The most reliable SUVs of 2025: the best SUVs you can rely on
Chances are that the shortlist for your latest car purchase included a couple of SUVs. No matter who you are, there’s probably an SUV to suit you - they’re immensely popular and sales keep increasing across all the different kinds. Small SUVs, large SUVs, seven-seater SUVs, electric SUVs - there’s something for everyone. But reliable SUVs - now that’s something pretty universal.
No matter what your priorities are, everyone can agree that reliability is really important. Nobody wants a car that spends half its time in the garage - and nobody wants to worry about breaking down before they make it to their destination, stranded on the side of the road waiting for breakdown assistance. So what you want is one of the most reliable SUVs on sale.
Even if new cars in general are fairly predictable - and can often signpost any impending failure with numerous warnings and alerts - it doesn’t need to be a catastrophic engine explosion to ruin your day. With the number of computers in modern vehicles, software faults can be just as annoying, especially when you rely on your car’s systems for everything from the driver assistance features to even just telling you what speed you’re going.
Everyone on the Carwow road test team has a horror story of complete software failure, necessitating a hard reset on the hard shoulder or even a trip back to the dealer, and they’re definitely to be avoided if possible.
The good news is that not all SUVs are created equal. Some of them make reliability and robustness a real priority, earning a well-deserved reputation for getting you to your destination trouble-free, time after time. You can often see this reflected in their warranty cover, with the best offering a staggering ten years of manufacturer cover - provided you service your car at an approved dealer.
You don’t just have to judge from what the manufacturer tells you, though. The annual Driver Power owner satisfaction survey is an outstanding resource, where thousands of real car owners report on how their vehicle has been to live with. If the interior trim is fragile, or the software prone to crashing - you can bet they’ll tell the Driver Power survey about it.
Below you’ll find a list of the best reliable SUVs you can buy. Our expert reviews team has driven them all, so we can vouch that they’re practical, good to drive and appealing value - but a combination of Driver Power data, owner reports, and anecdotal evidence means we can confidently recommend them as dependable and predictable ownership experiences.
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When Toyota hybrids first started to become popular, naysayers were quick to criticise the complexity of their drive systems and the supposed fragility of their battery systems. Well, more than two decades on, the exact opposite has proven to be true, and a hybrid Toyota is one of the most reliable vehicles you can buy - you only need to look at the number of 500,000-mile Toyota Prius taxis in any major city to prove that.
Taking this formula and scaling it up, the Toyota RAV4 is a brilliant SUV if robustness and reliability are at the top of your list of priorities. The RAV4’s 2.5-litre hybrid engine isn’t the quickest, and with a slightly dimwitted CVT transmission it’s not the most engaging to drive either. But it provides enough performance for comfortable daily driving, excellent and repeatable fuel economy, and should outlast the average cockroach. It ranked as the most reliable SUV in the Driver Power survey.
Toyota even offers the longest warranty in the business - the ten-year ‘Relax’ policy gives you three years and 60,000 miles of normal cover up front, but every time you service your vehicle at an approved Toyota retailer you unlock another year of cover up to a full decade and 100,000 miles. It’s transferable, too - you could buy a three-year-old RAV4 and still have seven years of cover available to you.
There’s a lot to like about the RAV4 besides its reliability record. Its roomy interior feels like it was designed with family life in mind - there’s plenty of space for child seats, and build quality is top-notch with materials that feel as though they’re going to last just as long as the rest of the car. The design is a bit uninspiring, and alternative SUVs have more clever features on offer, though, such as fancy seats that slide and recline.
It’s also a shame that Toyota no longer offers the RAV4 as a self-charging hybrid. While the RAV4 plug-in hybrid is still good to drive, and its 46 miles of electric range are very useful, the self-charging hybrid was cheaper and had better fuel efficiency over a long journey.
The Dacia Duster was the top car - overall, not just for an SUV - in the 2024 Driver Power survey, standing out from the Dacia brand as a whole which scored a relatively disappointing mid-table finish.
That ranking applies to the previous-generation Duster, with the latest model too new to feature. But with many parts and engines carried over to the current car, as well as an excellent new warranty offering, there’s no reason that the Duster Mk3 shouldn’t be every bit as reliable as the cars that came before it.
One reason for this is simple - there’s just less to go wrong. Dacia prides itself on offering what its buyers want and not much else, so you won’t find the Duster with dozens of crazy features that could go wrong at any moment. It uses simple, robust mechanicals, designed for the rough roads of its native Romania - there’s no wonder Dacia sells incredibly well in places like India, where you need a car that can cope with more potholes than tarmac.
The Duster’s also a great choice if you need a reliable SUV that can do a bit of off-roading. Four-wheel drive is available with the 130hp engine, and with it comes a selection of well-chosen off-road driving modes. It’s not one you’ll be conquering unexplored rainforests in, but it should do extremely well on the sort of rutted and muddy tracks that you might baulk at taking a normal SUV down.
