The BMW X 5 M Competition is the fastest SUV as tested by The Citizen.
Two-thousand-and-twenty-one was an interesting year for the South African motoring landscape.
Some things changed, like an acceleration towards greener cars, while others stayed the same like Toyota topping the monthly sales charts.
In this series of 2021 Motoring Newsmakers, The Citizen looks back at the top 20 most popular online stories of the year. The series is dominated by South Africa’s most popular body style, bakkies, while the Toyota Land Cruiser 300 was by far the most viewed single model on our website. Other local favourites in the form of hot hatches, fuel efficient hatchbacks, big, mean SUVs, compact SUVs, Mercedes-AMGs and BMW M cars also drew their fair share of attention.
In April, Mercedes rolled out a barrage of AMG SUVs models. The BMW X5 M Competition, that became the fastest SUV on Road Test Editor Mark Jones’ time sheets a few months prior, was definitely under threat.
The AMG GLE 63 S was the best candidate in the Mercedes stable to knock the X 5 M Competition off its perch. Powered by a 450kW/850Nm 4.0-litre bi-turbo V8 engine, the Mercedes was ready for a fight as Mark took it along on his usual rendezvous at Gerotek.
In the end, there was hardly anything in it. The BMW was 0.24 seconds faster from 0 to 100km/h, but was the Mercedes it fitted with launch control like the BMW, it might have been impossible to separate the two.
To see how the shootout panned out, click on the link below.
2021 MOTORING NEWSMAKER NO 15: The results are in: Does Mercedes-AMG GLE 63 S beat BMW X5 M?
To see the rest of our 2021 Motoring Newsmakers, click on the links below.
NO 17: Never be late in a Merc GLS 580
NO 18: Toyota HiAce 54 years young
NO 19: New Ford Ranger revealed
NO 20: Toyota Land Cruiser gets stuck the mud
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