• Best Rated Luxury Subcompact Suv 2019
• Subcompact Luxury Suv Best Buy Of 2019
• Best Luxury Subcompact Suv 2019

Just a few years ago, there were hardly any quality subcompact SUVs on the market. American manufacturers actually gave up on their subcompact SUVs for a while. Remember the old Chevy Tracker or the Suzuki Jimmy. Those old mini SUVs were actually based on light-duty truck frames and bare little resemblance to the unibody crossover models of today.

May 13, 2019 Last year, to make shopping a little easier, we corralled a list of all of the best crossovers and SUVs of 2019. It included at least one model from every segment, our 10Best winners, Editor's.

Today’s subcompact SUVs are more nimble, safer, and have more upscale features—sometimes matching and even rivaling their larger compact-sized cousins. This class is no longer an afterthought by car manufacturers. Instead, it’s grown into a cutthroat competition for budget-conscious buyers who are more often choosing SUVs as opposed to sedans.

1. The Cadillac XT4 is an excellent choice for those wanting an affordable luxury SUV. Cadillac's entry-level SUV, its compact size blends a roomy interior with easy-to-park proportions. There are many tech amenities, like automatic emergency braking and Apple CarPlay. The XT4 is also fun to drive, with a turbocharged engine and agile handling.
2. After thoughtful consideration and a healthy amount of spirited debate, KBB has named the Hyundai Kona as its Subcompact SUV Best Buy of 2019.

We ranked 14 subcompact SUVs from best to worst by combining their ratings on driving performance, standard features, design, and value.

14. 2019 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport

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Mitsubishi offers a very good warranty on the Outland Sport, and it has some generous cargo dimensions. However, that’s where the positives end for this low-ranking subcompact SUV. Its cheap price will get you cheap cabin materials that shake, rattle, and roll with every bump. Loud engine noise and wind enter the cabin, and the numb driving aspects don’t make it a fun experience.

13. 2019 Chevrolet Trax

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We are fans of Chevy’s infotainment designs. They are clean, straightforward, and intuitive. The Chevy Trax, though, is a subcompact SUV that is on the particularly small side. Competitors offer more room for passengers and storage. The engine also seems to be underpowered, and the suspension could be a little more forgiving.

12. 2019 Ford EcoSport

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To be a small SUV, the Ford EcoSport has a surprising tall seating position for the driver that offers good sightlines to the road ahead. Unfortunately, like many other vehicles, the EcoSport features an underpowered engine that has poor acceleration. Competitors also have more advanced safety features, both as standard offerings and as package add-ons.

11. 2019 Toyota C-HR

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The Toyota C-HR is really a hatchback that has been covered in sporty body cladding. The design is love-it-or-hate-it, but the steeply raked roofline does limit space in the rear seats and cargo area. Even with the sporty looks, it doesn’t have speedy acceleration, but it is nimble through turns.

10. 2019 Fiat 500X

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Fiat struggles with reliability ratings, falling below-average for this pack of subcompact SUVs. Don’t hope that you can take a lot of friends with you because the rear seats are tight. The cargo area is, frankly, minuscule. The turbocharged engine and upscale cabin can’t overcome these negatives, including to too-firm ride.

9. 2019 Jeep Renegade

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Not many subcompact SUVs can go off-road. Then again, not many subcompact SUV buyers are taking their vehicles off-road. Regardless, the capability sets the Renegade apart from others in its class, and its suspension is the better for it. However, the base engine struggles somewhat as does the transmission. Additionally, some rivals have many more standard features for the price.

8. 2019 Mini Cooper Countryman

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The Mini Cooper Countryman is another wagon sold as an “SUV” to American buyers. We’ve found Minis to have a high base price compared to competitors, and their reliability ratings leave something to be desired. Buyer beware. Having said that, the Country has a high-quality interior cabin and is fairly roomy for its size. It is also sporty with responsive handling.

7. 2019 Honda HR-V

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The Honda HR-V sits in the middle of the pack. The base offering has fewer standard features and a weaker engine than the top performers. But, being a Honda, it has a well-designed interior that is spacious for passengers and cargo. It also has some of the best fuel economy ratings in this class (for a non-hybrid, that is).

6. 2019 Kia Niro

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Excel power automate. The Kia Niro is essentially a glorified station wagon that Kia is marketing as a subcompact SUV. (Americans really don’t like station wagons.) The Niro comes in three offerings, none of which is a purely gasoline-powered engine. Buyers can choose among traditional hybrid (the most commonly available nationwide), plug-in hybrid, and fully electric. It doesn’t come with AWD and has some numb steering, but it’s spacious and well-equipped for the price. The plug-in and electric models also have substantial range.

5. 2019 Mazda CX-3

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The Mazda CX-3 finishes in the top half of subcompact SUVs thanks to its impeccable interior that feels more at home in luxury vehicles. It also has excellent fuel economy and powerful engines (see, you can have both) with sporty acceleration and precision handling. It’s not quite as good as the CX-5, which you should opt for if you don’t mind a bit larger vehicle, but it’s still a solid choice.

4. 2019 Nissan Kicks

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The Nissan Kicks is one of Nissan’s newest offerings; it replaced the Juke in 2018. It features good fuel economy, better-than-average cargo space, and has great price points across its lineup. If the engine gave us a little more acceleration, it would have ranked higher on the list.

3. 2019 Subaru Crosstrek

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Subaru is basically a whole brand of station wagons masquerading as SUVs, and it seems to work for them. Like many Subarus, the infotainment system of the Crosstrek is straightforward and not distracting for the driver. It’s also one of the few that offers AWD, and the Eyesight safety suite is available standard across all trim levels.

