Large seven-seat family SUVs are hugely popular in Australia, but which one is the best? We take eight of the latest models to find out
- Which models made the cut?
- The judging process
- Safety
- More on family SUV safety here
- Technology
- More on family SUV technology here
- Comfort and convenience
- More on family SUV comfort and convenience here
- Driving performance
- More on family SUV driving performance here
- Ownership costs
- More on family SUV ownership costs here
- Read the carsales Best Family SUV 2022 verdict here
The key requirement for many families when buying a new car is to have enough seats for the tribe, plus stragglers. Over the past 25 years, this functionality has made the seven-seat large SUV the go-to vehicle for many Aussie households. Often the only car in the driveway, the family SUV needs to be useful for the daily urban shuffle, school holiday road trips and everything in between. So beyond the simple carrying-the-kids-plus-friends requirement, the vehicle needs to have a roomy and versatile interior, high levels of comfort and a sedan-like driving performance. All the SUVs lining up for carsales’ Best Family SUV 2022 fulfil this brief – up to a point. There are many points of difference, and only one emerges as the standout model overall. So let’s start the journey…
If you are ready to buy, or just thinking about buying, a large seven-seat SUV, then you’ve come to the right place!
Welcome to carsales’ Best Family SUV 2022 mega-test, where we’ve short-listed eight car-based three-row large SUVs and drilled down to the finest points of consideration to find a winner.
Long gone are the days when the family would all pile into the Aussie-built sedan or station wagon. These cars are now extinct and have essentially been replaced by the family SUV.
Compared to a traditional passenger car, the SUV or crossover wagon has superior and more versatile interior space, a commanding driving position and, of course, better occupant capacity.
This has resulted in a far more useful vehicle that is preferred by most buyers needing a family car today.
It’s no surprise that SUVs now account for the majority of all new vehicle sales in Australia and that the family-size models we’re testing here are among the most popular.
The broad range of large SUVs from mainstream brands in this segment begin at about $40,000 and rise to more than $70,000 in premium specification.
The main requirements to be considered for this award are that the vehicle has seven seats, a car-like monocoque (rather than separate-chassis, or ladder-frame) construction and a single-range transmission, thereby ruling out harder-core 4×4 off-roaders with low-range gearing. See our Best Off-Road SUV 2022 mega-test for the top performers in that dual-purpose segment.
Eight models from six car-makers are represented here among a dizzying 60-plus individual variants on offer from the respective manufacturers.
Although the carsales Best Family SUV 2022 award applies to the full model line-up, to reach a verdict we’ve examined equivalent model grades – and to reflect current buying patterns, we’ve chosen a premium specification.
Each is the superior grade available, where possible, in each model range – across traditional petrol, diesel or petrol-electric hybrid powertrains – and all of them are all-wheel drive.
Which models made the cut?
We’ll drill down to the specific model variants below, but let’s open the door by introducing our eight short-listed Best Family SUV finalists:
• Hyundai Palisade
• Hyundai Santa Fe
• Kia Sorento
• Mazda CX-8
• Mazda CX-9
• Skoda Kodiaq
• Toyota Kluger
• Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace
The most recent all-new model here is the fourth-generation Toyota Kluger, which launched in June 2021.
The Kia Sorento entered its fourth generation in 2020 – and promptly won carsales’ 2020 Car of the Year award – while around the same time the related Hyundai Santa Fe was substantially upgraded (having entered its fourth generation in 2018) and the all-new Hyundai Palisade arrived too.
The inaugural Mazda CX-8 and Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace also hit the road here in 2018, while the Skoda Kodiaq arrived in 2017. The current Mazda CX-9 dates back to 2016.
This year, the Kia Sorento has added a series/parallel petrol-electric hybrid powertrain to the mix, along with a more expensive – and more niche – plug-in hybrid (PHEV) version, so we’ve included the non-plug-in Sorento HEV AWD in our testing.
This model competes directly with the Toyota Kluger Grande Hybrid, but also the others on price, performance and specification.
There have been a variety of other recent upgrades across our contenders.
An updated MY22 Hyundai Santa Fe arrived earlier this year – still without a hybrid, so we’re testing the top-spec Highlander diesel – while the facelifted Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace has only just launched, and here we’re focusing on the flagship R-Line in 162TSI petrol form. There’s also a 147TDI diesel in R-Line trim, but this model was not available in time for testing.
The Skoda Kodiaq received a significant update late last year, topped by the flagship turbo-petrol RS and no longer available with a diesel engine that made the cut in last year’s Best Family SUV contest.
The Mazda CX-8 line-up was rejigged earlier this year and is tested here in Asaki diesel guise, while the Mazda CX-9, available only with turbo-petrol power and tested here in top-line Azami trim, received an update about 18 months ago.
A Hyundai Palisade facelift is on its way, but not due to arrive in showrooms until August, so we’ve stuck with the current model.
