Best small SUVs and crossovers for 2024

The best small SUVs and crossovers give you a commanding high-rise view of the road, a practical and spacious interior, and large door openings. They're also typically powered with smaller engines than larger full-sized off-roaders, so you can have the tough aesthetic and road presence of a 4x4 without the higher running costs of a full-fat SUV.

However, despite cars in this class typically following a similar recipe, our tests continually find models that don’t meet expectations. 

Pick the wrong one and you could end up driving a car with mediocre fuel economy, a frustrating driving experience, little safety equipment or so-so passenger space. In fact, one popular model we’ve tested falls short against its rivals due to high CO emissions at motorway speeds – something the official tests don’t cover.

Keep reading to discover the very best small SUVs and crossovers, including new EV and hybrid models.

Or head straight to all our small SUV and crossover reviews.

Best new small SUVs and crossovers

The small petrol, diesel or hybrid SUVs we've highlighted in the table below strike a good balance of passenger and load space, ride comfort, fuel economy and reliability, so you can buy with confidence.

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Not yet ready to go electric? See the very best hybrid SUVs

Best used small SUVs and crossovers

Demand for small SUVs has really grown in the past few years and there is a rapidly growing selection of high-quality used models. Our experts select the very best models, below.

Video: how to buy the best small SUV

Our latest small SUV and crossover reviews

Want to find out how the newest small SUVs have fared in our tests? Read our latest and most recently updated reviews.

Small SUVs and crossovers to avoid

Pick a dud and you could end up with a car that costs a fortune to run, expels way too many pollutants, is behind the curve for safety or breaks down on every other journey.  

Be confident in your choice by checking our reviews – and avoiding the cars below. We don’t award a Best Buy to cars that produce excessive emissions nor do we recommend models that score poorly in Euro NCAP safety ratings. 

What is a crossover?

The term 'crossover' is a fairly recent addition to the new-car lexicon. It's typically used to describe smaller SUVs, which are a 'crossover' between a conventional small hatchback and a full-sized 4x4. 

The term is also often used to describe medium-sized SUVs that do without the off-road hardware of proper 4x4s, as well as high-rise MPVs, and other models that blend features of two traditional types of car. But for the most part, it's best to think of a crossover as a small, road-biased SUV.

Small or large SUV: what's best?

If you plan to regularly venture on to rough tracks or go off-road entirely, you should at least consider a model with full four-wheel drive.

Small SUVs may look like 4x4s – and they should cope just fine with the occasional gravel track – but there aren't many that will tackle real off-road conditions with ease.

To improve efficiency, many crossover models are two-wheel drive and are designed primarily for use on tarmac. 

Full-sized SUVs and 4x4s are sometimes fitted with locking differentials and low-range gearboxes – off-road-specific hardware that you’ll struggle to find on the spec list of nearly all crossovers.

Some crossover models now come with multi-mode traction control systems in place of four-wheel drive. These allow the driver to select the best setup for different surfaces (gravel or snow, for example), with the system altering its intervention to allow for the best possible traction.

If you want a vehicle to take off-road, see our expert pick of the best large SUVs and 4x4s. 

What to look for when buying a small SUV

The small SUV and crossover class is a relatively new one in motoring, but it has quickly become one of the most popular and is now responsible for some of the bestselling models in the UK. The boom in popularity meant every manufacturer wanted a slice of the action, releasing their own small SUVs – with mixed results.  

A higher driving position is one of the benefits of owning a crossover SUV, giving a commanding view of the road.

However, depending on model, you may not be any better off in terms of load space or passenger comfort by paying the premium for a small SUV over a similarly sized alternative.

For ultimate long-distance comfort, large saloons are likely to fit the bill better, and most will compete with small SUVs in terms of passenger and luggage space.

If you’re simply looking for an easy-to-use, practical family car, then you should also consider one of our best estate cars. These offer oodles of boot space without compromising on cabin space, and are available in all manner of sizes and specifications to suit every requirement and budget. And it doesn't have to be functionality over style these days, either; most new estate cars look great, too.

Where the extra height and taller doors of SUV models does come in handy is fitting a child car seat, simply because the seats are easier to access in the first place.

From dealerships to classifieds, we reveal the best place to buy a car.

We test cars more thoroughly than anyone else

Our tests go further than those carried out by other organisations and, because Which? is independent, you can trust our reviews to give you the full, honest and impartial truth about every car we test. 

Every car we review is subjected to more than 300 individual tests in a lab, on a test track and on real roads, allowing us to report accurate miles-per-gallon figures that you can rely on. We also include a motorway test – something that official tests don't cover. 

Testing in controlled lab conditions means the results we collect are directly comparable between different cars, helping us determine which models are better and helping you find the perfect vehicle for your needs. 

And so you know which models are likely to prove reliable for years to come, we also gather feedback from thousands of UK car owners through the annual Which? Car Survey and use it to generate detailed reliability ratings for the cars we test. 

For more information, see our guide on how we test cars.

To take the guesswork out of choosing your next car: use our independent car reviews.