On last week’s episode of The Grand Tour, Clarkson, Hammond and May set out to show the viewers which SUVs they would purchase if they absolutely had to have one.
The cars they chose were the Porsche Macan Turbo Performance Pack, the Range Rover Velar and the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio, neither of which is a full-size or even medium-size SUV, so showing off the “Utility” part was always going to be challenging.
Nevertheless, the trio attempted to get a bunch of dogs into the trunk of the cars, and not just any dogs, but Newfoundlands, which can weigh anywhere between 60 and 70kg (132-154 lbs), so yes, they’re quite large.
Ultimately, the only conclusion reached was that you can’t really get dogs to sit in the boot of an SUV, or just about any other vehicle with an electric tailgate, because the tailgate won’t close when it detects obstructions.
Then again, these SUVs are more compact than they are large, even the Velar, so if you’re really in the mood to stick a couple of Newfoundlands or St Bernards in your trunk, or any other large door breed, you’d have a much better chance of doing so in something like a G-Class or a Discovery. And you can always close the tailgate manually by the way.
At the same time, we should point out that dog owners generally place the animals in the backseat, which they usually cover with a blanket of sorts, so that the upholstery doesn’t get ruined. Seriously, who drives around with a dog in their trunk? Oh, Nissan owners. Never mind then.