Drive Car of the Year 2025 – Best Medium SUV Under $80K finalists announced – UPDATE
Today at 11:02 PM
Here is every finalist in the running for the Drive Car of the Year 2025 – Best Medium 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 Medium SUV Under $80K
This year’s Best Medium SUV under $80K category was packed wall-to-wall with more than a dozen contenders, but after our first round of voting, we can announce the finalists selected are the Genesis GV70, the Skoda Enyaq, and the previous winner, the Lexus NX – with each of these models offering the most for the widest group of buyers in this price range.
Taking on the Lexus for 2025 is the Genesis GV70 Advanced 2.5T AWD, priced from $78,500 before on-road costs.
Fresh off a facelift, it’s powered by a 2.5-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder engine making 224kW and 442Nm, and comes with a long list of standard features, a stunning interior, and a strong suite of safety technology.
What makes the Genesis truly special though is it approaches the luxury-car brief differently to its direct competition, instead borrowing some design elements from ultra-luxury cars such as Bentley. All told, it’s an impressive piece of kit for the money.
Read more about the Genesis GV70 by clicking here.
The Lexus NX350h hybrid is our carry-over winner from 2024, with the Luxury eFour AWD variant offering 179kW from a 2.5-litre non-turbo four-cylinder engine and electric motor.
Despite being a medium SUV packed with luxury features, the Lexus delivers a combined fuel economy rating of 5.0 litres per 100 kilometres claimed, and is priced from $76,400 before on-road costs.
The NX’s stylish design, premium feel, and the ownership experience offered by Lexus won us over the line for 2024 – but is it enough to hold the title for 2025?
Check out the Lexus NX by clicking here.
Our third finalist is the electric Skoda Enyaq, which is all new to Australia despite having been on sale in Europe for several years.
For $75,990 before on-roads, our pick is the Enyaq Sportline with Ultimate Pack, which adds adaptive damping, an augmented-reality head-up display, driver’s seat massaging, a nicer interior, 360-degree camera, and an upgraded sound system, among others.
The rear wheels are driven by a 210kW/545Nm electric motor, powered by an 82kWh battery offering 561km of range and a 0-100km/h time of 5.7 seconds. This is Skoda’s answer to the Tesla Model Y, with a sleek coupe SUV body and a healthy catalogue of standard features.
Read more on the Skoda Enyaq by clicking here.
The Drive Car of the Year Best Medium SUV Under $80K will be announced on 24 February 2025.
The below was published on 14 November 2024:
In a few short generations, SUVs went from being agricultural four-wheel-drives designed to tackle the bush, deserts, and farmland to comfortable, practical family cars – with models available in just about every shape and size and at every price point.
For those who want everything they have to offer – without moving into a large vehicle that may be difficult to park and maneuver – there are medium-sized SUVs, offering space, performance, economy, and an elevated driving position, which not only improves outward views but allows for better ingress and egress too.
All of which makes the Best Medium SUV Under $80K one of the most hotly contested categories in Drive Car of the Year – with old, familiar models powered by petrol going up against hybrids, electric vehicles, luxury cars, and all-new models from brands only recently introduced in Australia.
Being one of the popular categories in DCOTY, our judges will be looking at cars that appeal to contemporary families and urbanites, while being able to do everything for the widest group of owners with the least amount of fuss – along with that elusive ‘X’ factor – and all for less than $80,000.
The winner of the Drive Car of the Year 2024 – Best Medium SUV Under $80K was the Lexus NX, beating out fierce competition from its finalists: the Honda CR-V, Mazda CX-60, Nissan X-Trail, Mitsubishi Outlander, and Tesla Model Y.
Those five finalists were chosen from a list of almost 30 eligible models in 2024, with each vehicle offering strong credentials – making every decision, including the final winner, extremely difficult and painstaking.
In the end, it was its long list of standard features, build quality, design, powertrain, and practicality that won the Lexus NX its category.
For 2025, there is a little less than half the number of contenders in this segment compared with the previous year – which still makes for a mammoth task, given they each have a long list of pros and very few cons.
The truth is, most new cars on sale today are very good. The vast majority of buyers would be happy with almost any car on this list, meaning we have to drill down to the smallest details to see which ones set themselves apart from the rest.
Our 2025 contenders include the BYD Sealion 6, Cupra Ateca, Genesis GV70, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Hyundai Tucson, Kia EV5, Kia Sportage Hybrid, Mercedes-Benz GLB, Peugeot 408, Skoda Enyaq, Subaru Solterra, Toyota BZ4X, and the defending winner, the Lexus NX.
This will be one of the most fascinating categories of the competition, given there are newcomers like the Toyota BZ4X and Kia EV5, as well as popular electric cars like the BYD Sealion 6 and facelifted Hyundai Ioniq 5, all going head-to-head against family favourites like Kia Sportage Hybrid and Hyundai Tucson (both petrol and hybrid).
Given the larger Kia EV9 electric SUV took out the overall Drive Car of the Year gong for 2024, it will be very interesting to see how its smaller sibling, the recently-released Kia EV5, fares against established rivals – and new upstarts – in this group.
Or, does the Lexus NX still have the right ingredients to fend off a new wave of medium SUVs and reclaim the title for another year in a row?
Feel free to take bets on what you think might be the finalists – or category winner – in the comments section below.
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. |
| BYD Sealion 6 Cupra Ateca Genesis GV70 Hyundai Ioniq 5 Hyundai Tucson Kia EV5 Kia Sportage Hybrid Lexus NX (defending) Mercedes-Benz GLB Peugeot 408 Skoda Enyaq Subaru Solterra Toyota BZ4X | None |
What are the next steps?
The winner of the 2025 Drive Car of the Year Best Medium SUV Under $80K will be announced in February 2025.
Before then, we will announce the finalists – all of which deliver practically everything for the widest group of people, while doing so in a contemporary way for families and urbanites.
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 Medium SUV Under $80K finalists announced – UPDATE appeared first on Drive.
