Drive Car of the Year 2025 – Best Large SUV Under $80K contenders announced
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Here is every new or updated model eligible for the Drive Car of the Year 2025 – Best Large SUV Under $80K 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 Large SUV Under $80K
Welcome to the where Australian families come to shop. The Best Large SUV Under $80K category is the heartland of value-packed, seven-seat, do-everything vehicles set to adorn driveways and carports around the nation.
This segment makes up around 10 per cent of all new car sales and are the cars that will see bags flung, seats stood, chips lost, crumbs spilt, and be “are we there yet” asked on a daily basis. These verstaile are expected to work hard under the demands of family life.
The current category winner, the Toyota Kluger, has held the title for the past three years with judges rewarding its durable and flexible nature plus the cost-effective running costs garnered from its efficient hybrid driveline. For the 2025 awards though, the Toyota has some serious competition.
This is a predominantly urban-focussed category where DCOTY judges will prioritise on-road performance and family functionality over outright off-road skillsets, noting too that seating for seven is always considered, but not crucial for eligibility.
If you are shopping for a big SUV that needs to head out of town, many of the cars eligible for this award also fit into the Best Off-Road SUV under $80K category, where the weighting is more focussed on how these big SUVs manage the road less travelled.
In terms of contenders, the Kluger now has some hybrid competition from the new Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Sorento. While the full Santa Fe range can be considered, all bar the Sorento plug-in hybrid are in contention from the Kia camp, owing to its over $80K price.
Still talking hybrid, the big GWM Tank 500 is also in the running. Taking a slightly different approach to electrification than the Toyota, Kia, and Hyundai, the GWM uses its petrol-electric combination for punch rather than economy.
There’s a Toyota showroom challenge in the form of the new Toyota LandCruiser Prado, which in GX and GXL trim, falls just within the category’s price cap (GXL from $79,990 before on-road costs). Yes, the Prado is predominantly considered an off-roader, but there are plenty that earn their keep on school runs and shopping trips.
Also more off-road focussed, but still eligible in this category is the updated Jeep Wrangler Unlimited, which switched its V6 engine for a more torquey four-cylinder during 2024.
Showroom battles aren’t limited to Toyota either, with Mazda’s large five-seat CX-70 and seven-seat CX-80 both eligible for this category. Not all variants come in under the $80,000 price cap, but even with this in place there is plenty of choice for Mazda buyers within the category fight.
Rounding out the field, and leading from a value position, is the freshly updated LDV D90 SUV.
All nine contenders have plenty to offer the families of Australia, with judges set to pay particular attention to value both at purchase and through ownership, to see if any of the newcomers can topple the top-selling Kluger from its leading position.
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. |
| GWM Tank 500 Hyundai Santa Fe Jeep Wrangler Kia Sorento LDV D90 Mazda CX-70 Mazda CX-80 Toyota Kluger (defending) Toyota Prado | Skoda Kodiaq Hyundai Palisade |
What are the next steps?
The winner of the 2025 Drive Car of the Year – Best Large SUV Under $80K will be announced in February 2025.
Before then, we will announce the finalists, all of which deliver tough, roomy and practical transport for growing and active Australian 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
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