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Santa Claus Could Ditch His Sleigh for One of These Rides

Choosing a car is a hard decision for anybody, but when you have to visit the entire planet in one night and you need a lot of carrying capacity, it gets even tougher.
Ford F-150 Raptor 5 photos
Photo: Ford
Bentley Bentayga SpeedBMW X7Ford F-150 RaptroPorsche Panamera Turbo Sport Turismo
These are the things that Santa Claus needs to take into consideration whenever it’s time to buy a new car. Santa is not your typical car buyer - he has really special and particular requirements that really limit the spectrum of acceptable options; it’s far harder for him to choose compared to the average buyer.

Santa’s car needs to be fast, so he can hit all locations in due time, it needs to have a big cargo area that can store as many toys as possible and it also needs to be comfortable and roomy inside - you can imagine that all those thousands of miles driven can really strain a driver if the car doesn’t have good seats and is not ergonomically laid out.

And since Santa often has to venture off smooth roads to reach good kids around the world, he also needs a vehicle that’s good both on- and off-road - Santa has to be the ideal SUV buyer, since he would really use it to its full capacity.

Cost probably isn’t an issue since we imagine Santa is quite well off - somebody who’s struggling financially doesn’t travel around the world giving toys to good children. And he's been doing this for who knows how many years - if there’s anybody who can afford to buy an expensive car, it’s the bearded guy dressed in red.

Finally, Santa needs a car that is good on snow and ice - he otherwise couldn’t even leave his native Lapland. Sophisticated all-wheel-drive is therefore a must; imagine how embarrassed Santa would be if he got stuck in snow and would require people’s help to get out, plus this would make him late and good kids might miss getting the presents they deserve.

One vehicle that would be perfectly suited for Santa is the Bentley Bentayga Speed SUV, with the most powerful version of the W12 engine. It’s a supremely capable vehicle, both on- and off-road, it has 635 horsepower and a top speed in excess of 300 km/h or 186 mph. It’s almost the perfect vehicle.

BMW X7
Photo: BMW
It does have one drawback, though - its trunk is quite small, 430 liters, with the load cover and the rear seats in place. Santa would have to fold down the rear bench and ditch the load cover to make the most of it.

Another SUV that could fit Santa’s needs is the new BMW X7 with the 530 horsepower M50i powertrain. It’s slightly bigger than the Bentley from the outside, but inside it’s considerably roomier - 750 liters of available load volume in a five-seater configuration, which can be extended to a positively van-like 2,120 liters. It’s not perfect, though, because while it’s good on-road, its off-road credentials are questionable at best.

If Santa would prefer a pickup truck, then probably the best one to suit his needs is the Ford F-150 Raptor. It’s the most capable pickup out of the box, that does well on the road but is remarkably good at covering a lot of ground off-road.

It has a 450 horsepower 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6 and lots of wheel travel - this makes it ideal for those instances when Santa is required to veer off paved roads. The only slight problem with the Raptor is that it has an open bed and when it gets driven quickly off-road, presents might fly out over bumps.

Porsche Panamera Turbo Sport Turismo
Photo: Porsche
Just in case Santa is not an SUV or pickup guy, he could go for a powerful wagon instead. One alternative would be the Porsche Panamera Turbo Sport Turismo, the most powerful load-lugging version of the Panamera. It has a 4-liter twin-turbo V8 with 550 horsepower, clever all-wheel drive, height-adjustable suspension (for the occasional off-road drive) and 1,400 liters of space with the rear seats folded.
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