White Light, White Heat

Fully weaponized SUVS are no longer an underground The Porsche Cayenne and the Aston Martin DBX 707 face off to see which is king of the high-riding wagons.

- Dan Edmunds

These Cayenne and DBX models make an excellent pairing, and not just because our samples were painted focus-group white to prevent color bias from creeping in. Ferocious twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 engines vigorously propel both, with the Porsche's 3996-cubic-centimeter powerplant generating 631 horsepower and the Aston wringing 697 horsepower from a mere 3982 cubic centimeters. Beyond that, both vehicles have all-wheel drive and ride on air springs augmented with electronically controlled dampers and active anti-roll bars. Both feature high-stance terrain modes of dubious relevance, and they also command sky-high prices. The lightly optioned Porsche in our test goes for $189,090, while the glitzier Aston Martin commands $290,086.

2nd Place: Aston Martin DBX If we determined a champion based on onlookers' attention, the Aston would take this win, hands down. People stopped us at gas stations, wanted to know what it was, took photos. When you view the vehicles side by side, this makes sense. The 707 has presence. Its fresh, modern styling is festooned with intriguing details, although the diffuser's fiddly spoiler is one we could do without.

The same is true inside, where the DBX comes across as interesting and layered. The seats and dashboard look as if some design capital was spent on them, and the carbon-fiber center console is far more intricate and deliberate than the perfunctory stuff tacked onto the Porsche's door panels. But, as on the outside, the design would come off better if it were reeled in about 5 percent.

Underway, the Aston delivers the crushing performance its aggressive looks imply. It rushes to 60 mph in 3.1 seconds, reaches 100 mph in 7.6 seconds, and runs an 11.4-second quarter-mile at 121 mph. Its willing nine-speed automatic helps it rip 30-to-50-mph passing maneuvers in 2.6 seconds and 50-to-70 ones in three seconds flat.