019 Lexus RX350 with 3.5 liter V6 engine. Lexus starts climbing and very first simple obstacle becomes a problem. The driver tries to make it on the first gear with the ESP off. Nothing has changed but more intensive wheelslip. The ESP is on but the Lexus still stands there helplessly. ESP off again to prevent the electronics from choking the engine and the RX tries the easier trajectory. The Lexus drives slow to avoid damaging the front bumper. Keeping in mind its miserable performance on the simplest test, it is clear that there is no point in driving further. Next contestant. It is new BMW X6 with 3.0 liter turbocharged gasoline engine. BMW starts moving and intensively slips its front wheel. The X6 wheelslip is more intensive in comparison with BMW X3, which has already been on this hill. You will be able to watch it in the next video, don't forget to subscribe to the channel. The X6 has reached the complex part of the climb. Listen to the engine sound. Is it electronics work or the driver's actions? In this place the BMW again slips its free wheel a lot. Sharp stepping on the gas and the BMW X6 jumps forward and spectacularly hits the ground with its body. Do you remember the specific engine sound at this part of the climb? I suppose that was not the future of the electronics. The next participant will help us to clarify. 2019 BMW X5 with similar 3.0 liter petrol engine. The same like BMW X6, this X5 is not equipped with off-road package, but it has the air suspension. The driver pushes as slowly as possible through the most complex trajectory. The front wheel is lifted high in the air. Look how loaded wheelslip. It is all because of lack of grip and BMW very slowly moves forward, reaching the most difficult obstacle. The climb gets steeper before the rear left wheel. The right wheel has dug such a deep hole that the rear bumper has touched the ground. Now the car has to pass over the improvised step made by the rear wheels to keep climbing. The X5 cannot pass the obstacle on a standard mode. The driver has activated the sport mode and lifted the air suspension to the upper position. Now he returns the gearbox to the standard mode, rolls back and then tries to slightly change the trajectory. But the situation hasn't changed. Wheels keep spinning because of poor grip. Heavy weight of the vehicle, the soil condition and tire grip capabilities have led to this result. Perhaps if the tires were more grippy, then the outcome might be completely different. In the meantime, the car has rolled back to conquer the hill per easier trajectory of the test trail. You might have a question, why there's such a difference between attempts of the X6 and X5. During the drive of the X6, I brought your attention to the longitudinal swaying of the car due to the sharp coiling impulses. It was a little trick helping to drive through the obstacle with no stopping. In contradiction, the X5 owner drove maximally slow, smoothly pedaling the gas and extremely accurately following the trail's guide instructions. This allowed obtaining more information about this car's performance. The next participant is new 2020 Audi Q8 with 3-liter turbocharged gasoline engine. The driver switched the air suspension to the 4th position of 5 available. The gearbox is in drive position and driving mode is automatic. The Audi takes a little more left than the main trajectory of the trail, and that's why the front wheel barely lifts off the ground. Audi's traction control system does a very good job. The car passes the diagonal suspension with minimal wheel slip. The Audi Q8 successfully finishes its attempt by lifting its front wheel and slipping wheels as less as possible. The next contestant is 2019 Mercedes GLE with 3-liter turbocharged petrol engine. The GLE has the off-road mode, but as per tradition, the car starts in the standard mode which is called Comfort in this particular case. Similar to the Audi, the Mercedes drives the first obstacle per simple part of the trail. It is clearly seen that Mercedes's traction control system requires more time for decision-making. Look at that intensive front wheel spin. The car jumps forward a little. But that's not all. The front wheel is still in the air, the driver steps on the gas to the bottom, and the GLE literally jumps forward. That was very dangerous. The next car is Range Rover Sport with mighty supercharged 5-liter petrol V8. We are going to watch how a true off-road vehicle performs on our climb in comparison with crossovers. The Range Rover starts driving in a standard mode. The gearbox is in drive position, the terrain response system is in automatic. The front wheel doesn't slip at all. The Range Rover easily continued driving after the full stop. Wearing standard snow tires, similar to some other participants of the test, the Range Rover demonstrates a completely different result. For your information, at the very beginning of the test we have checked the tire pressure of all vehicles to make sure they all were in stock levels. The Range Rover stays stable even at the last obstacle. Good job! You've watched drives of 8 cars. That's the exact quantity I planned to have at the beginning of the test. But during the shooting, another additional participant appeared – the Audi Q7. It's very interesting to compare it with Audi Q8, yet this model is newer and may have some differences in electronic settings. We will find out now. This Audi Q7 is equipped with 3-liter supercharged gasoline engine and snow tires. Excellent start and a little slipping at the very beginning of the trail. Full stop before the second obstacle, a well-slipped and confident drive forward. Not all Audis have similar AWD systems. You got to watch how Audi Q5 with Quattro Ultra demonstrates a completely different result. All details will be available in the next video. The front wheel is hanging in the air and almost not spinning. This is how effectively the traction control system works, especially in comparison with the Mercedes. Excellent result. It is difficult to make conclusions when there is no uniformity in drives of participant cars. It was especially notable during attempts of BMW X6, Audi Q8 and Mercedes GLE. That's why we will have the second stage of the test. The driver of the BMW X5 extremely accurately followed the instructions of the trail guide and very smoothly dealt with the gas pedal. He will now drive Audi Q8, Mercedes GLE, BMW X6, Volvo XC90 and Range Rover Sport up this hill. How do you like this idea? I think it will be utterly fair. If you agree with me, push the like button and let's move on. Let's start with Audi Q8, the gearbox in drive position. Air suspension is one level higher than the default and the BMW X5 driver is behind the steering wheel. The Audi's front wheel lifts high in the air, but