10 of the Coolest New SUV Features of 2024

MotorTrend

Join MotorTrend's Kristen Lee as she checks out this year's coolest SUV features from Ford

Transcript

00:00Check it out, guys.

00:07Here are SUVs of all shapes, sizes, colors, power trains,

00:11which means only one thing.

00:13Motor Trend SUV of the Year event is in full swing,

00:15and we're here to show you some of the coolest features.

00:23My therapist says my biggest problem

00:26is I like living in the past.

00:28But when you're like me and you have Ford Focus RS

00:30stuff on the brain all the time,

00:32can you really, really blame me?

00:34Thankfully, though, this Ford Mustang Mach-E Rally

00:37kind of fills that hole.

00:38You know, we also kept it dirty for you

00:39because that just felt correct.

00:41Basically, it takes the normal Ford Mustang Mach-E,

00:45raises it by 0.8 inches, gives it functional fog lights,

00:49as well as gloss white wheels.

00:51Now, we sweep down the side,

00:52we get this lovely grabber blue color,

00:54as well as the Mach-E Rally decal,

00:56in case you forget what the car is called.

00:58Keep going.

00:59Ooh, you can actually get it with factory mud flaps.

01:02This one doesn't have it, but it is a possibility.

01:04Finally, your big wing with the swan neck.

01:07This is total Ford Focus RS stuff.

01:09We love to see it.

01:11My favorite feature, though, is actually in here.

01:13You get gloss white seat back inserts to match your wheels.

01:18Isn't that nice?

01:19We do love driving this car.

01:20It is a riot.

01:21It is a hoot.

01:23Don't knock it till you try it.

01:26If you've been snoozing on Lincoln recently,

01:38don't, because the new Nautilus is kind of off the hook.

01:43So that's where we are right now.

01:44We're in the new Nautilus,

01:45and the first thing to notice is this giant front screen.

01:49It's like 48 inches, and it's high definition.

01:52The font is big and easy to read.

01:54It's clear.

01:55It's a nice screen, and it's totally customizable, too.

01:58So you can go in here,

01:59and maybe you don't want to look at the clock,

02:01the weather, the tire pressure.

02:02You want to look at the fuel economy.

02:04So you go into this menu, and you drag right up there,

02:08and you get fuel economy.

02:09Maybe you don't like the order of all your icons,

02:11so you want to see the weather closer to you.

02:13You can move the weather closer to you.

02:15You don't get to do this in other screens.

02:17They're just fixed, and you can't change anything.

02:19And of course, if you don't want to see any of that anymore,

02:21just the calm button turns it all off.

02:25But finally, the Nautilus does something

02:27that I think is nice,

02:28and it really taps into the underutilized olfactory scents.

02:33And by that, I mean you can go into the menu,

02:35hit the digital scent,

02:37and the car will actually exude scents, like air freshener.

02:41I mean, Mercedes has done this before.

02:43Now it's Lincoln's turn.

02:44But the first one is Violet Cashmere, which we have had on.

02:47I could not get Ozonic Azure to really smell like anything,

02:50but maybe it is so subtle

02:52that it has gone right over my head.

02:54And finally, the Serene Seashore.

02:56I've never described scents before in a car,

02:59so this is kind of new.

03:01But all it means is you need to get into an Nautilus,

03:04try out the smells.

03:05In addition to the comfortable

03:07and spacious second-row captain's chairs

03:09that you get in the Lexus TX,

03:10you also get this lovely center console

03:13with cup holders and cubbies for all your stuff.

03:16Most importantly, snack space.

03:18And little-known fact, it's totally removable.

03:21Why you would need to do this,

03:22I mean, that's totally up to you.

03:25Choose your own adventure,

03:26but sometimes you need the snacks to go with you, right?

03:28Gotta be ready.

03:31You know, Lexus, and by extension Toyota,

03:35is a real one for including this removable tray

03:38because you can fill it with snacks.

03:40And therefore, it says to the public,

03:41yes, we understand the importance of snacking.

03:46All the other automakers,

03:47you guys should be getting on this, you know?

03:49Because there's nothing better than walking and eating,

03:51and this just gives you an easy tray

03:52to keep all of it in one place.

03:54That is a Motor Trend Top consumer tip.

03:57You ever wondered what this situation is

03:59on the new Santa Fe?

04:00It is a C-pillar door handle.

04:03So this is how you work it.

04:05Open it up, get your key,

04:07change this into unlock position.

04:12So it pops in like that,

04:14and if you have something that is out of your reach

04:16on the roof of the car,

04:18this gives you a little access point

04:20so you can get up there and find it.

04:22I like it.

04:23It's well-integrated, it's well-designed,

04:26subtle.

04:28Nice job.

04:31Everyone here at SUV of the Year

04:32has opinions about the Ineos Grenadier.

04:35I'm just over here stoked because there's two horns.

04:37The first one,

04:38for bicyclists,

04:41this one,

04:42for cars.

