Luxury SUV

A luxury SUV is a North American term for sport utility vehicles which have features that resemble other luxury vehicles. They are relatively expensive and have a higher emphasis and premium on comfort, quality, style and engineering, than their mainstream counterparts. Even though luxury SUVs do not necessarily feature more comfort or a higher quality than sedans, they tend to be more expensive than luxury sedans. The top-of-the-line SUVs of American and Japanese luxury car makers out price their flagship sedans. The flagship SUV Cadillac Escalade is a luxury SUV. In European automakers, where the flagship sedans are still priced above the top-of-the-line SUV. Mid-level luxury SUVs feature base MSRP's ranging approximately between $40K to $80K. Vehicles in this category include: Audi Q7, Porsche Cayenne S, Acura MDX, Cadillac Escalade, Volkswagen Touareg, Mercedes-Benz M-Class, Mercedes-Benz GL-Class, Volvo XC90, Saab 9-7X, Lincoln Navigator, Land Rover LR3, Land Rover Range Rover Sport, Lexus GX, Lexus RX 400h, BMW X5, Infiniti QX56, Toyota Land Cruiser, Toyota Prado and Infiniti FX. High-end luxury SUVs. Vehicles in this category include: Mercedes-Benz G-Class, Lexus LX, Porsche Cayenne Turbo, and Land Rover Range Rover.

Gasoline Engines

Gasoline engines have the advantage over diesel in being lighter and able to work at higher rotational speeds and they are the usual choice for fitting in high-performance sports cars. Continuous development of gasoline engines for over a hundred years has produced improvements in efficiency and reduced pollution. The carburetor was used on nearly all road car engines until the 1980s but it was long realized better control of the fuel/air mixture could be achieved with fuel injection. Indirect fuel injection was first used in aircraft engines from 1909, in racing car engines from the 1930s, and road cars from the late 1950s.

Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) is now starting to appear in production vehicles such as the 2007 BMW MINI. Exhaust gases are also cleaned up by fitting a catalytic converter into the exhaust system. Clean air legislation in many of the car industries most important markets has made both catalysts and fuel injection virtually universal fittings. Most modern gasoline engines are also capable of running with up to 15% ethanol mixed into the gasoline - older vehicles may have seals and hoses that can be harmed by ethanol. With a small amount of redesign, gasoline-powered vehicles can run on ethanol concentrations as high as 85%. 100% ethanol is used in some parts of the world (such as Brazil), but vehicles must be started on pure gasoline and switched over to ethanol once the engine is running. Most gasoline engines cars can also run on LPG with the addition of an LPG tank for fuel storage and carburetion modifications to add an LPG mixer. LPG produces fewer toxic emissions and is a popular fuel for fork lift trucks that have to operate inside buildings.