despite of this, it spins with the same speed as the rear one. Now the climb goes steeper and the wheels start slipping more. The Audi has reached the place where the X5 got stuck. At the beginning all wheels of the Q8 start slipping, except the loaded left rear one. Then the engine sound changes and wheels get more power and now all wheels of the Audi are spinning. Why the car has stopped and not pushing forward? The answer is on the screen. It is transmission overheat. It happened because of the excess load and now you know what you shouldn't do to your Audi. After a short, less than 5 minutes pause, the service message has gone and Audi proceeded climbing. The next car is Mercedes GLE. All systems are in standard mode. The gearbox is in drive position. Our exemplary driver is behind the wheel. The Mercedes is slipping way more than the Audi. Wheels are slipping here again, but the Mercedes keeps pushing up the hill. The climb gets steeper and the load on wheels grows, and they need more power to spin and keep the car moving forward. But electronics limit the engine revs defending the transmission from overload. The Mercedes' representative suggested switching off the ESP. The GLE's engine goes up to higher RPMs without the electronic limiter. The Mercedes actively slips its wheels and then there is a message on the dashboard – another transmission is overheated. After giving it some time to cool down, the driver makes an attempt to drive forward. To avoid another overheat of the transmission, the attempt of the Mercedes is over. The GLE didn't even reach the place where the BMW X5 got stuck and Audi got its gearbox overheated. During the first attempt, the BMW X6 easily passed all the obstacles. Now let's see how it will perform with our exemplary driver. Some wheels slip at the beginning and the X6 drives on. More RPMs and more wheels slip. Here is the place where the Mercedes got stuck. Check out how only zero-grip wheels of the BMW keep spinning. The driver switches off the traction control system, a spare recommendation of the BMW's representative. Wheels started spinning a little bit more, but the result remains the same. Now the driver has activated the sport mode and switched off the traction control system. The wheels with zero grip are still slipping. The rear left wheel makes a shy attempt to rotate. This gives a hope that the X6 will finally make it and move further. The next attempt is with the sport plus mode on. Unlike Audi and Mercedes, the BMW's transmission didn't message about overheat, and therefore let's give the X6 a chance to drive this part per alternative trajectory. The driver holds stable revs, but no effect. Similarly to the X5, its coupe-looking sibling can't pass through this obstacle. The Volvo XC90 has the weakest engine among participants of the second stage. Despite of this, the car has successfully conquered the climb during the first stage. Volvo's wheels start actively slipping through the whole distance of the first obstacle. The car can't drive the second obstacle slowly and smoothly. The driver has to activate the off-road mode. The engine revs up to high RPMs, but it's not enough to provide the wheels with sufficient torque. Let's make a discount to Volvo as the least powerful participant of the second stage of the test. The XC90 rolls back to drive by alternative trajectory of the trail. Volvo's wheels are slipping, the engine is working at stable revs. The car rushes forward and reaches the place where the BMW X6 got stuck. And then another expectable result. Volvo's transmission is overheated. It rolls back and we have the next contestant. The Range Rover Sport is left with the most interesting condition of the climb. The previous participants have dug potholes and loosened the surface as much as possible. But from the other side, the Range Rover Sport is by no means a crossover. That makes it even more interesting to watch its drive performed by our exemplary driver. The Range Rover easily reached the point where Mercedes and BMW got stuck. Unlike German cars, the traction control system of the Range Rover can cope with the high load, transmitting more torque to the wheels. The Range Rover actively rolls with all four wheels, unlike any other contestants of the second stage. The attempt of the Range Rover is an example of the effective work of traction control system in tandem with high engine power. This all was performed on standard snow tires, same like ones of other participants on this test. Now, when we have obtained the maximum of information, we can elaborate a conclusion. The Lexus did not surprise at all. Its traction control system is similarly inefficient as an old Toyota crossovers produced prior to 2019. I suppose that the next generation of the RX will use the all-wheel drive system available in the new RAV4 with two additional multi-disc clutches in the rear axle. The Jeep demonstrated an excellent result in the first part of the test. And actually, it's not quite correct to compare it with the crossovers. Unfortunately, the Grand Cherokee had to leave early and we don't know how it would perform with our exemplary driver. Also, it would be interesting to compare the Jeep's result with the Range Rover Sport. There is no point in discussing the Range Rover Sport's performance. It dominated with a huge advantage and it could be seen with the unaided eye. Therefore, let's switch to four cars – Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Volvo. Smaller engine size and lower power affected the result of the Volvo. In complex conditions, the wheels lacked torque and the XC90 dropped the shortest distance in the second stage of the test. Mercedes GLE has the most powerful engine among these four cars. But its traction control system is the most ineffective. It takes too much time for the electronics to start working efficiently. In complicated conditions, it may worsen the situation and the vehicle will get stuck even more. On BMW X6, the electronic system of the BMW works quicker than Volvo's and even more than Mercedes' that was clearly seen during the second stage. But it wasn't enough to drive to the most difficult part of the climb. We've been proved about that twice – first on the X5 and then on the X6. It should be noted that unlike Audi, Mercedes and Volvo, the BMW's transmission didn't overheat. The Audi Q8 had minimal wheel slips thanks to effective work of the traction control system. Audi is the only car from the four that managed to drive to the most complicated part of the climb during the second stage, even despite of the transmission overheat. Write your opinions about this test in the comment section. Which car has surprised you and from which one you expected more? That's all for me, my name is DS, see you in the next video!