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Used Car of the Year Awards: Small SUVs

With living costs on the rise, getting a good deal on your next car is more important than ever. That's where our Used Car Awards come in. These are our favourite small SUVs

Used SUV of the Year

Skoda Karoq

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Skoda Karoq front quarter with the What Car? logo

Price from £7000 Our pick 1.5 TSI 150 SE

Think of the Skoda Karoq as a Swiss Army knife on four wheels. It’s not designed to be the most heavy-duty tool in the box, but it’s remarkably good at doing a bit of everything.

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In other words, the Karoq is a seriously versatile small SUV. For one thing, it has more space in the back seats than you get in a Mini Countryman or Volkswagen T-Roc, making it a fantastic option for ferrying around a family. It’s also got an enormous boot that can accommodate nine carry-on suitcases – four more than the Countryman can manage.

If you want the utmost practicality, keep an eye out for the optional-from-new (but commonly specified) VarioFlex package, which swaps the standard rear bench for three seats that tilt, slide and fold individually. Each can be removed entirely, too.

Skoda Karoq interior front seats

The Karoq feels very well built inside. It isn’t as plush as the Countryman, but it uses more appealing materials than the T-Roc.

The Karoq also feels more sophisticated to drive than you might expect. The T-Roc is a touch more cushioned over bumps, but the Karoq provides a great balance between ride comfort and handling, making it a really pleasant car to drive. It’s a lot more polished than a Hyundai Kona, for example.

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As a bonus, there’s a wide range of engines on offer. Out of the lot, we think the mid-level 148bhp 1.5-litre petrol engine suits it best; it’s gutsier than the entry-level 1.0-litre unit, but it’s still economical. Meanwhile, even entry-level SE trim is well equipped.

Used Skoda Karoq rear

Reliability is another Karoq strength. In this year’s What Car? Reliability Survey, it finished 10th in a class of 42 small SUVs. Its impressive score of 96% means it beat the Countryman and T-Roc – rivals that also tend to score highly year after year.

Perhaps the best news is how affordable the Karoq is to buy. Early examples start at around £7000, while good-condition 2022 cars can be found for £12,000, so you’ll spend about as much as you would on the smaller T-Roc.

To sum it up, the Karoq’s blend of practicality, quality, comfort and value means it has all of the tools you need for everyday life. It’s no good for picking stones out of horses’ hooves, but for almost everything else, it’s indispensable.

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Also consider...

Best for comfort

Volkswagen T-Roc (2018-2026)

VW T-Roc front left driving

Price from £8000 Our pick 1.0 TSI 110 Life

Some small SUVs make you feel as if you’re sitting on a bar stool: you’re perched up high, but without much comfort beneath you. Not so the Volkswagen T-Roc. As well as offering an elevated driving position, it’s the best- riding small SUV you can buy, levelling out pothole-stricken roads very effectively. It’s even more supple than Skoda’s Kamiq and Karoq, which are particularly comfy rivals. As a bonus, the T-Roc is impressively hushed on the motorway.

Inside, the T-Roc is very spacious for its compact exterior dimensions, if not quite as roomy as the Karoq. The boot is a generous size, too. Up to 2022, the materials were robust rather than plush, but a facelift at that time brought a classier feel. The Mini Countryman is swisher still, though.

Reliability has been a T-Roc strong suit over the years, and used prices have become increasingly competitive. If you can stretch to it, we recommend the facelifted model, with its much-improved interior; you can pick one up for around £11,000.

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Read our full used Volkswagen T-Roc review >>

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Best interior

Mini Countryman (2017-2024)

MINI Countryman front three quarters on the road

Price from £7000 Our pick 1.5 Cooper Classic

Style is something the Mini Countryman’s interior has in spades, but – as with designer furniture – there is plenty of substance to go with it. Almost everything there is to touch has a high-quality feel to it. The aircraft-style toggle switches feel weighty, while lashings of soft-touch plastic on the dashboard and doors give the interior a really premium ambience. It’s enough to give it the edge over the Audi Q2.

While style is subjective, there’s no doubt the Countryman’s interior is distinctive, with its large, circular binnacle housing the infotainment system. Helpfully, the system itself – particularly on post-2020 cars with the optional (but popular) 8.8in screen – is super-easy to use. It’s more intuitive than the set-up in the rival Range Rover Evoque.

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Add in the fact that the Countryman has a much stronger reliability record than the Evoque, and that it’s more affordably priced than the Q2, and you have a small SUV that’s not only lovely to sit in, but also very compelling as a used buy. It’s not quite the all-rounder the Skoda Karoq is, though.

Read our full used Mini Countryman review >>

Find a used Mini Countryman for sale >>

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