Drive Car of the Year 2024 – Best Small SUV Under $80K contenders

Over the next few weeks, we'll be explaining all the categories and contenders for Drive Car of the Year 2024. Testing is currently underway, with the final winners to be announced early next year.

Small SUVs have been around for decades, so it may surprise you to read that this is effectively a new category in 2024. We did have a Small Premium SUV award last year, but defining ’premium’ is difficult, and relies a lot on a person’s lifestyle. 

What might be an aspirational premium to you and me could be minimum requirements for the upper middle class and beneath contempt to real estate moguls and tech billionaires. But defining this category as Small SUVs Under $80K transcends personal interpretation and makes it very clear what we are judging, and what budgets potential buyers are on. 

This class used to be the domain of prestige and luxury European brands, but in recent years mainstream consumer brands have stretched their small SUV offerings into this domain, and are making serious waves. 

The stretch is not so much about size, but in price - and with that comes a huge increase in features, equipment performance and luxury. 

Why are they doing this? Because consumers are demanding more of everything - except size. Give me more technology, more performance, and more creature comforts, but don’t increase the footprint because I still want nimble and manoeuvrable in confined spaces. 

So, while the Small SUV Under $80K buyer still has the same “flexibility and practicality with a value-oriented” mindset as the Small SUV Under $50K buyer, they are prepared to pay more for a splash of status and style. That’s exactly what the 19 brands fighting for this award are seeking to offer. 

Because this is being treated as a new category, every car that fits the category requirements is eligible, regardless of whether it was launched or updated in 2023. It also means we’ve got no reigning champion – although last year’s Best Small Premium SUV, the Volvo XC40, may have something to say about that – so all contenders are in with a chance to be the first win this award.

It’s unusual to have established luxury brands like Mercedes-Benz, Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Alfa Romeo and Volvo battling against more money-conscious brands like MG, Hyundai, Kia, Mazda and Mitsubishi. 

This is because, just like the luxury brands have been pushing downmarket in size and price, so the more affordable brands are pushing up for a greater slice of a higher-priced pie. That’s also forcing mid-tier players like Jaguar, Alfa Romeo, Mini and Volkswagen to up their game because the competition is coming from below and above. 

Cars to watch in this category include the all-new Hyundai Kona, which is available with petrol, hybrid and EV powertrains, the compelling and classy Volvo XC40, the refreshed Subaru Crosstrek, the sharply priced MG ZS EV and the hybridised Honda HR-V. 

One should also never rule out proven performers Audi, Benz and BMW, whose multi-faceted Small SUV ranges provide a more affordable entry to those aspirational brands. 

Drive’s rules require that, for a car to be eligible, it must:

Sadly, two cars that will not be competing in this category - even though they are technically still on sale - are the Mazda CX-30 and MX-30. In November of this year, Mazda announced that these two had reached the end of their lives.

The winner of the Drive Car of the Year 2024 – Best Small SUV Under $80K will be announced in February 2024.

Before then, we will announce the finalists, all of which deliver on the buyer’s expectations for cost-effective urban motoring. One thing is certain: this category promises to be one of the toughest confronting our 11 experienced judges.

Read more: 

Drive Car of the Year 2024 is a go!
Drive Car of the Year Overview
Drive Car of the Year 2023 winners