16 Compact SUVs Were Tested Off-Road—The Winner Will Surprise You
Adventure- and off-road-focused SUVs are becoming increasingly popular across the automotive industry. Of course, some have far greater capabilities than others and can tackle challenging terrain (Jeep Wrangler, Ford Bronco, Toyota 4Runner), but you have to pay the price.
For the average driver who doesn’t ask for too much—that is, someone primarily looking for a practical, comfortable, and enjoyable vehicle on the road but who may occasionally need to handle rough dirt roads, rocky trails, or slippery slopes, not to mention snow—what are the best options on the market?
In the 2023 edition of the Car Guide, to give you a first idea, our team compared four adventurous compact SUVs: the Mazda CX-50 Meridian, the Toyota RAV4 Trail, the Subaru Forester Wilderness, and the Ford Bronco Sport Badlands. And it’s in this order that we ranked them after several tests, both on asphalt and in the mud.
Earlier this year, the Australian site CarExpert conducted its own comparative test under various off-road conditions, bringing together four times as many models. The 16 compact SUVs selected, nine of which are also sold in Canada (including the X-Trail, which is the equivalent of the Nissan Rogue, but not counting the upcoming upcoming Kia EV5), were moreover standard versions—not specifically designed for off-roading. They were primarily tested to evaluate the effectiveness of their all-wheel-drive systems.
First, the vehicles were positioned so that two of their wheels were no longer touching the ground, in order to see how the chassis reacts to bending forces. Next, they were placed on rollers on a slope to check how the all-wheel-drive system performs when only one wheel isn’t slipping (front or rear). The final test involved climbing a steep dirt hill with soil of varying compaction.
The results at the end of these tests are quite surprising. The Hyundai Tucson comes out on top by a wide margin, followed by its cousin, the Kia Sportage. The Mazda CX-5 performs as well as the Mitsubishi Outlander, while the Subaru Forester (the hybrid version tested) falls below average.
Finally, it’s the Toyota RAV4 (again a hybrid, but with less torque than ours) that finishes dead last. In its defense, it was tested on the second day of the comparison, after rain had made the soil looser.
Surprised?