04:43Although I do take issue,

04:44and I say bicyclists because this button

04:46has a picture of a bicycle on it,

04:47I would never honk at a cyclist.

04:49I am in a 5,000 pound tank,

04:52they are on a bicycle,

04:53I will go around them.

04:54However, this is good for when you're sitting

04:57at a stoplight and the person in front of you

04:59doesn't realize the light has turned green.

05:01This is too aggressive.

05:02This is just, hey, time to go.

05:05Two horns, more options.

05:07Another feature,

05:09there's a tilt function,

05:10a manual tilt function in the Grenadier.

05:13So all you have to do is push this up,

05:15lock it,

05:16and we have a little extra airflow here.

05:19And you do it yourself.

05:21This probably could have been solved

05:22by a motor and a button,

05:24but these are the motors and buttons.

05:27One more thing about the Ineos.

05:31Switchblade!

05:33Like it's 2000.

05:35Now we are in the Rivian R1S Quad Max.

05:38Yeah, so this new thing here is it has launch control

05:42that has never been done before in an R1S.

05:44And I'm here today with senior technical reporter,

05:46Matt Chesinski to do a launch for us, right?

05:50You ready for this, Matt?

05:53Are you ready for this?

05:54I've done it before.

05:56I mean, my body is ready.

05:57You've been talking it up,

05:58so I think it's going to be.

06:00Take a breath beforehand because it will take it away.

06:04It's got enough G force.

06:05We're going to hit probably over one G in acceleration.

06:08It'll be hard to pull your head off the headrest.

06:11It's pretty insane for any car,

06:12let alone a vehicle this size.

06:15So yeah, let's hit it.

06:17Okay, so to put it into launch mode,

06:19you need to put it in sport.

06:21And then from there, you put it into launch mode, right?

06:23What does that look like?

06:24That's right.

06:25So typically you'll be on your navigation screen

06:27and you'll go over here to your drivetrain icon

06:30and then you get your drive modes.

06:32So we're in all purpose right now.

06:34We're going to go into sport mode.

06:35Since we're stationary,

06:36it's going to ask us if it's safe to lower.

06:38So yes, I'm not hiding anything underneath the vehicle.

06:40It's lower the ride height.

06:42So the first step is lowering the ride height.

06:43When we put it in sport mode,

06:45we're going to get this racing flag icon here,

06:47which should immediately direct your eyes to something cool.

06:50So we click that

06:51and then we get our fancy little Sasquatch guy

06:54in his running gear, ready to go.

06:56This is much faster than I'm sure this guy can run.

06:59So now he's excited because we're activating launch mode.

07:02Now the vehicle is ready for our driver screen.

07:07So it says press brake and shift to drive.

07:09So let's press our brake, shift into drive,

07:12and now it's going to tell me

07:13to press and hold the accelerator

07:15and we're going to condition the battery.

07:17So it conditions the battery

07:19to get it to the optimal temperature,

07:20to discharge enough power quick enough

07:22to give all the power it needs to the motors

07:24to get us to our sub three second zero to 60 launch.

07:29So now I've got the indication that it's ready.

07:32We've got our three lights and we can release the brake.

07:35You ready to go?

07:36Yeah, okay, I'm scared.

07:37Okay.

07:38Three, two, one.

07:40Oh my God!

07:42Oh my God!

07:48Can I say that again?

07:50Aravian indicated 2.65 seconds.

07:52To 80?

07:5360.

07:55Yep.

07:55Keep G-force 1.1, and we only hit 80 miles an hour.

08:00I left my brain back there.

08:02Okay, wow, wow, wow, wow.

08:05Where is anyone supposed to use this?

08:08Here, in a closed course.

08:10In a closed course.

08:11I'm sure it's far too fast for any public road anywhere,

08:15but it's a neat party trick.

08:17If you got private property somewhere

08:18and you want to take it to a drag strip for a night

08:20and just clean up when you show up with an SUV

08:23and nobody expects to be quick.

08:24So don't tell anybody you got a quad

08:26and surprise your friends.

08:28This thing is like 7,000 pounds and change or something.

08:32Yeah, that's about right, yeah.

08:34Yeah, and you and I grew up in a time

08:36when four seconds to 60 was amazing.

08:40Exactly, and now you've got full-size SUVs,

08:42three-row SUVs, and I'm sure with your whole family,

08:45it wouldn't slow it down a lot.

08:47Maybe you don't do it with your kids and dog in the car,

08:49but yeah, this thing is gonna be quicker

08:52than almost anything on the road,

08:53no matter what you do with it.

08:54Ridiculous, thank you so much, Matt.

08:56Thank you so much, that was crazy.

08:59And that is but a glimpse of all the stuff

09:01that we have for you here at SUV of the Year.

09:03From everything, snack cubbies,

09:05to brain scrambling, launch control.

09:08For more SUV of the Year coverage,

09:09check out MotorTrend.com, follow us on the socials,

09:12click on stuff that you see on YouTube.

09:14Thank you so much for watching.

09:16See you guys next time.

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