The long-awaited new-generation Nissan Pathfinder is also due around October, so it too missed the cut and we did not include the run-out model as supplies have run dry.
The judging process
As with all our Best Car awards, each of the family SUVs collected here were assessed against more than 100 criteria, split across five major categories: safety, technology, comfort and convenience, driving performance and ownership costs.
Safety
That vehicle safety has improved in recent years goes without saying. More than ever, Australian buyers want to know that the shiny new model in their driveway is going to keep them and their family as safe as possible on increasingly frenetic roads.
Safety is an acute issue in this category because large SUVs are ingrained in the fabric of family life.
From newborns being strapped into the baby capsule for the first time, and teenagers hanging their L plates, to older family members climbing in and out the vehicle, buyers want to know everyone they care for will be kept safe.
Not only do you want to be assured that an SUV will offer the best crash protection, but has safety technology to avoid a crash occurring at all. There are specific safety concerns such as having adequate child seat fitting points too.
Among our finalists for carsales’ Best Family SUV 2022, some models simply offer more peace of mind than others, particularly when it comes to standard fitment of advanced driver assist safety features.
More on family SUV safety here
Technology
In-vehicle infotainment technology has come a long way in every new car on the market, but it’s here in the family SUV segment where buyers require a high degree of technology sophistication to keep the brood entertained. Happy kids, happy parents.
Those infotainment and multimedia systems that are more comprehensive and less confounding to use are less of a driving distraction. They can also keep family harmony on a trip, whether it be trying to find a Saturday sports field or keeping everyone entertained on a long holiday drive.
Being able to have in-car directions under control and everyone’s devices on charge can make a huge difference too.
Given we’re testing top-of-the-line models in this segment, you’d rightly expect that each car-maker would cover off everyone’s tech needs. But as we found, that’s not always the case.
More on family SUV technology here
Comfort and convenience
These family SUVs are at the premium end of their respective model lines, occupying a range from about $60,000 through to about $75,000 (plus on-road costs), so it won’t be a surprise to hear that they are all sumptuously equipped with a raft of nice-to-have features.
Yet not all have the same level of lushness, with some devoid of the kind of comfort and convenience equipment you might have expected with such a higher sticker price.
Added to that is a quickly developing market that allows new-generation models to adopt the latest features – electronic tech in particular.
SUVs that are well into their current lifecycle might simply be unable to include such technology, at least not without expensive engineering costs.
So there are many differences among the models on test that go much deeper than their glossy paintwork.
More on family SUV comfort and convenience here
Driving performance
Even buyers who simply want a car “to get me from A to B” will want something that does the job with comfort and ease, and that’s where the driving performance of these family SUVs comes in.
This isn’t about which SUV can lap a racetrack in the fastest time, but one that can deliver the broad spectrum of your motoring requirements without becoming a chore to drive.
Strong acceleration, for example, makes for easier (and therefore safer) overtaking moves. Proficient handling in corners gives you more confidence and reassurance from behind the wheel. And excellent ride quality can make the difference between feeling terrific or terrible after a long trip.
Having an SUV that uses less fuel also has obvious advantages in terms of cost and time spent refuelling.
There is a wide arc of driving performance priorities among the family SUVs on test here, with some achieving a fine balance and others leaving more to be desired.
More on family SUV driving performance here
Ownership costs
With the fast-rising cost of living, car buyers will be interested in the ownership cost equation of these family SUVs.
Fortunately, the cost of doing family SUV business is much more transparent than ever.
New-car warranties are now longer than they’ve ever been, and are often bundled with extra features such as free roadside assistance.
Authorised dealer servicing, once a hidden and often expensive cost of motoring, now has pricing transparency across all brands represented here.
Tyre replacement costs through specialist websites such as tyresales.com.au are much easier to calculate too.
Getting trade-in value shock can be disheartening, but now you can estimate much more easily what your depreciation costs will be when the time comes to sell.
With a new-vehicle market hit with stock shortages and price rises, a new family SUV today doesn’t necessarily wear the same depreciation hit it used to. Yet some models are better at retaining value than others.
Among the family SUVs on test, there’s a big variation in how much they cost to service, how much they depreciate, what warranty provisions they carry and whether extra incentives are offered such as free roadside assist.
More on family SUV ownership costs here
Now let’s see which of our contenders is carsales’ Best Family SUV for 2022…
Best Family SUV 2022 contenders:
Hyundai Palisade Highlander 2.2D
Hyundai Santa Fe Highlander 2.2D
Kia Sorento GT-Line HEV AWD
Mazda CX-8 Asaki 2.2D
Mazda CX-9 Azami 2.5T AWD
Skoda Kodiaq RS
Toyota Kluger Grande Hybrid
Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace 162TSI R-Line
Read the carsales Best Family SUV 2022 verdict here
Keyword: Best Family SUV 2022