2. 2019 Kia Soul

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Some may not be fans of the boxy Kia Soul’s design, but once you’re inside the cabin, you’ll appreciate all the space that the design allows. The interior is comfy and roomy, and the Soul is packed with all kinds of tech at surprisingly affordable prices. A total refresh will be released for 2020, so expect 2019 models to offer great sale bargains to clear them off the dealer lot. Vivaldi font.

1. 2019 Hyundai Kona

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The relatively new Hyundai Kona reigns supreme on our list of subcompact SUVs. As is common for Hyundai, the Kona offers tons of tech and standard features at prices that competitors can’t seem to match. Its turbocharged engine is also sporty, and the agile handling will have you zipping around town while you finish all your errands.

Non-luxury automakers aren’t the only ones getting in on the subcompact SUV fun. Their higher-priced compatriots are also pumping out these vehicles in record numbers. Granted, with many of these vehicles, we sometimes struggled to see the value proposition of these price points paired with the small space constraints.

However, there are a select few (notably the top 3) that really make a solid case for luxury subcompact SUVs. Regardless of what we as reviewers think, it’s sales that matter and drive decisions in automaker offices. And since consumers seem to love this new subcompact SUV segment, car manufacturers are going to continue to pump them out!

We ranked 11 subcompact luxury SUVs from best to worst by combining their ratings on driving performance, standard features, design, and value.

11. 2019 Infiniti QX30

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The Infiniti QX30 has a comfortable and well-appointed cabin. But even in a segment called “subcompact,” it has less interior and cargo space than its rivals. To add to the woes, loud wind noise intruded into the cabin—a particular disappointment for a luxury offering. Infiniti also has below-average reliability ratings for the QX30. Let’s hope that redesigns coming in the not-too-distant future remedy some of these downsides.

10. 2019 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque

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True to its brand, the Range Rover Evoque is an off-roading beast—a luxurious one at that. The exterior design is one of our favorites on any vehicle, with its front grille that sweeps into the sides and toward the rear paired with a sloping roofline. It does have a well-designed cabin, but that refinement doesn’t extend to the mechanical parts of the SUV. The transmission is poor as are its overall reliability ratings. It’s also more expensive than many other competitors when comparably equipped. When you can find better for cheaper, that’s not a recipe for success.

9. 2019 Buick Encore

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The Buick Encore was one of the first luxury subcompacts on the scene. While it’s still a reliable offering, it’s beginning to show its age. We find that most GM cabins have intuitive infotainment systems, and this Buick has some nice finishes throughout the cabin that don’t feel particularly cheap. But, it’s still not the most luxurious in the class. What really hindered the Encore on our list was the underperforming engine that comes standard.

8. 2019 Mercedes-Benz GLA-Class

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The GLA-Class carries over the sure-footed handling that gives its larger Mercedes cousins high marks in our reviews. The cabin layout is also user-friendly; however, the materials and finishes seem somewhat low-rent for this luxury class. We found it uncharacteristic for MB. The small dimensions don’t particularly stand out in this class and neither does its standard engine offering.

7. 2019 Cadillac XT4

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The XT4 is a brand-new model from Cadillac, and it appears in the middle of our ranking. The interior isn’t particularly intuitive, and we found the brakes especially mushy and unresponsive. On the plus side, we found good legroom in the rear seats and robust engine options for puttering around town.

6. 2019 Jaguar E-Pace

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The E-Pace is not Jaguar’s electric offering (that’s the I-Pace.) A little confused? Anyway, this subcompact luxury SUV has surprisingly good cargo room for the class. And as is common with Jaguar vehicles, the handling and ride control are spot-on. Where it fell behind the segment leaders was in engine performance and subpar fuel economy.

5. 2019 Lexus UX

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The UX is Lexus’s first foray into the subcompact market. Our reviewers were split on the exterior styling. Some found its angular lines aggressive and youthful. Others found it to be a glorified wagon with busy body cladding. The taillights, in particular, were universally agreed to be…odd. Look them up for yourself. We also continue to be critics of Lexus’s unintuitive infotainment setup across its whole lineup. That said, the UX is well-appointed, affordable, offers great gas mileage, and has a smooth and comfortable ride.

Best Rated Luxury Subcompact Suv 2019

4. 2019 Audi Q3

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The Audi Q3 has the brand’s characteristic handsome interior cabin layout. The materials are upscale as are the standard feature offerings. The infotainment system is intuitive and easy-to-use, and the rest of the cabin is comfortable and roomy for the class. The one small drawback is that fuel economy is lower than competitors.

3. 2019 BMW X2

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If a sporty subcompact SUV is your aim, you couldn’t do worse than the BMW X2. The exterior design features a raked coupe roofline that will turn heads from other drivers and pedestrians. Couple that with BMW’s strong handling and a powerful array of engines, and the X2 may be the SUV that banishes the notion of soccer mom or dad being “uncool.”

2. 2019 BMW X1

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Subcompact Luxury Suv Best Buy Of 2019

The BMW X1 is similar in dimensions to the X2 except that it doesn’t feature a raked coupe-style roofline. That improves on our critiques of the X2 by increasing rear visibility, rear-seat space, and cargo area. It’s everything we liked about the X2 and more! And now that BMW has announced it is dropping its annual fee to use Apple CarPlay, things just got even better.

1. 2019 Volvo XC40

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Volvo swung for the fences with its first subcompact SUV. and it hit a home run. We found the shorter dimensions and boxier design made the XC40 more handsome than its larger siblings (and those were lookers to begin with). Volvo also has our favorite infotainment design to date. Their dashboards are modern, clean, and intuitive without being overly techy. Furthermore, the XC40 comes at great price points that are filled to the brim with standard features and a luxurious cabin for drivers and passengers alike.

Best Luxury Subcompact Suv 2019