Comparing Sport/Utility Suvs

* AM General Hummer * Ford EX Cursion Limited * GMC Yukon Xl * Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited * Land Rover Range Rover 4.6 HSE* Mercedes-Benz ML430* Toyota Land Cruiser

Our premise for this test is simple: Today's mega-dollar, leather-swathed, sport/utility vehicles are as prevalent as BMWs in Beverly Hills, but are they any good when the road turns to rocks and scorpions outnumber Starbucks a million to none? Simply put, are luxury SUVs merely tarted-up wimps or the vehicular equivalent of James Bond outfitted in his best tux?

To put seven pricey sport/utes to a thorough off-road test, we decided to go to hell, literally. Against several staffers' better judgment, we hit the trail at the height of summer and returned to the devil's blast furnace that is Death Valley. Under flesh-cooking heat, across 200-degree blacktop, and over craggy rock-strewn trails, this is an environment that quickly separates the wannabes from the right stuff. A year ago, we tried it in pickup trucks and got stranded, sunstroked, and food poisoned all at the same time. You'd think we'd learn, but no. For this expedition, we ventured forth with the stratosphere of the SUV hierarchy, gathering a group as diverse as it is impressive: The brand-new giants, the Ford Excursion and redesigned GMC Yukon XL (formerly known as the Suburban), the $66,000 Range Rover 4.6 HSE and $83,149 Hummer, the high-tech, thoroughly modern Mercedes-Benz ML430, and the descendants of the legendary 4x4 pioneers, the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Toyota Land Cruiser. It was the "who's who" of luxury SUVs. Beverly Hills would be impressed, but would Death Valley let us out alive?

Final Thoughts: From Those Who SurvivedDepression-Era Motoring Sticks and stones are time machines. The razor-sharp stones and iron-stiff flora of Death Valley's trails transported us back in time, back 70 years to when multiple spare tires and regular flats were an expected part of travel. In the '30s, it took my grandmother between eight and 10 hours-due largely to unscheduled pit stops to change punctured tires-to make the 100-mile drive from her home in Memphis to her birthplace in Yalobusha County, Mississippi. On this trip, we suffered two flats: One from a stick in a Grand Cherokee sidewall and one in the ML430. Since the Mercedes has only a space-saver spare, a nick in a sidewall-which, thank God, happened within sight of the asphalt-ended its adventure early. You'd be a fool to venture off paved roads in Death Valley alone without either two full-size spares or a dirt bike (or, better, both) strapped to your vehicle: Get stranded and you'll learn it's not Inconvenience Valley. This was enough Depression-era motoring to last me a while.-Mac DeMere

Size Matters...But How Much? In the game of "who's bigger" now being waged among certain sport/utility makers, how much does size really matter? Choosing an SUV based only on its dimensions gives you as much of a one-dimensional perspective as making a choice based solely on which has the most cupholders.