The four-wheel-drive (4x4) market has been the most amazing revolution over the past ten years. Once a market for farmers and those who enjoy a high driving position, now the 4x4 is driven by everyone from mums to footballers – the 4x4 has become the form of transport for the 21st century motorist.
Thankfully, because the manufacturers of the world aren’t daft, there are now plenty of super expensive 4x4s to choose from. Here are the big dogs in the sector.
Audi Q7 V12 diesel
Why anyone would need a diesel-powering car with a V12 monster under the bonnet is baffling, but Audi clearly thought there’s a market for it. The Q7 has never really been the best looking 4x4 but with such a demon lurking beneath the metal it’s no wonder people let the V12 Q7 out at junctions.
Oh, and the price? That’ll be £100,000. Yikes!
Porsche Cayenne by Mansory
Mansory have a history of taking good cars and them making them worse. No offence to the tuner, but they often add on modifications that ruin the beauty of a sports or supercar. Take the Porsche Cayenne, for instance. Now this car, as standard, is awful. It looks really bad. But somehow Mansory made it look even worse. Terrible.
And then they have the cheek of charging for the privilege.
Range Rover Sport by Mansory
Another Mansory effort, but thankfully this one is a little more acceptable. It’ll still cost you £130,000, but at least you’ll look pretty fly in this carbon-fibre Darth Vader. It’s a shame Mansory don’t always produce cars of this quality, because they would be one hell of a company if they did.
Hummer H1 ‘Warrior 1’
What price would you pay for an original Hummer H1 which helped the troops and journalists in Iraq? Well, in 2007 we found out just how much with a charity auction for the Warrior 1 Hummer H1… and it sold for an incredible £750,000.
Would you want one? Everyone wants to be like Arnold Schwarzenegger now and again.
Spyker D8
Priced at an eye-watering £175,000, the Spyker D8 4x4 isn’t the best looking off-roader ever made but it is probably one of the most luxurious. If Spyker knows one thing, its luxury, so the D8 will be as luxurious as Blenheim Palace coupled with the Taj Mahal.
It could be the Hulk’s company car perhaps?
Dartz Prombron Monaco Red Diamond Edition
A bargain at just £1 million, the superlative Dartz Prombron Monaco is probably the most insane 4x4 ever made. It’s as flashy as P. Diddy’s home; as bling as a rapper’s chain; and as ridiculous as a pet elephant.
It features everything from an 8.1-litre GM V8 to bulletproof wheels. So don’t mess with it, okay?
Cadillac Escalade ESV
Would you pay £60,000 for an American SUV with an interior made out of plastic and dreadful wood? Nor would we, but it seems there are people who are happy to hand over their hard-earned for a piece of the American dream. Unfortunately, the extremely expensive Escalade ESV is just an SUV for posers; for those who enjoy being seen.
It’s about as capable off-road as a dead horse.
Range Rover 5.0-litre LR-V8 Supercharged
Boasting a massive 5.0-litre supercharged V8, the insane Range Rover has a 0-62mph time of just 6.2 seconds and a top speed of 155mph. It also costs a sobering £100,000, which, for a Range Rover, is a hell of a lot of money.
Thankfully, you do get a hell of a lot of car.
Mercedes-Benz ML63 AMG
The ML is one of Mercedes-Benz’s gammy legs. They sell well, but there are plenty of 4x4s that run rings round it in every way. Fortunately, the one model which is worth taking a look at is the most expensive one, the ML63 AMG. Featuring the usual AMG power boost, the ML63 is a couple of tonnes of pure snobbery and excess.
You’ll need a wallet lined with gold to afford the fuel bills, never mind the list price!
VW Touareg R50
Would you pay upwards of £95,000 for a VW? VW definitely hopes you would, because that’s the price for a top-spec R50 SUV. The blindingly fast R50 is VW’s most powerful Touareg, but the thing is not cheap!
One of the dream garage maybe.
Thank you to Louis Rix, automotive enthusiast who works for Netcars.com, the UK’s leading used car classified website and Carfinance247.co.uk who specialise in providing bad credit car finance for helping with research and images for this article.
