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Car comparison: Which flashy SUV is best for you?

By John Aaron

Editor’s note: This is the fifth in a five-part series comparing a range of cars during what can be prime season for car buyers.

WASHINGTON — If your budget is big enough, compromises are no longer necessary when picking a ride. Multiple brands now offer to combine the performance of a two-door sports car — amazingly — with the cargo space and bad-weather capabilities of a four-wheel drive truck.

Whether end-of-year car shopping has taken you upscale, or you’d just like to gawk at some amazing machines, we’re comparing three SUVs-on-steroids — all from the horsepower-enablers under the Fiat Chrysler umbrella: the Maserati Levante GTS, Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio, and Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk.

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Part 1: 3-row SUVs

Part 2: Hatchbacks

Part 3: Family cars

Part 4: Muscle cars

Part 5: Flashy SUVs

The Iran war could drive up costs for petroleum-derived products like clothes and crayons

By The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — It might be hard to imagine the Iran war weighing on stuffed toys with names like Snuggle Glove, Bizzikins and Wobblies, but even plush playthings are not immune when oil shipments from the Middle East are constrained. Like many soft toys, the creatures developed by a manufacturer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, are made with polyester and acrylic, synthetic fibers derived from petroleum. Three weeks after the war started, suppliers in China notified Aleni Brands that getting the materials already was costing them 10% to 15% more, CEO Ricardo Venegas said. “I think this situation demonstrates how much oil permeates throughout our system, and we can’t get away from it,” said Venegas, who founded Aleni Brands last year and is in the process of adding product lines. “Who would have thought that the price of a toy would have a direct relationship with oil?” It's not just toys. Petrochemicals derived from oil and natural gas go into making more than 6,000 consumer products, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Computer keyboards, lipstick, tennis rackets, pajamas, soft contact lenses, detergent, chewing gum, shoes, crayons, shaving cream, pillows, aspirin, dentures, tape, umbrellas and nylon guitar strings are just a few of them.
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The Iran war could drive up costs for petroleum-derived products like clothes and crayons