Finally, one can’t talk about the Duster without mentioning value. Dacia’s USP is selling big cars for small-car money, and that’s definitely true here. If you think of the Duster as offering more room than a Volkswagen T-Roc, but for the price of a Volkswagen Polo, you won’t be too far wrong. It’s extremely compelling if you need lots of space for your family and their possessions but don’t have the biggest of budgets. Dacia also offers a seven-year warranty on similar service-linked terms to Toyota’s.
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The Mazda CX-5 is an SUV that does things a bit differently. You get plain four-cylinder petrol options or even an all-too-rare diesel, instead of a selection of hybrids. There’s a rotary dial to control the infotainment, instead of a touchscreen. And to drive you get keen steering, beautifully-weighted controls and supple suspension - instead of rock-hard springs, huge wheels and stiff steering in a bid to feel ‘sporty’.
You also get an enviable reliability record, with the CX-5 scoring highly in all areas of the 2024 Driver Power owner satisfaction survey. Mazda has always had a rather up-and-down relationship with reliability - its ‘normal’ cars tend to be extremely dependable, but its headline rotary-powered vehicles are rather less so.
Which is why it’s good news that, mechanically at least, the CX-5 is as conventional as they come. The engines do get mild hybrid assistance, but it’s a well-proven system that Mazda’s been using for years. And all the tech inside is controlled by proper buttons and switches, so you’re a bit less dependent on software to control essential functions.
The CX-5 is also fantastic to drive. Its thin-rimmed steering wheel actually gives you loads of feedback from the road, so it’s really satisfying to drive through the corners. And its suspension is perfectly judged to be comfortable enough over bumps without wallowing about like a bowl of custard in the bends.
It’s not the roomiest, but if you don’t need a huge boot then the CX-5 also makes an excellent family car. It’s just a shame that the lack of plug-in hybrid engine options means it’s not really any use for company car buyers, due to high benefit-in-kind tax - you’ll need the larger (and much less reliable) Mazda CX-60 for that.
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French cars have historically had quite a poor reputation for reliability but that’s not really justified any more. The Peugeot 2008 scored very highly in the Driver Power survey, even for reliability - and owners ranked it in first place overall for exterior fit and finish, suggesting it’s well screwed-together too.
The 2008 uses a selection of well-proven 1.2-litre petrol engines, including a relatively new hybrid version - or there’s the all-electric E-2008 if you want a full EV.
Eye-catching looks are the first thing you notice with the 2008 - from the Peugeot shield adorning a full-width, two-tone grille, to its sharp lines and posh alloy wheels, it’s a really good-looking machine. That impression continues inside, where you get a stacked dashboard made of high-quality materials. The 10.0-inch infotainment system looks great too, as do the 3D-effect dials.
To drive, the 2008 puts its focus on comfort - moreso than the sportier-feeling Vauxhall Mokka, which is otherwise mechanically identical under the skin. It deals brilliantly with bumps in the road, but the tiny steering wheel that you get on all Peugeots means it feels quite agile still.
There are certain features that are an acquired taste - the driving position, for example, doesn’t suit all sizes of driver, and you might find that the minimalist control setup gets a bit annoying compared to alternatives with more physical switches. But if you want a good-looking and reliable small SUV, this is a great place to start.
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The Citroen C5 Aircross has always been highly-rated by us at Carwow because it’s just fantastic value. Not only is it pretty cheap to start off, with Carwow discounts you can get this big, Volkswagen Tiguan-sized SUV for the price of a small hatchback.
And it feels rather like you’re getting more than you’ve paid for. The C5 Aircross may not have the luxurious materials, huge screens or badge kudos of the best posh SUVs, but it doesn’t punish you with scratchy plastics, outdated tech or a cut-price image either. It’s really roomy inside, even if you opt for the plug-in hybrid version with a slightly smaller boot, and the fact that its rear seats are made up of three individual chairs rather than a bench means loads of flexibility for passengers and for child seats.
You also get a unique feature among SUVs - Citroen’s ‘Advanced Comfort’ suspension. Don’t panic that this is a return to the hyper-complicated hydropneumatic systems you used to get on Citroens of old - instead, it’s just some clever dampers in the suspension system which help take the sting out of the largest bumps and potholes. The result is a very comfortable car that doesn’t feel uncomfortably floaty or wayward.
The C5 Aircross came in ninth overall in the 2024 Driver Power survey, earning fantastic scores for its practicality, comfort, and reliability.
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Honda is one of those brands that everybody knows for reliability - and since it launched in the early 2000s, the CR-V SUV has upheld that image fantastically well. The latest model looks set to continue the lineage, and has proven extremely dependable so far.
It’s available as either a self-charging hybrid or a plug-in hybrid, but both use the same well-proven 2.0-litre engine that already sees service in the Civic hatchback. Key to the CR-V’s reliability is that this engine remains relatively unstressed, as most of the time it’s not driving the wheels at all - it’s just acting as a generator to the battery and electric motors. When more power is required, it hooks up via a single-speed transmission - not much to go wrong there.
