Until very recently, even the best SUVs were hulking great things that drank fuel, towered above everything else and rolled around in corners like a drunk hippo. Today, SUVs have morphed sensible family cars with rugged looks and raised ride height to complement their high degree of practicality. The also come in a range of sizes, including dinky. These are the best small SUVs.
The compact SUVs you’ll find on this page are barely larger than the best small cars, yet with their taller seating position often accompanied by extra legroom and a bigger boot they offer buyers more for their money. Most are front-wheel drive only, making them more fuel efficient, too.
As such small SUVs are increasingly becoming the default choice for small families, young drivers, retirees, plus anyone who likes having off-roader looks without the extra running costs you get with a larger four-wheel drive machine. Below you’ll find our 10 best compact SUVs, and beneath that some more information on why we love them.
Top 10 small SUVs
Simply the best small SUV you can buy
It’s also quite practical. The back seats aren’t as spacious as the Skoda Kamiq’s but the boot is huge, with the underfloor ‘Megabox’ cavity providing useful covered storage or extra loading height for tall items. The infotainment is easy to use, the interior well screwed-together and the engines punchy. What’s not to like? We certainly think the Puma's good - it's won our Parkers Best Small Family Car award more than once.
Read our full Ford Puma review
Pros
- Multi-award winning
- Great fun to drive
- Reliable
Cons
- No diesel or full hybrid
- Not as spacious as a Kamiq
Best small SUV for practicality
Skoda’s clever touches abound, from an integrated funnel for filling the washer fluid, an ice scraper in the fuel cap and an umbrella in the driver’s door. The only criticism? A lack of fun – the Ford Puma’s much more entertaining to drive.
Read our full Skoda Kamiq review
Pros
- Spacious, well-built interior
- Packed with clever touches
- Comfortable ride
Cons
- Lacks character
- Dull to drive
Best small SUV for value
You don’t have to sacrifice much, either. The Duster may not get the very latest driver assistance tech, but most models have everything you need like air-conditioning, remote locking and an infotainment touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. You also get plenty of space – the Duster feels almost as big as the best family SUVs from the class above – and it's one of few small SUVs available with four-wheel-drive.
Read our full Dacia Duster review
Pros
- Amazingly good value
- Available with 4WD
- Practical interior
Cons
- More road noise than rivals
- Ride could be more settled
The most desirable small SUV?
The 2008’s available with a range of 1.2-litre petrol engines that provide good performance and fuel economy, and its softer-than-average suspension means it’s a great companion for long drives with maximum comfort. It’s not the best option for a growing family, though, with quite tight back seats.
Read our full Peugeot 2008 review
Pros
- Quality interior
- Striking design
- Big boot
Cons
- Not much interior storage
- Rear seats are tight
Best small SUV from a premium brand
The interior’s very flashy, filled with massive screens and ambient lighting galore, while there’s some seriously clever tech like the augmented reality navigation. Just don’t poke too hard, as the posh dashboard doesn’t feel quite so well-built when it’s creaking like a ship at sea…
Read our full Mercedes-Benz GLA review
Pros
- High-tech interior
- Sleek styling
- Efficient engines
Cons
- Entry-level models lack techie dashboard
- PHEV not that smooth
A stylish and practical small family car
The Arona shares the T-Cross’ range of peppy petrol engines (but offers no diesel or hybrid options), though the interior actually feels a little better built and more luxurious – surprising, given it’s the cheaper car. The ride is a little on the firm side, but perhaps that's a price worth paying given the rest of the package.
Read our full SEAT Arona review
Pros
- Compact exterior
- Spacious interior
- Strong range of paint colours
Cons
- Firm ride
- No diesel or hybrid
Audi Q2
The best small SUV for premium performance
While the interior feels a generation old that’s not actually a bad thing – build quality feels more impressive than some newer Audis and we like the layout of physical climate controls and a dial to interact with the centre touchscreen. The digital dials are very slick, too – an Audi hallmark. It’s expensive to buy in cash terms, though finance packages are bolstered by good residual values.
