SUVs and Crossovers You Won't Hate: Reviews, Comparison Tests, and More!

If it seems to you as if crossovers and SUVs are taking over the world, it’s because they are. The humpback hatchbacks make up 35 percent of the new-vehicle market in the U.S., and that number is growing fast. Their choke hold on sedans grows tighter each year. But do not give up the enthusiast faith, brothers and sisters. The relentless expansion of SUV varieties and makers means that there are high-performance utes to counter the ponderous ones. There are genuinely luxurious options, not just bedazzled work trucks. We have gathered a collection of SUVs from across the price, performance, and practicality spectrums that will not invalidate your auto-enthusiast cards. We’ve also included a few of our personal steeds, some old crocks, and a few more worthy of recognition.

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The Upper Crust: Bentayga vs. Range Rover

Utilities with Actual Sport: F-Pace vs. Macan

2017 Audi SQ7 TDI First Drive

Collector SUVs You Won’t Hate

Ask the Man Who Owns One: Audi Q7 TDI

Ask the Man Who Owns One: Mazda CX-5

Ask the Man Who Owns One: Jeep Wrangler Unlimited

Bonus SUVs

Chevrolet Suburban: There are precious few constants in the automotive world, but for the vast majority of the living population, there has always been a Chevy Suburban—by our reckoning, the first SUV. Just a windowed wagon body on a rear-drive, half-ton truck frame when it arrived in 1935, the Suburban’s general configuration, construction, and body style nonetheless previewed what would eventually be called an SUV. It evolved through the decades but fully blossomed during the big sport-ute boom of the early ’00s and has survived the market’s subsequent evolution toward less-capable and lighter crossovers. The Suburban has remained a sturdy, body-on-frame draft mule, with an 8300-pound max towing capacity, up to nine seats, and optional four-wheel drive. We’re enticed by its Ford competitor—the fashionably modern, twin-turbocharged V-6 Ford Expedition—but the Suburban remains the original, the blueprint of SUVs.

2017 Mazda CX-9: Buying a three-row SUV might mean your two-seat roadster days are behind you, but Mazda’s CX-9 manages to infuse some of the handling and attitude of a sports car into family transport. Where others its size are oafish, the CX-9 moves with grace and precision. The 250-hp 2.5-liter turbo four might not win you any drag-racing trophies, but it works in silence, responds quickly, and delivers a surge of easy power. And its sophisticated design makes it look much more expensive than its $32,420 starting price. The CX-9 proves that a shift in automotive priorities doesn’t mean disappointment.