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Sport/utility vehicle. Is there a bigger misnomer than that? Sure, SUVs are vehicles, and they do usually have some sort of utilitarian function, but sport? Nuh-uh. Take a look at the most popular SUVs in the United States last year, led by the Honda CR-V, Ford Escape, and Toyota RAV4. I don't think any of you would argue with me if I said sportiness is the last reason anyone's buying these.

I suspect somewhere along the SUV development timeline someone -- probably the same person who said a four-door could be labeled a coupe—forgot to tell the Germans that SUVs don't need to be sporty. And what a wunderbar mistake that turned out to be. The small SUVs atop the U.S. sales charts lack any pretense of sportiness, but these four compact-ish Germans ooze it. This Teutonic quartet represents the sportiest small crossovers Germany makes. From Ingolstadt comes the 354-hp 2015 Audi SQ5. Munich is home to the fastback-styled 2015 BMW X4 xDrive35i. Stuttgart has two entrants: the 355-hp 2015 Mercedes-Benz GLA45 AMG, which comes courtesy of Affalterbach, and the 400-hp 2015 Porsche Macan Turbo. Each contender features all-wheel drive and some form of forced induction.



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Motor Trend Comparison Test: Audi SQ5 vs. BMW X4 xDrive35i vs. Mercedes-Benz GLA45 AMG vs. Porsche Macan Turbo

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GermanNut