Here are 20 of the best large SUVs to buy in 2021

“The exterior design is, we think, masterful. It invokes the old one yet it's completely modern. The boxiness is just right for a hardcore 4x4 SUV. And it exceeds as a family car with a deep and wide backstory. It just makes you feel adventurous. And when you do use its ability – as an off-roader, a snowy-roader, a towing roader – it'd feel immensely reassuring.

“It'll carry mountains of kit, and shrug off the dirt and wet. Or, if you’ve bought the V8 110, it’ll swallow all of your belongings and children, then fire them cross-country with great pace and drama.”

Read our full Land Rover Defender review

“This is very much an SUV designed to tackle roads, perhaps a gravel driveway at a push. Tellingly, Alfa’s engineering chief told us his aim was to exactly reproduce the Giulia in the way the Stelvio drives – a candid admission that modern customers like the idea of an SUV, but don’t want the roly-poly dynamics its higher centre of gravity brings with it. This is what engineers refer to as a ‘challenge’.

“All things considered Alfa has done an admirable job on converting its value into an SUV package. This is as emotionally engaging as the crossover market gets. Perhaps it isn’t as stirring as Alfas of the past, but this time, who knows: you might actually buy one.”

Read our full Alfa Romeo Stelvio review

“Clarity of thought is what sets the XC90 apart. It knows precisely what sort of car it’s trying to be and sticks to its game plan religiously. It’ll go off-road, but it’s not a Discovery, there’s no big V8 option to spoil the packaging, or hardcore sports suspension ruining refinement (mostly…). Instead it just drives cleanly and well.

“What you have here is a car that’s been conceived to support family life, and that’s been kept at the forefront at every stage of its development. From the operation of the seats to the ambience of the cabin, the XC90 is a car that will carry you and your family in safety and security, with minimal fuss and hassle and look good while doing so. Can’t say fairer than that, really. We think this one’s a winner.”

Read our full Volvo XC90 review

“Aston Martin’s first ever SUV is also a stab at making a useable, practical, everyday Aston past the four-door (but effectively 2+2) Rapide. There’s a brand-new production facility at St. Athan in Wales, variants in the pipeline and a lot riding on the DBX’s success…

“Luckily in a sector crying out for some difference, the DBX provides it. It looks interesting, goes really very well and hits all the targets. It does feel like an Aston Martin product, and is a really very practical SUV (running costs aside). It can manage off-road, feels suitably sporty even on a track - if you must - and generally has the chops to make light work of the grind.”

Read our full Aston Martin DBX review

“The Wrangler is the best thing Jeep makes because it's the most authentic thing it makes. This is Jeep’s bedrock, where it made its name and what it does best. The Wrangler doesn't feel compromised by fitting into a certain segment or diluted by Jeep trying to broaden its scope.

“It is what it's supposed to be and makes no apologies for that fact. So, while it may be compromised out on the road or around town – albeit less so than ever – it's unflappable at the task for which it has been designed.”

Read our full Jeep Wrangler review

"Quite often, our reviews of big, posh SUVs – especially the quick ones – involve us having to leave our reservations about the sheer point of the things at the door. The Bentayga battered them out of us before we even got the chance. It’s a force of nature, but an annoyingly irresistible one, helped by just how long, wide and heavy Bentleys are in the first place.

"The metaphorical step from Porsche’s core to an SUV – a 911 to a Cayenne – is a rather big one. But moving from a Flying Spur to a Bentayga currently puts you in a shorter, lighter vehicle. This really does drive like a Bentley, whether you’re experiencing that process in the front or back seats."

Read our full Bentley Bentayga review

“The Santa Fe’s appeal exists on two levels – it has seven seats for hard-pressed families, and it has traditionally been cheaper than its rivals. Those include the Skoda Kodiaq and Land Rover Discovery Sport, both of which it now sits alongside in terms of list price, even if you can ultimately spend a lot more money speccing up your Disco.

“If seven seats are at the top of the must-haves on your list the choice has sometimes felt a little sparse in recent years – not so these days, with plenty of different candidates vying for the family vote. That the Santa Fe can hold its own among these offerings is impressive indeed.”

Read our full Hyundai Sante Fe review

“The Range Rover remains a wonderfully appealing thing. You’d be forgiven for thinking it would be a little long-in-the-tooth these days, but there’s such charm about it, such calmness and refinement that there’s still nothing quite like it.

“It’s often said that no-one dares go directly for the Porsche 911's jugular, because they know they can’t beat it. In some ways it’s the same with the Range Rover – no-one has dared to exactly copy the formula. It’s an old school performer these days, but because it focuses so clearly on what an SUV should be good at, rather than the faux-sportiness of many rivals, it comes across as genuine and warm-hearted as well as thunderously capable.”

Read our full Range Rover review

“A former Top Gear award winner, the Skoda Kodiaq is among the most complete family cars you can buy for sensible money. As compelling in 2021 as it was when it was launched in late-2016, the company’s first and so-far only seven-seater is reasonably priced, spacious yet compact, decent to drive and full of those clever little touches that really set Skoda apart from other car manufacturers.

“An ingenious way of ferrying your little people from place to place and that rarest of things – a crossover SUV that makes a strong case for itself over and above the equivalent conventional estate.”

Read our full Skoda Kodiaq review

"This is the latest Mercedes-Benz GLE, only the second Mercedes SUV to wear the name but in fact the latest in a line of successful Benz 4x4s that trace their roots back to the M-Class of 1997. Mercedes proudly says it invented the premium SUV class, but conveniently skips the part about BMW’s X5 and Volvo’s XC90 making a better fist of it in the intervening couple of decades.

