Ordinarily, the term drag race conjures images of tyre smoke, screaming engines, and automotive blurs sailing down straight sections of asphalt. You won't find any of that in this video, but you will find a contest to see which vehicle goes down a steep hill the slowest. You'll also find an uphill race, a contest of suspension articulation, and a few moments that may or may not have required underwear changes between takes.

However, don't think our headline is clickbait. This recent video from Carwow does in fact open with a three-way off-road drag race, followed by another race going down the same hill. Nobody said drag races had to be fast, and when the competitors are a Land Rover Defender, a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon, and a Mercedes-Benz G-Class, speed doesn't always win the day. Still, garnering some bragging rights is never a bad thing.

In reality, this video is actually a clever, comprehensive off-road test between these three well-known and highly capable vehicles. They are comparable in size, and with power ranging from 240 bhp in the Land Rover to 272 bhp in the Jeep and 286 bhp in the Merc, performance is also comparable. All three have good attributes for ground clearance and suspension travel, but they're not created equal.

We see that right off the bat, as the Jeep loses the initial three-way uphill race badly. All three off-roaders were set in low range, and the action stayed side-by-side until midway up the hill when the Wrangler just disappears. We aren't sure what happened, but the "speed" contest between the G-Class and Defender was ultimately a photo finish.

Of course, hardcore off-roaders really aren't concerned with such things, so the follow-up race could be of greater interest. All three vehicles lined up again, only this time the goal to be the last vehicle crossing the line at the bottom of the hill. In short, this was a battle of descent control since brakes could not be used, and this time around, the Jeep fans have something to cheer about.

We'll let the rest of the video unfold for you on its own. Following the side-by-side action were numerous challenges in some properly difficult off-road environments. A scoring system from each challenge was utilized to determine an overall winner, and it might be a bit surprising to see which machine won the day. That holds especially true since the winner couldn't complete one of the challenges while the others did. We suspect some folks might not agree with the outcome, but the takeaway is these vehicles are exceptionally good off the beaten path.