There are two kinds of people in the world—those who know the importance of ground clearance, and those who will know it once they scrape their vehicle's underbelly over some or the other road (or offroad) anomaly. In both cases, they either become more cautious drivers or simply buy a vehicle that has a good amount of ground clearance.
But this story is not about the importance of ground clearance. It just exists to get you acquainted with some of the SUVs that are the best in the world when it comes to ground clearance, among other things. Please note that we will be talking about regular production SUVs in this story. Also, don't be disheartened if you cannot afford any from this list—we'll add a few names at the end which might reinstate your faith in your bank balance.
Range Rover
The Range Rover is the SUV with the highest ground clearance in the world. Its 'normal' ride height itself is a fantastic 220 mm, which can be raised to 297 mm while offroading. Clearly, it would be bought by those who know when to wear their Jordans and when to don their Stuart Weitzmans.
Land Rover Defender 110
The second position here goes to the mighty Land Rover Defender 110. The maximum ground clearance in offroad mode is 291 mm, while its lowest part still remains a good 218 mm off the ground under normal driving conditions when you've not raised its electronic air suspension. Quite similar to the Rangie, then.
Land Rover Discovery
The Land Rover Discovery doesn't come with electronic air suspension as standard, but it's on the options list. It's also important to note that buyers of this class of vehicles don't generally sit down with their MacBook Pros and carefully choose from the options list. With them it's mostly a "Select All - Click on Next" case, followed by a question to the dealer on the lines of "what can I do/buy to make it look more personalized?"
Therefore, we don't think there would be a buyer who'll say, "I won't take the air suspension, thank you", while shopping for a Land Rover Discovery. That kind of buyer might go for the Jeep Wrangler, but that's a topic for some other day.
As of now, the Discovery stands tall at the third place with its optional air suspension fully raised to liberate 283 mm of ground clearance. Even when the Disco isn't being pompous, its lowest hanging jewel is still 207 mm off the ground for your peace of mind.
RR Sport
The Land Rovers continue to dominate this list, and the fourth place also goes to another offering from the British marque—the Range Rover Sport. Its standard ride height is 213 mm, which can be raised to 278 mm should you feel that 213 mm isn't enough.
Volvo XC90
Finally an SUV in this list that isn't a Land Rover. Volvo's flagship, just like most of the Land Rovers above, comes with electronic air suspension as standard (across all variants). Therefore, even this SUV can be raised in situations where you just don't want to take a chance.
Fully raised, the ground clearance of this Volvo is a fantastic 267 mm. However, what's actually astounding is the fact that when it comes to standard ground clearance (i.e., without asking the air suspension to puff up), the Volvo XC90 is better than all the Land Rovers. Its standard ride height is 238 mm. Only the Mercedes-Benz G-63 AMG matches it.
Like we had said earlier, all is not lost if you cannot afford any of the vehicles on this list. Let us assure you that any vehicle with a ground clearance of 170 mm and above is good enough for our conditions. Therefore, starting from cars like the Datsun RediGO (185 mm) and Renault Kwid (184 mm) to the SUVs like the Renault Duster (205 mm), and above, there are hordes of vehicles vying to win you over with their long legs—you just have to look.
