Ever wondered what do you get in an SUV for more than $130,000? We take a look at two contenders.

There's no doubting the popularity of SUVs in recent years, and the luxury end of the all-terrain segment has had plenty of growth.

So much so that even Porsche had to get in on the act, amid howls of protest from the faithful — those who like engines in the back and floor-hinged pedals. The Porsche shield on an SUV? How could you?

Quite easily, it seems, and the company's not backing away from the model either, adding a V6 entry level machine. At the other end of the spectrum, Range Rover's diesel entrant has taken a major step forward with a new engine -- the twin-turbocharged diesel V8, which means we're looking at the V8 side of the market, from two different perspectives.

Around $140,000 is not small change. Do you get into a sports car pretending to be an SUV or an all-conquering SUV that gives sports cars a fright at the lights?

The Range Rover TD V8 can do exactly that, without the need for a fuel tanker meeting me en route to top up the tank. The bloke in the Ford XR6 discovered how much torque the new powerplant has on offer and how effectively it puts it to ground.

The surge is unearthly, not quite up to the 750Nm on offer from VW's Touareg V10, but it is considerable and almost always on tap.

Reduce the right foot pressure and cruise and there's little in the way of noise from the engine bay, leaving other noises to fill the void.

The 3.6-litre DOHC 32-valve twin-turbocharged diesel V8 dwarfs all before it, including the current super-charged petrol V8 in the torque stakes 640Nm to 560Nm, although the PULP-drinker has 291kW of power where the diesel has 'just' 200kW.

But the diesel has the full whack of torque from 2000rpm to 2500rpm, while more than 400Nm is available from 1250rpm.

The Porsche can't match the torque figure with its naturally aspirated direct-injection 4.8-litre V8 but it gleefully supplies 283kW and 500Nm, bellowing sweetly through a well-tuned sports exhaust system.

Despite weighing in at 2320kg, the Cayenne S claims a 6.8 second sprint to 100km/h and a 250km/h top speed.

The price paid at the pump when filling the 100-litre tank with premium unleaded petrol (PULP) is a trip computer readout of 18.1 litres/100km, which is a little beyond the claimed 13.7l/100km.

The Rangie is slower by a couple of seconds but the extra torque has towing benefits, both are rated to 3500kg for braked trailers, but the trip computer on the big Brit showed 12.3 litres/100km, which included more off-road low-range work than the Porsche completed.

The Rangie retains its good forward vision, which can, in off-road terrain, be supplemented by the Venture Cam to see over ledges. And the on-road manners are impeccable. The air suspension counteracts body roll to a reasonable extent but you're still aware of the lard-ish size in corners on the way to the rough stuff.

Push too hard and the electronics kick in to halt proceedings well before things get ugly.

It's only niggly things includes the steering wheel volume control (a Land Rover problem experienced in other models) and some ergonomic anomalies that blight the experience.

Fire off the sealed stuff into the dirt and ride quality is maintained.

The mountain of torque tears at dirt roads and makes short work of rough ascents. Twiddle the knob for the simple Terrain Response system.

A rutted climb means low-range, wind the suspension up and point the square snout in the desired direction.

The Brit makes short work of most terrain with a minimum of fuss.

Built off the VW Touareg platform, the Cayenne has retained much of the off-road ability found in the VW.

It will tackle enough rough terrain for most but it claws back a heap of ground on the Range Rover on the bitumen, with a sharp drive package.

The test vehicle was fitted with the Dynamic Chassis Control, which adds $7390 to the $134,500 price tag but it is an effective system.

The Comfort damping setting smoothed the ride out to a point where even sooky passengers who like plenty of cushioning were impressed. Flicking to Sport mode drops the ride height and almost banishes body roll, tightens up the throttle and allows the driver to carve up corners far more quickly than anything this size should.

The British beast wouldn't see which way the Porsche went on a twisty road. But there are plenty of other, more conventional cars that wouldn't either.

The Range Rover wins on the looks front, with the square-jawed good looks more pleasing than the Porsche. Although we drove the Luxury edition, the base TD V8 compares quite favourably on price with the Cayenne S, especially in term of the equipment list.

Both get A-grade sound systems (Harman/Kardon in the Range Rover and Bose in the Porsche).

Leather seat trim, front, side and side curtain airbags, are all de rigueur in both. Headlight washers, parking radar, electro-chromatic rear-vision mirror, heated and cooled front seats and auto xenon headlights are among the standard Rangie features.

The Range Rover takes the cake by a narrow margin; there's no doubting the Porsche's considerable abilities but for the full breadth of talent, the Land Rover product can cover a wider range of terrains with aplomb, without breaking the bank at the pump.