It’s no secret that SUVs have become monumentally popular in America within the past 5 years. Cars are being phased out by more and more manufacturers – General Motors is the latest.
This makes the Motor Trend SUV of the year more important than the Car of the Year award.
Let me explain.
Even though I have to admit that SUVs have come to overshadow the car, I also believe that there is much less of a ceiling that SUVs have to shine. They aren’t as diverse as cars can be. That is, unless you are the Jeep Wrangler, the winner of Motor Trend’s 2019 SUV of the year.
Subaru is a pretty good example. They make the Impreza. It has all-wheel drive, it’s very rugged – at least it used to be – and it is available as a hatchback. Make some changes to the base Impreza, and you wind up with the Impreza WRX, a good sports sedan with a lot more power. Make even more adjustments and you get an Impreza WRX STi, a rally-bred race car for the road and dirt.
Now take a Honda CR-V, one of the most popular SUVs available and the winner of last year’s SUV of the year. Even if Honda were to do everything to the CR-V that Subaru does to the Impreza to make the WRX and STi, the CR-V – along with most other SUVs – would never reach the Impreza’s capabilities.
That brings us to the 2019 Motor Trend SUV of the year: The Jeep Wrangler.
It was redesigned for 2019, and from the outside, you can tell it’s been fiddled with, but you may not notice a huge difference. It’s really what’s underneath its classic appearance that makes the difference.
Updated technology, new safety features, and even increased performance and fuel efficiency without sacrificing the Wrangler’s “Jeep-ness” is what thrust it forward to the top of the competition.
This is absolutely the correct choice for the SUV of the year because it stands out from the rest of the pack. Most SUVs that people buy today, including the more “sporty” choices are really no more than cars with an elevated ride height. The Wrangler doesn’t conform to this mold, which is part of the reason it’s so good.
If you think about it, it’s really the only SUV that does everything differently. Sure, Land Rover makes great off-road worthy vehicles, but they are more luxury-oriented. The Wrangler can do the same things, but it also has that blue collar feel that makes it approachable and desirable.
Another major factor that makes it stand out is its potential. Just like the Impreza, the wrangler can easily be transformed from a road-going commuter vehicle to an extreme off-road beast. Think of it like the Impreza WRX but moving toward the opposite end of the spectrum.
It has insane capabilities to go wherever you need to go and wherever you don’t need to go.
That gives it character, something that is severely lacking in the hugely popular world of SUVs.
Of course, the Wrangler isn’t the only SUV in the competition. Some of the other standouts are as follows:
Nissan Kicks
If nothing else can be said about the Kicks, you can say it has pizzazz. Much like the Juke that was discontinued last year, it might not be the prettiest vehicle, but it makes up for that in its character. The Kicks is playful and won’t make anybody tired of driving it.
Lincoln Navigator
The best thing about the Navigator is the surprise that comes with the realization of how good it actually is. Lincoln has separated themselves from Ford as a true luxury brand. The Navigator has so many features to get your hands on that you could almost live in it. You may actually be able to do that too with how large it is.
Hyundai Kona
The Kona is right on the Kicks’ heels when it comes to character and spunk. It offers ample power and options to make sure you can get exactly what you need. Though it does look a little funny, it’s more than what many SUVs are willing to provide. I would expect it to also be a bit more reliable than the Kicks.
Volvo XC40
The Volvo X60 made it as a finalist for Car of the Year, so it’s only fitting the XC40 be a finalist here. It almost looks like a Land Rover which isn’t bad at all. Volvo is known for its emphasis on safety, and you will get that with the XC40 along with all the tech features you and your family need.
Range Rover Velar
The Velar is beautiful, luxurious, and functional. It’s also in a class of its own in terms of its capabilities, but that’s not really a secret. It performed well enough to make it to the finals. The famed Land Rover reliability issue will no doubt be understood by its buyers, but even that can’t keep it from being a great SUV.
Motor Trend did a fantastic job this year with their ratings. I’m not just saying that, because I like who won. Both the Motor Trend car and SUV of the year award winners were correctly selected.
It will be very interesting to see what the future holds as traditional cars and SUVs as we know them will be changing.
The auto industry is in both a good and bad place right now. There has never been a wider variety of vehicles available to the consumer. The auto industry is also in upheaval because people aren’t buying as many new cars as before and because of shifting trends, that won’t change anytime soon.
SUVs have become a must-have for anybody with a family or anybody looking for a new vehicle. We will see how far that actually goes, but I have a feeling that more people will start paying closer attention to the SUV of the year award than ever before.