The Honda’s interior is straightforward to use and feels very hardwearing, with lots of physical switchgear and only a modest, 9.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system. There’s also absolutely loads of space inside - a big boot, roomy back seats and lots of storage for smaller items. It’s a shame that the price tag pushes it into the territory of much posher cars, though.
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Kia has offered a seven-year warranty on all its cars for nearly 20 years now - if that doesn’t demonstrate faith in your engineering, what does? The latest Sportage of course benefits from this cover, but if reports are anything to go by, you’re unlikely to have to call on it - this is a very reliable SUV.
It’s also a good-looking one. Kia’s dowdy image is long-gone, and the current Sportage is one of the most eye-catching cars on the road thanks to its sharp lines and almost insectoid appearance. That impression continues on the inside, where you get a pair of high-def screens set under one piece of glass for a seamless appearance. Build quality is really high and it’s spacious too.
Engine options include a normal petrol with a manual gearbox - but most people will opt for the self-charging or plug-in hybrid options, which blend low running costs with good drivability. If the Sportage’s appearance isn’t your cup of tea, you can get many of the same benefits in the mechanically-identical Hyundai Tucson too - but bear in mind that Hyundai only offers five years of warranty cover, rather than seven…
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The Lexus NX is pretty much the same as the Toyota RAV4 under the skin so it should come as no surprise that it’s an extremely reliable SUV. But unlike with some cars that share a platform, there’s almost nothing in the Lexus’ interior that gives away its humble origins - you really get the premium experience, which isn’t something you can always say about other posh brands such as Audi or DS.
Lexus’ warranty cover matches Toyota’s at ten years (service requirements notwithstanding) so you could conceivably buy a Lexus NX in 2025 and still be covered in 2035. If you’re the sort of person who keeps their cars for a long time or is buying used, that’s a real selling point.
And while the NX’s CVT transmission and lifeless steering mean it’s just as dull to drive as the RAV4 it’s based on, you can sink into sumptuously comfortable seats and revel in one of the quietest cabins of any SUV on sale. Just think of it like a slipper rather than a sports shoe.
Tesla’s cars don’t always rate highly for build quality, and in the early days of the Model Y that was certainly the case. But it’s the American brand’s best-selling model worldwide, and in the years it’s been on sale quality has taken an uptick - to the point where the Model Y is one of the more dependable SUVs on sale.
Mechanically, being a fully electric car means there’s little to go wrong - electric motors only have one moving part, after all. Even the Tesla’s software, which is essential to driving the car (almost everything’s routed through the central touchscreen) has proved itself to be pretty stable, with not too many faults reported.
Tesla’s service centres tend to be able to fix problems quite quickly, numerous over-the-air updates add or improve features through the vehicle’s lifetime, and you even get a longer-than-average four-year warranty. Steering clear of Tesla’s more complicated models is still a good idea if you want dependability, but the mass-market Model Y is a good bet.
The Toyota Land Cruiser is hardly an SUV - it’s a full-on off-roader, designed to conquer deserts more than it’s designed for the school run. But if you’re eyeing up big, capable cars like the Land Rover Defender, and just want something similar without the scary reliability record, you can’t do much better than this.
The Land Cruiser retains the ten-year warranty of all Toyotas, and being designed for the toughest of terrain means it probably won’t fall apart on you if it gets dinged in a car park or driven up a curb by mistake. The diesel engine may feel a bit agricultural, but it’s extremely long-lived.
For a more visual representation of how reliable the Toyota Land Cruiser is, go and browse the classifieds for them - and order by ‘highest mileage first’. You’ll see cars that have covered half a million miles with little more than regular servicing, and still look like they’re a couple of years old. What better advert is there for a car’s reliability? While this may be a brand-new Land Cruiser, we certainly expect it to carry on the legacy of its predecessors.
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How to choose the best reliable SUV
A long-lasting car doesn’t mean you have to compromise in other departments - but if you want the most reliable SUV, you do have to choose carefully. Here are some things to consider.
Get the data
Do your research before buying, and look at a multitude of sources. There are of course owner surveys, like the Driver Power survey, as well as others. You can check owner reviews on numerous websites. If you’re friendly with your local mechanic, try asking them - and be sure to ask friends and relations about their cars too.
Remember that not all versions of a car are created equal. You might find that a model scores extremely highly for reliability in its electric form, but that the hybrid version is horrendously fragile. Check out reviews of individual models to avoid this happening to you.
Consider other factors
There’s no point having a reliable car if you hate driving it. Once you’re satisfied that your new SUV will be reliable enough for you, then make sure that it suits you in other ways - that it’s practical enough, that the fuel economy is right, or that it fits on your driveway.
Be careful when buying used
Even the most reliable model can be a money pit if it’s not been looked after. When buying a used car, check for full service history - preferably by a main dealer if you want to retain that manufacturer warranty.
You can also use online services to check if there are any outstanding recall works that need carrying out, or whether it’s been written off and the seller’s trying to pass it off as legitimate.
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