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Big wheels with skinny tires
It's two things.
First, a lot of them are aftermarket add-ons, it's a style thing, same as wearing droopy drawers and shirts 8 sizes too big.
Secondly, some of the manufacturers are starting to catch on to something the racing world has known for years, big sidewalls are too flexible. In the quest to keep SUV's on their tires instead of their roof, they have been going to taller tires and stiffer suspension to try to eliminate some of the rollovers from happening.
Best of luck.
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Big wheels with skinny tires
I suspect that with the vast majority of SUV's out there, 'off-road' is not really an issue, they are basically just all wheel drive station wagons and driven as such.
There are some definite exceptions to the rule however, my other half has been thinking she might want an SUV, so I recently test drove a BMW X5 and a Benz ML500. These are both 350'ish horsepower machines that were designed and built with limited offroading in mind.
In fact the BMW comes with really fat 20" wheels that would look more at home on the 750 she is driving now. The salesman was quick to point out that this 'truck' would do 0-60mph in 6 seconds and with the flip of a switch the suspension could be re-tuned into "Sport Mode".
Now there's two things that would be high on my list of things to look for in an off-road machine.
Although I must admit, I do like them butt-heatin' seats on a frosty morning, darned cold leather interior.
Best of luck.
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Big wheels with skinny tires
Something tells me that very few people who spend $100,000+ on an SUV actually test the off-road abilities of them.
On the BMW X5 I drove, the rubber it comes with is Pirelli 275/40R20's on the front and 315/35R20's on the back. These tires are speed rated as a "W" category tire, which means the manufacturer has tested that tire to run at 168mph (or 272 km/h). This is the only tire the factory offers for this truck, you have your choice of 2 different rim styles though.
In the brochure they did point out however that the vehicle is electronically limited to a maximum speed of only 145 mph (235 km/h).
So I suppose sand dunes and snow banks weren't high on their list of anticipated driving conditions.
Best of luck.
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