Top 10 best super-SUVs of 2018

2. Range Rover SVAutobiography

Land Rover’s most prestigious model keeps the technical ingredients of the regular Range Rover and stirs in a double shot of splendour. That means it can still venture off road onto the mucky stuff, but its occupants will be hugged by the finest of Land Rover interiors – one that includes perforated leather seats and remote control four-zone climate control.

The SVAutobiography Dynamic comes exclusively with a supercharged 5.0-litre V8 producing 557bhp, so cross-country pace is fast too. It’s the price of a house, but if you’re needed back at the manor and want to drive (or be driven) as the crow flies, there really is no better place to sit.

3. Lamborghini Urus

Lamborghini’s first large-scale foray (so that excludes the LM002) into the world of SUVs just so happens to be with the segment’s most extreme model yet. Powered by a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8, the four-wheel-drive Urus will hit 62mph in 3.6sec and has a top speed of 190mph – giving it proper supercar numbers.

But the hardcore Lambo SUV has one of the most divisive designs in motoring and, more significantly, begs the question as to whether a high-riding car weighing more than two tonnes can be made to handle like a proper Lamborghini.

4. Mercedes-AMG G 63

The Mercedes-AMG G 63 is not a car you buy with your head; a 2.5-tonne, brick-shaped SUV with a stonking twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 under the bonnet never can be. But it is a car you can buy with your heart, because first and foremost, this is a car for fun.

Dynamically speaking, it feels dated and frankly, unable to hide its weight at all. But the powerplant up front has Nascar vocals and the experience of being in ‘The G-Wagen’ means those with the money and a taste for hot SUVs might find a G 63 quite easy to justify.

5. JE Motorworks Zulu2

Spending £120,000 on a Land Rover Defender 110 is ludicrous. Even spending that on one as thoroughly reworked as the Zulu2 seems daft. But people in the Middle East have a lot of money and want exclusivity. The Zulu2 offers them just that.

It’s not as sorted as a Twisted V8 Defender or anywhere near as good to drive as a modern performance SUV, but that’s beside the point. The real question is, is this car fun? The answer to that is undoubtedly 'yes'. For the majority of potential buyers taken with the concept, that's quite possibly all that matters.

6. Twisted T40S

Don’t expect all the original Defender's usual faults to be solved by throwing money at it. To sit in, it's still a Defender; okay, so the T40s's seats are a revelation and the Momo wheel leaves more room for your knees, but it remains cramped for the driver and unrefined on a long journey.

The car we tested was specced up to £116,000. Is it worth that? Objectively, no. However, most of us view the world quite differently from Twisted's T40s V8 customers when it comes to finances. If you can stomach the price, you are getting a truly bespoke service, a genuinely better-handling and better-riding Defender, and one that has an absolute gem of an engine.

7. Mercedes-AMG GLS 63

Mercedes bills this as ‘the S-Class of SUVs’, but the interior doesn’t feel as plush as you’d hope inside; the Audi Q7 has it beat. But not even the Q7 can match the big Merc’s imposing character.

Few SUVs have a more dramatic engine, either. Its twin-turbo 5.5-litre V8 produces 577bhp and can propel the big SUV to 62mph in 4.6sec, so if your tastes demand scale and power, there’s not much on sale that has more muscle than the GLS 63, save for the full-fat Range Rover SVAutobiography, of course – but that car is about £35,000 more expensive.

8. Aston Martin Varekai

Keen to cash in on the lucrative ultra-luxury SUV market, Aston Martin is set to launch its first SUV next year. It’ll be based on the DBX concept that was unveiled at the 2015 Geneva motor show, although the production model is expected to use the name 'Varekai'.

Four-wheel drive will be implemented for the first time, while the range-topping version is expected to make use of Aston’s charismatic 5.2-litre V12 - so it should at least have a fairly phenomenal soundtrack. The Mercedes-AMG V8 is also expected to make an appearance, as will an all-electric variant.

9. Rolls Royce Cullinan

Rolls-Royce will enter the SUV foray this December when its Cullinan hits the roads. Due with a developed version of the Phantom’s 6.8-litre V12 engine, it’ll be one of the market’s most powerful off-roaders but also among the most luxurious. It’ll have fellow German-owned British marque Bentley in its sights, with the Cullinan expected to overtake that model as the most luxurious offering in the segment.

Rolls-Royce is due to add a plug-in hybrid powertrain using technology from parent company BMW. The company has dismissed the idea of a diesel version due to their relative lack of refinement.