High performance SUVs let people scratch that itch for a nice, fun to drive, car to reflect their current financial situation (most people get richer over their careers) while still being a practical A to B family hauler befitting a responsible adult.
Think of it like being an expensive way to have both a Honda CRV and a Dodge Challenger while only using up one parking spot.
I doubt its as fun to drive as a light weight convertible. The market for these super fast SUVs aren't driving purists, but those people you see who go 90mph on the freeway and drift right to left to right again with zero blinker. The people who see you trying to get over, then hit the accelerator to cut you off lest they let you get ahead of them and damage their pride. The people who merge into the exit only lane and try to hit the throttle and pass you on the right side before the exit lane barrier appears. Manufacturers are playing right into all the bad habits I see drivers do on the road.
Big fast SUVs aren't as fun as a Boxster, but the Range Rover Supercharged (as an example) is very fun to drive for a large SUV. Same with the Cayenne Turbo. With adaptive dampening a lot of big cars can feel much smaller if you're willing to spend the cash.
And anecdotally, everyone I know who drives a sports version of an SUV also owns a sports car of the variety you're describing. You see lots of people hauling their GT3s to track days in those sorts of SUVs.
They still seem like such brutally overpowered cars for what is actually considered legal or defensive driving. If you buy a GT3 and take it to the track, I get it. You have a place where you drive it unsafely but privately and in a controlled area where you can kill yourself and not harm others. It still begs the question, why are you buying the cayenne turbo if speeding and driving recklessly is illegal, and at safe operating speeds without driving recklessly you aren't ever going to be tapping into those extra horses you paid for. Car manufacturers really do a serious wink wink nudge nudge with these overpowered cars, implying you will drive safely and legally when the speedometer goes to 200mph and the advertisement features someone drifting around downtown los angeles. It reminds me of how during prohibition, budweiser would just sell you all the ingredients required to brew your own beer at home and put on a label that says "not to be used to make illegal beer."
Nine times out of ten when I see an AMG g wagon on the road they are doing something dangerous with a phone in one hand. Usually just ripping the throttle to get to 50mph from a stop as fast as possible, then that's their baseline speed for driving around any and all residential roads in my city where the speed limit might be half that.
You don't need a powerful engine to speed: even Kia Sorento can still drive 100+ mph. Powerful engine gives better acceleration, which provides comfort and safety not just for yourself but other drivers. For example you don't create a hazard while doing a left turn, merging from a ramp, passing on the oncoming lane, doing a right turn from a secondary street into a high speed road etc. And, unless it's a DIY mod, a car with a powerful engine also comes with suspension and brakes to match so it's safer overall.
In all the situations you described, a powerful engine just makes the maneuver more risky. Sure you can turn right and get up to speed on a 50mph road instantly, but you having a faster car doesn't make the person coming up the road behind you have a faster reaction time, so they will still end up slamming on the brakes and causing traffic when they see you pull out and cut them off. All these other maneuvers aren't hazardous if you do them legally and wait your turn. If you are driving safely and legally, there is no reason that you need improved brakes designed to stop you from 100mph or suspension designed to take a sharp turn at 80mph.
Believe me, I see these fast cars zipping on and off freeways and roads all day in my city, and they absolutely do not make the situation any more safe for anyone at all. They just create more chaos and uncertainty accelerating and decelerating so fast and jerking around the car so much, and a lot more noise on the street since even classy cars like Mercedes Benzes have this obnoxious throaty exhaust now as it seems, at least for the fast models.
I am not sure I understand you. I am not going to cut off anybody, not everyone driving an expensive car is a douche you pictured. I can safely turn right in a much shorter gap than a budget SUV with underpowered engine could without cutting off anyone. All other maneuvers are not getting safer if performed at half speed.
And sure, technically you can take all the time you want doing the left turn even when the light turned red, it will be of a little consolation when a distracted driver t-bones you.
As far as suspension and brakes go - there is no constant need of course but in the extreme situations it can be life and death. Stuff can happen: animals jumping in front of you, stuff falling from trucks, your tires cut or blowing out for whatever reason, other cars not driving legally and safely etc. etc.
Also, I believe you, you notice bad drivers in expensive cars and have the class hatred for them. So do I, when I see stoners in the beater civics driving like maniacs, yet I figure that it's not the Honda problem, somehow.
