this is mud fest 2022 probably the best suv pickup comparison in the united states it's pretty cool
a glance at all the vehicles in your neighborhood proves crossovers suvs and
pickups dominate these days long before they were fashionable automotive writers in the
pacific northwest held mud fest an annual competition to find the best of the bunch
it's held at the ridge motorsports park in shelton washington this is the 27th mud fest
so it's a well-oiled machine it's not put on by the manufacturers it's an independent event put on
by the northwest automotive press association and one thing you really need to know
if you don't see your favorite vehicle here it's because the manufacturer decided not to bring it
this year there are 23 automotive journalists and these two that'll be tiebreakers to size
up 20 vehicles now obviously a subaru forester wilderness doesn't compete with a rolls-royce yes
there's a colon in here in orange it's not orange it's what santa santa so there are categories like
compact family full-sized family a couple luxury segments and pickups these all compete in their
own category plus there's an overall win all right you're good to go have fun mud fest is a two day
event day one is all about on-road performance because even the most capable suvs are driven
on pavement most of the time i will say this about the new tundra it handles so much better than the
outgoing model much much more drivable the ridge has a huge area for us to mark out a proper course
we do acceleration tests one thing about the raptor
it definitely
wins in the sound department pretty good in the braking department too we do slalom
and you may never do slaloming in your suv but we do so we can find out how it works in an emergency
situation we evaluate body movements and dynamics tire noise and grip and of course handling
yeah mazda has not lost its chops this is very accurate steering very precise there's some road
fuel coming up through the wheel nice the ridge motorsports park has a terrific go-kart track
that we use to evaluate cornering dynamics it's a scale replica of the large track right down to
elevation changes the acura mdx type s is definitely the sports car of the family haulers
here three rows of seating and it's got super handling all-wheel drive true torque vectoring
day two is all about off-road prowess and there are two sections
an easier course that all the vehicles go through
and a tougher section that's just for the machines that are in the extreme capability category
this is not intended to replicate the rubicon trail but it's tough enough so that we can
figure out what the vehicle is capable of so we've got the air suspension all the way up
so this breakover is not going to be a problem for as large of a vehicle as this is it really
does have really good approach departure and breakover angles that is kind of surprising
remember each one of these rigs will have navigated the course some 23 times and i
can tell you that not one of them experienced any real damage it says a lot about capability somehow
people perceive the honda passport as a suv that's really more of a soft rotor not sure how that ever
came about yeah it is unibody but then again so are land rovers just saying there are manufacturer
reps on hand since many of these vehicles are very deep this has air suspension it's the only mdx
with air suspension yes so if you want to get the air suspension on your mdx you got to upgrade to
the type s variant which adds a lot of performance features that being one of them for the first
time since anyone can remember mud fest actually has mud and that adds to the off-road challenge
also it's not just driving dynamics we're looking at we did bake in a lot of the dynamic
driving capabilities from our g70 sport sedan it's actually on the same platform we're also scoring
on things like interior quality how usable a vehicle is and any unique features they might have
the lexus lx600 was just as popular standing still as it was out on the courses getting a massage
gentlemen yes we are getting the alexis taking a little nap here in the net lexus here just so
you know each of the riders are required to drive every single one of the vehicles that's important
because there are a lot of surprises it happens every mud fest for instance in the pickup segment
last year the compact hyundai santa cruz beat out the ram 1500 trx because of all of its clever
features the genesis gv70 took the mid-size luxury crown plus the overall title of northwest outdoor
activity of the year partly because it was much better off-road than anyone would have guessed
some highlights when it comes to the day one on-road assessments i'm actually surprised
at how well this handles this is a jeep grand cherokee a trailhawk and it quarters really well
remember when suvs handled like logging trucks things have come a long way the genesis gt80
nice rig problem is there are a lot of nice rigs in this competition
this is tough electronic stability controls and computers do amazing things these days
really there's nothing and i do mean nothing more perverse than driving a raptor on a go-kart chorus
bit of understeer there
on day two typical pacific northwest weather starts to roll in
which makes things muddier there you go
