Best Mid-Size SUV 2022: Comfort and convenience
Top-of-the-range mid-size SUVs vary wildly when it comes to high-grade features as standardWhat constitutes ‘comfort and convenience’ features in a new car is all about perspective. Not long ago, remote central locking, variable intermittent wipers and auto headlights were considered premium items. Today, expectations are much higher and among the 14 contenders for carsales’ Best Mid-Size SUV 2022 – all of which are high-grade models – you’ll typically see flashy alloy wheels, climate-control air-conditioning, heated and power-fold side mirrors, and automatic high-beam. Where they really start to differentiate is with creature comforts such as heated, ventilated and leather-trimmed seats, a fully digital dash with a head-up display, and a hands-free powered tailgate. Perspective? Let’s take a sharper look…
Car company product planners must have nightmares about deciding what particular features they should include in a new vehicle, or leave out.
Research with buyers will guide them, but eventually brand executives are forced to make a judgement call that balances standard features with an attractive list price – at a profit for the company.
Throw every imaginable feature in, and you risk putting off buyers who either don’t need or don’t want to spend the extra money that comes with such a high specification. Mistakenly leave a feature out that most buyers want, and sales might suffer.
As it turns out, most models in contention for carsales’ Best Mid-Size SUV 2022 have many of the comfort and convenience features you should rightly expect when spending up to $55,000 on a new vehicle.
Yet some of the 14 models assembled here can seem a bit light-on when you look at the competition’s offerings.
Even though all of these SUVs will comfortably accommodate up to five people, some provide the family-friendly option of seven seats.
Yet only the Mitsubishi Outlander is available with a three-row seating configuration in the luxury trim we’re looking at in this contest.
The Honda CR-V and Nissan X-TRAIL can be had with seven seats too, but only if you are prepared to settle for a model grade that’s several rungs down the specs ladder.
The remainder of the group on test are five-seat models only, but at least they’re all roomy and offer comfortable seating for four large adults. Without exception, adding a third person across the rear bench seat reduces comfort, but to varying degrees depending on the occupant.
The Mazda CX-5 has the least luggage-carrying capacity of the group with the rear seats in place, offering 442 litres, while the Volkswagen Tiguan has most cargo space with 615L.
Outside, the CX-5 Akera is also the only model to miss out on rear privacy glass and roof rails.
You don’t pay extra for choosing a different colour with the Honda CR-V or the Subaru Forester. The others all charge more for a non-standard paint colour, between $500 and $800 extra.
Skoda and Volkswagen charge up to $1100 for particular premium colours on the Karoq and Tiguan respectively.
While the MG HS and Subaru Forester ride on 18-inch alloy wheels and the Mitsubishi Outlander has 20-inch rims, the rest have 19-inch hoops. Only the CR-V, Forester and the Hyundai Tucson and Kia Sportage are equipped with a full-size spare wheel – all of the others use a temporary-use, speed-limited spare.
The vast majority of models on test have a glass sliding sunroof as standard equipment, the two exceptions being the Skoda and Volkswagen, which offer it as an option.
Keyless locking/unlocking and push-button start is found everywhere among this cohort, but only the Ford Escape, Hyundai Tucson and Kia Sportage have remote start capability.
At this price point, almost every model features a powered tailgate with gesture control – except the Skoda Karoq, which has this feature only as an option.
Dual-zone climate control is mostly standard across the group, with the Mitsubishi Outlander and Volkswagen Tiguan going a step further with three-zone functionality.
The Forester is the only SUV here with gesture control to change in-cabin air temperature, while the Tucson has an automatic dehumidifier mode and air diffuser mode.
A full-colour digital instrument cluster display is standard fare for the majority of mid-size SUVs here. Only the Honda, Mazda, MG, Nissan and Toyota’s RAV4 lack a fully digital display.
However, a head-up display is the exception rather than the rule in this bunch, with just the Ford Escape, Haval H6, Mazda CX-5 and Mitsubishi Outlander offering this feature.
Leather seat upholstery is one of the car world’s long-standing ‘luxury’ features, and most SUVs on test offer cowhide. The exceptions are MG HS Essence X, which uses synthetic leather, while the RAV4 Edge has what Toyota calls ‘Softex’ cloth seat trim.
The Skoda Karoq Sportline is also trimmed in something other than leather; a material Skoda calls Thermoflex fabric.
Of the rest offering genuine leather on the seats, there are varying trim levels. The Kia Sportage has a combination of leather and suede, for example, while the Mitsubishi Outlander boasts quilted two-tone leather on its seats.
Both the Nissan X-TRAIL and Renault Koleos offer black or tan seats, but you pay $300 extra for tan leather in the Renault.
All the crew in this competition have front seat heating to keep you toasty in winter, while less than half combine this with front seat ventilation to take the sweat out of summer driving – namely, the H6, Tucson, Sportage, CX-5, Koleos and RAV4.
The Outlander and Koleos also ease the tension of the day with a driver’s seat massage function.
As for the rear compartment, the outer positions get seats that’ll warm themselves in the Tucson, CX-5 and X-TRAIL, while the H6, Tucson, CX-5, X-TRAIL and Tiguan also have a steering wheel that warms up at the press of a button.
Active cruise control (ACC) with stop-and-go function can make highway travel much easier no matter how bad the traffic. All the models on test have ACC with stop/go listed except for the X-TRAIL (which still has ACC) and the Koleos that stands alone as the only model here with regular cruise control.
The guesswork has been taken out of parking in recent years with parking sensors and cameras. All the SUVs in this test have rear sensors and a reversing camera at the least.
All but the MG, Skoda and Subaru have front parking sensors while the Ford, Honda, Kia, Skoda, Subaru and Volkswagen do not have full 360-degree cameras the others do have.
The Ford, Haval, Hyundai, Renault and Volkswagen don’t just let you see and hear how much parking space you’ve got – at the press of a button they’ll do the steering for you when backing into a space with their park assist feature.
Best Mid-size SUV 2022 contenders:
Ford Escape Vignale AWD
Haval H6 Ultra AWD
Honda CR-V VTi LX
Hyundai Tucson Highlander AWD
Kia Sportage GT-Line
Mazda CX-5 Akera
MG HS Essence X
Mitsubishi Outlander Exceed Tourer
Nissan X-TRAIL Ti
Renault Koleos Intens AWD
Skoda Karoq 140TSI Sportline
Subaru Forester 2.5i-S
Toyota RAV4 Edge
Volkswagen Tiguan 162TSI Elegance
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