Drive Car of the Year 2025 – Best Family Electric Vehicle Under $100K finalists announced – UPDATE
Yesterday at 09:17 PM
Here is every finalist in the running for the Drive Car of the Year 2025 – Best Family Electric Vehicle Under $100K category.
Drive Car of the Year 2025
Now in its 20th year, the annual Drive Car of the Year awards program continues to be the Australian new car buyer's most-trusted advisor.
At Drive, we test drive more than 200 new cars every year, evaluating each against its innate promise to sort the best from the rest. We divide the 400-plus new passenger cars, SUVs, 4WDs and utes into 19 price-banded categories focused on the end-user. Then we analyse the strengths and weaknesses of every car to find the cream of the automotive crop.
Drive Car of the Year 2025 is a go!
Drive Car of the Year 2025 – Best Family Electric Vehicle Under $100K
UPDATE, 20 December 2024 – FINALISTS CONFIRMED
The judges have voted on the three finalists that will contest for the 2025 Drive Car of the Year Best Family Electric Vehicle Under $100K award: the updated Hyundai Ioniq 5, new Volkswagen ID. Buzz, and last year's winner, the Kia EV9.
It might not immediately present itself as a ‘family’ vehicle but the Hyundai Ioniq 5 is spacious beyond its exterior dimensions. Its classification as a medium SUV means it sits squarely in the sights of the most popular segment in Australia to date in 2024 (medium SUVs regardless of price point).
Read more about the Hyundai Ioniq 5.
Kia’s EV9 set the standard for electric vehicles in a segment that Australian buyers love. Large, three-row SUVs are key to the family mix in this country, and the EV9 provided those buyers with an electric alternative.
In this segment, it is only the most affordable Air variant that sneaks in under the price cut-off, starting from $97,000 plus on-road costs.
The newest entrant to the segment promises to take the fight up to SUVs in the way a quality people-mover can.
With substance to match the style, the ID. Buzz delivers three proper rows of seating in long-wheelbase guise, clever storage, and family-friendly tech, and might convert Aussie buyers who prefer an SUV over a people-mover.
Read more about the Volkswagen ID. Buzz.
The Drive Car of the Year Best Family SUV Under $50K will be announced on 24 February 2025.
The below was published on 19 November 2024:
Electric made its mark on the Drive Car of the Year 2024 awards, with a ‘democratisation of electrification’ enabling all categories to consider new-energy drivelines, but also in crowning the first ever electric winner, the Kia EV9 – winner of both the 2024 Drive Car of the Year and also the 2024 Best Family Electric Vehicle under $100K.
With the EV9, family buyers finally have a car that offers parallel capability in being functional and practical but also in being a forward-thinking, ground-up EV that provides the best of new-energy features. Last year, the EV9 was a standout stake in the ground for modern families, but the electric market has been busy in 2024, and there is some serious competition, albeit mostly from slightly smaller cars.
The new Kia EV5 essentially shrinks the clever design of the EV9 to fit in the highly contested mid-size SUV segment, and across the Korean aisle, the similarly-sized Hyundai Ioniq 5 has been updated with the latest infotainment and electric power management. Similarly, the ‘twins under the skin’ by way of the Toyota bZ4X and Subaru Solterra, seek to offer family buyers a sense of familiarity-but-electric by packaging these two mid-sized SUVs in a way that closes the gap for buyers looking to make a change.
Switching continents, Europe presents the new Skoda Enyaq, updated Mercedes-Benz EQB and style-centric Polestar 4 as unique options in the medium-sized market, with the iconic Volkswagen ID. Buzz bringing a sense of flair, and up to seven-seats to the mix.
There are still a few late arrivals expected to go on sale this year, so we’ll keep an eye out on market timing for Audi’s highly anticipated Q4 e-tron, and the first car from China’s XPeng, the Tesla Model Y-sized G6.
With a full and healthy field, judges will again assess cars for parallel requirements in that they need to offer strong family functionality as well as leading-edge electric technology. Size isn’t a key criteria, but overall value and ownership support is very much a consideration of the judges.
FAQs
Which cars are eligible for this category?
Drive's rules require that, for a car to be eligible, it must:
- Be all-new or significantly updated.
- Be on sale with customer deliveries commenced by 31 December 2024.
- Retail examples be made available for Drive to road test before that cut-off date.
- Pricing cut-offs exclude discounts and limited-time offers.
| Contenders | Not here in time |
| – Cars that are all-new or significantly updated since they last contested Drive Car of the Year. – New categories are open to all cars that fit category requirements. – Last year's winner is an automatic inclusion. | – These cars meet category requirements, but are not due to arrive in time for Drive Car of the Year 2025 judging. |
| Hyundai Ioniq 5 – finalist Kia EV5 Kia EV9 (defending) – finalist Mercedes-Benz EQB Polestar 4 Skoda Enyaq Subaru Solterra Toyota bZ4X Volkswagen ID. Buzz – finalist | Audi Q4 e-tron (timing TBC) XPeng G6 (not available for testing in time) Kia EV6 (update 2025) Tesla Model Y (update 2025) |
What are the next steps?
The winner of the 2025 Drive Car of the Year – Best Family Electric Vehicle Under $100K will be announced in February 2025.
Before then, we will announce the finalists, all of which deliver practicality and usability for growing EV-buying families.
Read more:
Drive Car of the Year 2025 is a go!
Drive Car of the Year Overview
Drive Car of the Year 2024 winners
The post Drive Car of the Year 2025 – Best Family Electric Vehicle Under $100K finalists announced – UPDATE appeared first on Drive.