a lot of the manufacturer's data says that when owners talk about going off-roading
it's more like this a dirt road so the off-road course
starts with this all of the rigs here will take on some amount of standing water
just remember that water running across a roadway can easily sweep a car off the road be careful
we'll put the forward-facing camera on
the cameras are amazing they're so helpful it's kind of like how did we survive without them yeah
it's kind of a no-brainer the camouflaged rolls-royce cullinan uh blending in with
the cones that is has no problems none so if you want to hate on it for being luxurious
and 429 thousand dollars go right ahead but it's exceptionally capable
the question is will the price tag of this vehicle put it out of contention it's expensive
you could buy three lexus lx 600s at 128 grand and a jeep wrangler for the cost of the culinary if
you're into luxury and volume toyota no longer has the land cruiser now right in the united states
correct this is exclusive to lexus correct and considering the price point that actually it kind
of makes sense yeah and remember you don't need an suv to tackle tougher terrain volvo brought
the v90 cross-country wagon the lower profile has advantages this will cover most of what nearly
any suv can cover let's put it in off-road mode real quick okay more than eight inches of ground
clearance in this car but the roof is still quite low which makes it really easy for loading gear
bikes kayaks absolutely that's one of the things that i've always said about wagons
was really hoping to see a couple pure evs this year but that didn't happen
jeep and kia have entered plug-in hybrids the jeep grand cherokee trailhawk four by e has
no issues on the extreme course instant torque it's really good to have when you're off-roading
and the three-row kia sorento plug-in hybrid saunters through anything its
owners would push it onto the great thing about electrifying an suv is you don't hear anything
maybe birds and a little bit of tire crunching but no engine sound it makes it a lot more serene
you'll hear some warning tones too
yes the mazda cx-30 was the track star of the bunch darned if it didn't scamper all
over the off-road course as well and so when you start coming up here you can actually stop
a little bit and and then kind of re-get going again and i'll show you how that
that off-road mode you really no wheel spin no kind of surprising especially in this now that
this rain is coming down too yeah let's not forget the tires are really important when conditions get
difficult the acura mdx type s with its brembo brakes might be geared towards fun on dry roads
but even with rubber geared towards performance it has some chops in the dirt this is getting
slippery the sideways on yeah i was curious to know how it was gonna go once we got more rain
actually the the tires are handling it pretty well and i'm guessing these are more performance tires
mercedes brought a performance oriented amg gob-35 it might be more fun on the go-kart track
but if you find yourself on a forest service road with one you'll be okay chatter during lunch gives
the impression that voting could go any which way the competition is exceptionally close this year
one of the things we've all talked about during this competition is how good all of the vehicles
are these days all of them have at least some off-road chops some of them are really great
on-road so you know just depends on what you need in the end we didn't have to recruit the eagles
for tiebreaker duty this mudfest is in the books the rain is starting to come in a good time to
check out the winners in the compact segment the nod goes to the all-new 2023 mazda cx-50
mid and full-sized family that prize is awarded to the 2022 jeep grand cherokee trailhawk 4 by
e the genesis gv70 is a repeat winner from last year in the compact and mid-sized luxury segment
and genesis does it again in the full-sized luxury category with big brother gv80 another
repeat winner the trophy in the pickup segment is awarded to the hyundai santa cruz limited when it
comes to electrified the award goes to the 2022 jeep grand cherokee trailhawk 4 by e the prize for
extreme capability goes to the ford f-150 raptor with a tie when it comes to runner-up this was a
close one and the overall winner the vehicle we believe has the best combination of capability
comfort features and value is triple trophy recipient jeep grand cherokee trailhawk 4 by e
again it's not ever about one thing when choosing an suv or pickup it's always about the total
package and how well a vehicle delivers when it comes to its intended mission that's how we
all feel about this year's candidates but only you can tell if the vehicle is right for you
so take our winners as a strong suggestion then get out there and test drive and know that these
machines can do stuff like this even if the dealerships won't let you shake it down this way
special thanks to the northwest automotive press association members for putting this event on
it takes a lot of work and i do mean a lot plus the ridge motorsports park in shelton they did
a fantastic job hosting us and modifying the off-road sections kudos to the team
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