Read our full Audi Q2 review
Pros
- Good to drive
- Fuel efficient
- Well made
Cons
- Small boot
- Firm ride
Best small hybrid SUV
Other qualities include a spacious interior as well as an unparalleled 10-year warranty – plus Toyota’s amazing reputation for reliability and dealer service. The downside is that, with hybrid as standard, there’s no real low-priced entry-level model in the range – and the slightly dour interior doesn’t live up to the cost.
Read our full Toyota Yaris Cross review
Pros
- Long warranty
- Impressive hybrid tech
- Delivers good fuel economy
Cons
- Plain interior
- Lacks a bit of sparkle
A great all-rounder
It offers a range of keen yet refined petrol engines, though you won’t find any hybrid trickery to save fuel. Nor a diesel. And while it’s quite comfortable to drive, the unrelenting sea of hard plastics on the dash does rather lower the interior ambiance. We go for its cousins the Skoda Kamiq and SEAT Arosa first, but understand that for some buyers only the VW image will do.
Read our full Volkswagen T-Cross review
Pros
- Peppy engines
- Wealth of personalisation options
- Plenty of interior flexibility
Cons
- Interior a bit too cheap
- Unsettled ride quality
Comfy and tech-packed small SUV
It’s a comfortable car, dealing well with potholes on urban roads and even handling pretty tidily. The numb steering and light gearbox don’t inspire much confidence, though, while the dashboard is a sea of hard, drab plastic that feels cheap and oppressive. However, a five-year warranty adds to the value you get plenty of safety kit, and Hyundai's image is on the up-and-up.
Read our full Hyundai Bayon review
Pros
- Comfortable ride
- Smooth engines
- Impressive safety kit
Cons
- No PHEV option
- Disappointing boot
Why we love small SUVs
It’s not just vanity that attracts people to compact SUVs. The higher seating position means they’re easy to get in and out of – it also makes loading and unloading child seats a doddle. Their raised suspension more easily copes with inner-city potholes, and the higher vantage point is reassuring in stop-start traffic.
The cost of this is financial and practical, though. Small SUVs like these are often based on supermini platforms but priced equivalent to a family hatchback or estate. And compared to these cars, they’re slightly less capacious – certainly in terms of boot space. They typically don’t drive as well as a family hatchback either, with weaker engines and less sophisticated chassis design.
However, as a blend of on-trend style, ease of use and functional practicality in a small package they remain tempting cars to buy. And the ones we’ve listed above should all serve you well.
FAQs and small SUV buyers guide
What is the best small SUV around?
Easy. We really rate the Ford Puma as the best compact SUV choice in the UK. It’s good to drive, has some clever practicality features, and Ford has a huge dealer network to keep you moving should the worst happen.
Who makes the most reliable small SUV?
All of the models we’ve listed typically perform very well in reliability surveys. But if reliability is your key concern the obvious choice is the Toyota Yaris Cross. It’s a relatively new entrant into the small SUV sector, but Toyota’s reputation for both dependability and dealer service is outstanding. Plus you get a 10-year warranty.
Other reliable small SUVs include those built by the Volkswagen Group – so the Audi Q2, Skoda Kamiq and SEAT Arosa as well as the VW T-Cross And those made by Hyundai and Kia. Not mentioned elsewhere on this page, Suzuki also has a great reputation for building reliable SUVs.
Is a compact SUV better than a regular SUV?
This entirely depends on what you want to do with it. Small SUVs are great around town, where they can nip about in traffic and slot easily into parking spaces.
But compared with larger models they aren’t going to have as much space inside for people and luggage, and small SUVs generally won’t have the off-road prowess offered by some bigger, more technically capable models.
CJ Hubbard leads Bauer’s Digital Automotive Hub, writing and reviewing for Parkers and CAR. His Bauer career started as Associate Editor of CAR magazine in 2014, but he’s been a motoring journalist since 2006, and written for titles including Which?, the Sunday Times, Auto Express and Pistonheads.
