Five cars from the Los Angeles show that prove bigger is still better

Tuesday, 4 December 2018

Bigger isn't always better, except when it comes to American cars. They still like 'em big, so here are five of the best big and bold new vehicles from the Los Angeles motor show.

Ah, America. Land of the free, home of the brave and originator of the concept of 'super-sizing'. It is a big country that demands big cars, so here are five cars (well, SUVs and trucks) from the Los Angeles motor show that prove that, in America, bigger is still very much better.

Lincoln Aviator

Now it bears keeping in mind that the Aviator isn't actually considered 'big' in the US market - in fact it has a bigger brother in the form of the Navigator - but that actually just confirms our premise; this thing competes with the likes of the Audi Q7 and Porsche Cayenne which are not, by any objective measure in the rest of the world, small.

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Bigger than the Santa Fe, the Hyundai Palisade isn't actually all grille, just mostly.

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And the Aviator is magnificent - the brilliantly art-deco retro aircraft-inspired styling looks both imposing and intriguing, while its powertrains are equally impressive - a 300kW turbo V6 or a 335kW hybrid turbo V6 are available.

But, really - just look at it!

Jeep fans have been screaming out for it for years, and the Gladiator pick up is finally here. And is coming to New Zealand too.

Hyundai Palisade

Going toe-to-toe with the Lincoln in the seven-seat luxury SUV segment, the Hyundai Palisade is equally imposingly styled, just a bit squarer and chunkier.

Powered by a 217kW 3.8-litre V6, the Palisade isn't quite as big as the Aviator, but still stretches to close to 100mm longer than the Santa Fe that we know and buy in significant numbers here. We also consider it 'large'.

It's not just Americans who do 'big', the BMW X7 shows that the Germans can get in on the game too.

The Palisade is based on the same platform as the almost-as-imposing Kia Telluride and, while we aren't generally fans of the increasing girth of SUVs, we can only say 'Please Hyundai, bring it here…'

Jeep Gladiator

The long-awaited Jeep pick up was finally officially revealed at the LA show and was in equal parts completely awesome and totally unsurprising.

An off road-capable, supercar-shaming EV pick up? Yep, the Rivian R1T will do nicely, thanks.

Totally unsurprising because it looks exactly like you would expect a Wrangler-based pick to look (and, indeed, exactly like the AEV Brute conversions that Jeep sold here last year), and completely awesome because… well, just look at it!

Packing the same engines as the Wrangler (with a new diesel coming in 2020), the best bit about the Gladiator is the fact that they are doing a hard-core Rubicon version right from the start. Oh, and it will definitely be coming here too.

BMW X7

Are you ready for the Germans to get serious about truly massive luxury SUVs? Because you should be - the X7 is just the first salvo in this particular war.

With both the BMW X5 and Mercedes-Benz GLE getting considerably bigger in their latest incarnations, the appearance of the utterly huge X7 above them proves that things are only going to get bigger. And massively more luxurious.

254mm longer than the X5, the X7 isn't quite as aggressively (and controversially) styled as the concept, but it still features the biggest grille ever fitted to a BMW. And nothing says 'Get out of my way poor person' louder than a massive chrome grille on a huge SUV.

Rivian R1T and R1S

Electric vehicles weren't immune from American super-sizing this year, with US start-up Rivian revealing both the R1T pick up and R1S seven-seat SUV.

The R1T pick up (and, presumably the SUV as well) can hit 60mph (96km/h) in a remarkable 3 seconds flat and is also capable of towing 5,000kg. Which is somewhat worrying and completely awesome all at the same time.

Super high-tech (there's a complete Lidar array in the front for future autonomous driving capabilities), the Rivian SUV and pick up are also absolute monsters off road as well, with four electric motors (one for each wheel) and up to 1,120Nm of torque, depending on the battery pack.