The archetypal small SUV dates all the way back to the 1940s with the Willys Jeep and Series 1 Land Rover. Some 80 years on, the formula's now as fashionable as it ever has been.
It’s easy to understand the appeal, with many compact SUVs providing a commanding view of the road ahead, without the heft – or indeed cost – of traditional full-size Chelsea Tractors. Radical-looking cars such as the Nissan Juke and Range Rover Evoque have also helped to push the envelope for small SUV design, drastically improving the kerb appeal of the entire ‘soft-roader’ class.
They might not be as good to drive as the equivalent hatchback or saloon, nor as fuel-efficient, but they often come close. For many people, that's good enough; the best-selling cars charts don’t lie.
So, what are the very best small SUVs on sale right now? These are our picks of the bunch.
Top 10 best small SUVs
Volvo's first attempt at a compact sibling for its established XC60 and XC90 SUVs has been a real success. In the XC40, the Swedish marque has given us a car with instant kerbside appeal.
With a design sufficiently charismatic and alluring to bring younger family buyers into Volvo showrooms, the XC40 backs up its funky exterior with a cabin of laudable richness, comfort, usability and quality.
While this isn't the most practical car in the small SUV class, it certainly has plenty of luxury car ambience, not to mention all the in-car technology you'd hope for.
The XC40 has been around since 2017, and in that time, the model line-up has shifted around. There used to be manual, diesel, four-wheel-drive and plug-in hybrid options, but for 2024, only a pair of front-wheel-drive automatic petrols and a pair of EVs (recently renamed EX40) remain.
Rather than chasing other premium brands for driver appeal, the XC40 is happy to play the comfortable, refined, convenient and easy-to-use option - and it's an effective one. If an SUV's mission is to lift its driver above the hustle and bustle and filter out the pain from the daily grind, few do it better.
Read our Volvo XC40 review
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I've run an X2 2.0S-drive for the last few years and it's been flawless, autobox is good,and in sport mode it's quick enough,it's well built, mpg isn't great buy today's standards (37-40mpg) but I don't do big mileage, it's a base model but it's still well enough equipped, but the rise in price in the past three years to close to £40K is too much, so an X1 might be on the cards, as for the cars mentioned, none of them appeal, none of them get a glowing report here either.
Surely cars like the Qashqai, CX5, Q3, Tiguan, Tucson, Sportage etc are family size SUVs, not 'small' ones. Juke, T-Cross, Q2, Puma etc are the small ones.