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SUVs, or Sports Utility Vehicles, are a popular choice for anyone looking for something that does double duty as an on-road and off-road vehicle.

An SUV has a raised ground clearance to make driving over rugged terrain easier, but it works just as well in the city.

That said, you might want to go for a crossover (or compact SUV) if you plan on parking anywhere in Cape Town, where the average parking bay looks like it was designed with a bicycle in mind.

While the SUV can’t compete with the bakkie in South Africa, with 31 263 Toyota Hilux models sold in 2020, a fair few people opted to take one home last year

BusinessTech has ranked the best-selling SUVs in 2020 in three categories – compact, medium and large – with the numbers sold in brackets.

We took a closer look at the best-selling SUV in each category to see what all the hype is about.

COMPACT SUVs

1. Ford EcoSport (7 255)

A competitive contender in the compact family-car segment, the Ford EcoSport has been a huge sales success for Ford South Africa.

Buyers are keen on the convenience of an automatic transmission, it’s great for navigating traffic, and, per Cars.co.za, it works just as well on gravel roads, as well as sandier sections if you’re heading out for a surf.

You’re looking at 91 kW/150 Nm of torque, a six-speed automatic transmission, and a naturally-aspirated 1,5-litre petrol engine.

The rest of the top 10:

2. VW T-Cross (5 693)
3. Hyundai Venue (4 482)
4. Haval H2 (4 465)
5. Kia Seltos (3 164)
6. Mazda CX-3 (2 432)
7. Hyundai Creta (2 353)
8. Haval H1 (2 202)
9. Renault Duster (2 154)
10. Suzuki Jimny (1 627)

MEDIUM SUVs

1. VW Tiguan (4 280)

The Volkswagen Tiguan 1,4 TSI represents a major style upgrade from its predecessor. It’s also bigger inside, without actually taking up more space on the road. The driving experience overall is decent. It handles changes of direction quickly, with minimal body roll, according to Cars.co.za.

Under the hood you’ll find an uprated 1,4 TSI turbo-petrol engine, producing peak outputs of 110 kW/250Nm of torque.

The rest of the top 10:

2. Toyota Rav4 (3 432)
3. Mazda CX-5 (3 154)
4. Hyundai Tucson (2 819)
5. BMW X3 (1 624)
6. Kia Sportage (1 597)
7. Nissan X-Trail (1 563)
8. Nissan Qashqai (1 189)
9. Audi Q3 (1 131)
10. BMW X1 (838)

LARGE SUVs

1. Toyota Fortuner (9 635)

The appeal of this particular SUV is that it combines proven Toyota reliability with bakkie underpinnings in an SUV body. So that’s superior on-road, and off-road drive, with added power.

Per Cars.co.za, the 2,8-litre GD-6 turbodiesel is uprated to put out 150 kW/ 500Nm of torque but is also more efficient than before with Toyota claiming between 6,8 L/100 km and 7,9L/100 km.

The upgrade in the looks department doesn’t hurt, either.

The rest of the top 10:

2. Ford Everest (1 588)
3. Mercedes GLE (977)
4. Toyota Prado (844)
5. Toyota Land Cruiser 200 (819)
6. BMW X5 (767)
7. Land Rover Defender (744)
8. Range Rover Sport (619)
9. Porsche Cayenne (489)
10. Land Rover Discovery (266)

That’s the Land Rover Discovery coming in with just 266 models sold last year, which is the lowest out of the SUVs listed in all three categories, despite receiving glowing reviews when it first arrived in South Africa.

It could have something to do with the price point. You can snap up a Toyota Fortuner for between R588 000 and R720 000 depending on the specs you’re looking for, while the Land Rover Discovery starts at R749 000 and goes up from there.

While you could make the argument that you get what you pay for in terms of performance (the Land Rover is, to be fair, a beast), the Toyota looks like it can hold its own with the best of them.

[source:businesstech&cars&cars&cars]