"It’s a pretty complete car, the latest GLE. It’s done what the Audi Q7 did – get supremely quiet and refined – without getting horrendously ugly in the process. It perhaps isn’t the first premium SUV that trips off the tongue when you’re listing the class it pioneered, but it may well prove to be one of most satisfying to live with."

Read our full Mercedes-Benz GLE review

“What sets the X5 M Competition apart from the rest of the super-SUV set is how much respect it demands away from bone-dry, arrow straight roads. This isn’t a high-rise teleportation pouch like an Audi, Bentley or even Lamborghini’s Germanic Urus.

“If you just want a well-badged, over-endowed all-weather land chariot to lope about in, you should probably take your six-figure bank balance elsewhere. The X5 M isn’t for you. This is an SUV that – despite physics, common sense and the sheer engineering challenge involved – has turned out to be seriously good fun, if a bit scary. The world needed that, didn’t it?”

Read our full BMW X5 M review

“The Cayenne has always been the SUV for people who prefer cars to supertankers – especially those who had a Cayman or 911 before kids arrived – and Porsche has stuck to its guns with the latest iteration.

“It remains the king of driver-friendly SUVs. The new chassis tech and reduced weight make it feel more like a performance saloon, to the extent you question why you wouldn’t just buy a performance saloon – or indeed a performance estate. But when you remember it’s also happy to drive across streams and through quarries and over fields on a pheasant shoot, it starts to make more sense.”

Read our full Porsche Cayenne review

“The Range Rover Sport has one of the broadest repertoires of any large SUV. It’s just about wieldy enough to be entertaining, convincingly luxurious, and its latest tech updates add a welcome does of modernity to a car that has lagged behind its German rivals onslaught of gadgets in the past.

“You don’t need a V8 to sample it at its absolute best; the sweet spot remains the V6 diesel, which will do us just fine. Once you’ve got yours – in a sensible, un-gawdy spec on handsome wheels and sans bodykit – don’t drive like a Premier League left back and you’ll do wonders for the reputation of Range Rover Sport drivers as you waft along.”

Read our full Range Rover Sport review

“As far as being a nicely appointed seven-seat SUV with real practical appeal if you regularly haul multiples, the Q7 meets the brief. It’s not exactly revolutionary in terms of extracting interior space from a small footprint - it is, after all, over five metres long. But with decent if not class-leading dynamics, competitive pricing and some nice touches, the big Audi should definitely be in the mix if you need this sort of thing.

“We’d be quite happy with the lower-powered diesel in S Line spec and a couple of options if it were our money, mind you. Because nobody really needs self-closing doors and special sports suspension on an SUV...”

Read our full Audi Q7 review

“Fully loaded, it’s a proper tech powerhouse and the flagship that Volkswagen will be showing off for a while. But that technology is expensive, so be careful what you spec.

“Even so, the big VW has always been the thinking person’s large SUV, more understated and less ostentatious as its rivals, it’s more than capable of holding its own on the road, now in utter refinement. Even if it has sacrificed its off-road ability for it. But honestly, how many of you are looking to take it on the rough stuff anyway?”

Read our full Volkswagen Touareg review

“Without wishing to sound euphemistic, it’s fair to say the Cullinan’s design has excited a variety of opinion. Some have compared it to a London taxi or the Canyonero in The Simpsons; others have been less kind. Maybe a shallower glass area would have helped the proportions, but the Cullinan is purposely meant to be a mobile viewing platform.

“But even if you struggle with the concept of the big, fast, heavy SUV, you can’t argue with the execution here. Rolls-Royce’s cars are always vastly greater than the sum of their parts, and the Cullinan is part of a fascinating engineering continuum. This is an entertainment experience as much as it is a conveyance, and a bloody good one.”

Read our full Rolls-Royce Cullinan review

“The Jaguar F-Pace is a bit of an outlier, because it slots between two of the SUV size packages that the Germans decree. And actually the idea of something less bulky and less flash than a full-size German SUV is pretty appealing to us.

“It’s the same with the hot SVR version. It has a character of its own versus other über-SUVs. The engine is fun to use but less of a bare-fanged animal than others, and the whole car is nicely laid back as a daily companion. Unless you deliberately go looking for its sharper side. When you do, it's pretty darned engaging.”

Read our full Jaguar F-Pace SVR review

“The G-Class is a stalwart of the Mercedes range. That’s why it still looks the same. But don’t be deceived – underneath it’s been transformed. The leaps forward in road manners, cabin design and quality take the G-Class from being an ageing anachronism to a car that can be considered alongside top end Range Rovers.

“It might be moderately less hushed and smooth, but if you really, truly want massive off-road capability, the G won’t let you down. It’s positioning demonstrates the value Mercedes still places on having a halo car that can go exploring.”

Read our full Mercedes-Benz G-Class review

“Are you thinking an electric SUV could be your next family car? But this one seems too radical? Give it the benefit of the doubt. In developing an electric car from scratch, Tesla still holds a narrow lead over less well packaged and creative rivals from Audi, Jaguar and Merc. Yes, they’re better built and more familiar, but the Tesla is big, airy and has a sense of humour. And that’s not just because it’s got a fart mode and upwards-opening doors.

“It’s a fun and engaging car with room for everyone and a more playful personality than the outwardly plain looks suggest. Not cheap, and not a conventional SUV, but a thoroughly capable family wagon.”

Read our full Tesla Model X review

“The Discovery 5 is the biggest, most luxurious, most off-road handy Land Rover money can buy. Want even more than this? Then you’re into Range Rover territory.

“Question is, why would you possibly want ‘more car’ than a Disco? It’s a true automotive Swiss Army knife, capable of taking seven full-grown humans further up a mountain, down a river or straight to The Savoy than pretty much anything. Though it’s fair to say the Disco’s featureless sides and lopsided rear end have made what was once a design classic a real Marmite car.”

Read our full Land Rover Discovery review