Drag racing SUVs is about as absurd as entering a Bugatti Chiron in a banger race. With that said, Hagerty, with the help of Jason Camisa, has arranged for the rowdiest performance SUVs to not only go up against one another in a drag race, but also against a mid-engine, Italian exotic from the early 2000s. We have two of the USA’s top contenders – the Jeep Wrangler 392 and Ford Bronco Raptor – against two foreign invaders – the Land Rover Defender 90 V-8 and Mercedes AMG G63. Despite all of them being boxy SUVs, they are different on a number of levels, which should make for an interesting race.

The Jeep is, essentially, an off-road muscle car

While the Jeep Wrangler hasn’t really gone anywhere, nowadays, it has a large variety of flavors. There’s the base Wrangler, Rubicon, Gladiator, and everything in-between. The model has been one of the most consistent in its segments in that it has always offered a short-wheelbase, a two-door convertible, a four-door convertible, a traditional SUV, and a SUT.

The Jeep Wrangler 392 is also the most old-school of the bunch, with its 6.4-liter naturally-aspirated, pushrod V-8. The 392 packs 470 horsepower (346 kilowatts) and 470 pound-feet (639 Nm), which are sent to all four wheels through an eight-speed Torqueflite automatic, which is, technically, the ZF unit, built under license by Chrysler.

Ford Bronco combines retro-futuristic design with modern tech

It is a well-known fact that Ford was the first of the American big three to move away from pushrod engines, in its performance variants. The Ford Bronco Raptor is a good example with its 3.0-liter, twin-turbo V-6, which packs 418 horsepower (307 kilowatts) and 440 pound-feet (596 Nm). Naturally, it has all-wheel drive, but the transmission is a 10-speed auto. With that said, the Bronco is slightly heavier.

The foreigners pack V-8 power and forced induction

The Land Rover 90 V-8, as the name suggests is the short-wheelbase version of the British SUV and has the 5.0-liter supercharged V-8, we know from Jaguar’s range-topping models. Here, the dinosaur of an engine produces 518 horsepower (381 kilowatts) and 461 pound-feet (625 Nm). The same ZF, eight-speed automatic sends power to all four wheels. Mind you, this isn't the Defender SVR, which will have the 4.4-liter, twin-turbo V-8 from BMW.

Last but not least, the latest iteration of the Mercedes Gelandewagen, the 2023 AMG G63, has come here to give the competition a good thrashing or at least try to. Its 4.0-liter, twin-turbo V-8 is the most powerful one here with 577 horsepower (424 kilowatts) and 627 pound-feet (850 Nm). Power goes to all four wheels through a nine-speed, Speedshift automatic, which is also found in the 2023 Nissan Z.

We don’t like spoilers, but we will say that most of the SUVs you will see in the video cover the quarter-mile in the 12-second range with trap speeds of over 100 mph (161 km/h). The Lamborghini Gallardo also happens to be the only car that has a manual transmission, which despite its 2,200 pounds (1,000 kg) weight advantage might equalize the playing field. By all accounts, the race doesn't make any sense, except to remind us, once again, how spoiled we are for horsepower.