Two all-wheel drive leviathans were recently pitted against each other by the chaps over at Fifth Gear, and as with just about any other comparison test out there, only one of them emerged as the victor.
First, we should see whom exactly we are dealing with: in one corner, we have a performance SUV from Stuttgart, while in the other one, we have…a performance SUV from Stuttgart.
Actually, the resemblances between the two rivals are more than meets the eye, as both cars have 500+ hp, offer a naught to 100 km/h (62mph) acceleration time of less than five seconds and have all-wheel drive.
On top of that – and very few people know this – they were almost blood brothers, since way before the first generation of the Porsche Cayenne and Volkswagen Touareg/Audi Q7 were developed, Porsche had approached Mercedes-Benz for a co-produced premium SUV in the mid 1990s.
Getting back to the heavyweight boxing match that Fifth Gear’s Tiff Needell and rally driver Mark Higgins put together, it’s bound to stir some heated discussions.
We have a 525 hp and slightly heavier Mercedes-Benz ML 63 AMG driven by Tiff, while Mark tries to show him who’s the boss in a 500 hp and slightly lighter Porsche Cayenne Turbo, with both cars being driven on a mildly fast section of a rain-drenched British circuit.
With the tests first consisting of a 0-100-0 mph (0-162-0 km/h) sprint and then of a full lap at high speed, we had a hunch about the winner right from the beginning, but we won’t spoil the surprise.
By Alex Oagana
VIDEO