Video: What’s the Best Compact SUV of 2025?

So we recently brought seven popular vehicles to Austin, Texas to see which one would take the crown this time. In the past we focused on gas only models, but with the rising cost of living and an increasing embrace of electrification, we decided to open it up to hybrids as well this year. But would that be enough for any of these challengers to unseat the Nissan Rogue, our past winner? In addition to the Rogue, we also brought the Chevrolet Equinox, the Honda CR-V hybrid, the Hyundai Tucson hybrid, the Mazda CX5, and the Subaru Forester. We also invited the Toyota RAV4 gas or hybrid to participate, but Toyota did not make one available to us, but we couldn't have this test without that popular model in it. So we sourced a low mileage 2024 RAV4 hybrid to be part of the test. And now it was stock apart from some heavy window tint, but we were in Texas after all, and the 2024 is mechanically identical to the 2025 with the only major difference being more expensive for 2025. So we gathered all these vehicles together and we tested interior quality and comfort. We looked at their features, we drove them back to back on the same drive route. We took them on a 250 mile real world fuel economy route, and we measured their cargo areas and tested car seat fitment using our in-house methodologies. Here's how they ranked. In seventh place was the Toyota RAV4 hybrid. Now, it didn't have any wins in our judges categories. It was competitive in user interface, but it did really well in our fuel economy test. It had... It was first place, 37.9 miles per gallon there. Yeah, I mean, Toyota's been doing hybrids for years and very few people do them better than Toyota does, and that really was the RAV Forest strength, was its fuel economy. And if that's the most important thing to you, then the rest of the RAV4 is fine. It's not exceptional in any number of the categories. None of us actually thought it was a straight out winner in any of the subjective things like interior quality or comfort or space or anything like that. But if you're just looking for something that's average and does really great fuel economy, it's hard to top this thing. Yeah, I think the other judges were a little bit more favorable to the interior than you. But again, it's not like a standout interior in this comparison. It's just mostly well done. I really enjoy the rubberized controls. Those are really easy to manipulate for things like climate and volume. They're also on the door handles for gripping, but yeah, it's an improvement over the previous Gen RAV4 for sure, but it's just not that good at pretty much anything but fuel economy. Yeah, and while the rubber ice controls are great, some of the other climate controls, why are the buttons the size of Tic-Tacs? I mean, I applaud them for having actual buttons, but if you have to really squint to try and figure out what it is you're actually going to touch and to try and activate something, that's a problem. It was a little bit better than the CRV hybrid in terms of its fuel economy. That was 36.5 for the CRV hybrid. But that user interface point you brought up, that was one thing where it did pretty well in terms of those easy to use controls. I think the screen was liked by judges too in terms of how it worked with your smartphone and the connectivity side of it there. Yeah, it's certainly an improvement over previous Toyota design, but we've been saying for a while it's intuitive. It's just missing some features that other screens have. Like there's no home button. You just kind of have to navigate using various specific icons to get to where you want to go, which can be frustrating. But wireless Apple CarPlay, wireless Android Auto, it's a perfectly good screen. And I had issues with the gauge cluster itself. I mean, the gauge cluster is extremely dim. A lot of the new Toyotas are. And it had sweeping dials and whatnot for things that you don't necessarily find important, like the hybrid features. Now we should note that this has the standard gauge cluster. There is an optional fully digital gauge cluster, which is a little bit better. We've sampled that in other vehicles, but as it stands with the standard gauge cluster, it's hard to see. It's kind of dim. The whole interior is really kind of dark and dour, and it's not just the tint that it's on the side. You put all the windows down, it still feels dark and dour in there, but there just needs to be a bit more flare in there, especially when we're comparing it with some of the really nice interiors that we saw and in the competitors that we tested. Yeah, and this was an XSE trim level, so more of a mid-level trim, but it was still almost $41,000. So it was right in that price range with a number of the other vehicles in this test. Some of the other things that stood out, I know on your side was it lost in braking and quietness. So it was a fairly loud powertrain, but also one that was really kind of hard to use to brake smoothly. Yeah, and look, the last 10 feet of stopping, the hybrid system just grabs really, really suddenly causing everyone's head to jerk forward. At least that's what my experience was. And so that's something that you don't have that level of smoothness that you would in some of the other vehicles and I really don't know why that is. Yeah, the numb breaking feel of the RAV4 is pretty common in Toyota hybrids these days, and it's just sort of part of the price you have to pay to get that good fuel economy. It did really well in that, but it underperformed in most of the other categories we scored these SUVs on. So that's kind of really what led to its seventh place finish here. It needs a more refined drivetrain, it needs a nicer interior to compete with the other ones here. The RAV4 hybrid's loan standout area fuel economy is an important one if that's what you're looking for in a compact SUV, but it underperformed in a lot of the other categories we scored these SUVs on, including as tested value, which combines both features and the as tested price of these vehicles. It could really use a more refined drivetrain and a more upscale interior to compete with the other SUVs here. In sixth place was the Chevrolet Equinox. It's been redesigned for 2025, and Chevrolet sent us the Activ trim, which really had a big influence on some of the impressions that was generated during the test. Yeah, it's ostensibly their off-road version of the new Equinox, so it really doesn't have any off-road equipment other than its tires. But I think those tires definitely helped towards the thing that we liked most about it, which was its ride quality. The thing is absolutely glass smooth and it's quiet and comfortable. This is a trend that I've seen happening with a lot of GMs SUVs recently, is that the ride quality is impeccable. Yeah, it's really good. You pointed out that there's some chassis tuning involved as well, but I do think those all-terrain tires, 17 inch wheels, really, really comfortable ride, but it doesn't really help when things start to get twisty. There's just minimal grip from those all-terrain tires. And I also found it a little bit wandery in highway driving. Yeah, you got tall sidewalls in these things and so it does affect the sharpness of the handling. It does affect the body control motions as well. I mean if ride quality is the supreme concern for you, then great. But if you want a better balance of ride and handling, I've actually driven an RS in the past. I think that might've probably done better in this test. So it was our winner in ride quality. It lost in handling, it also lost in powertrain. It has a turbocharged 1.5 liter four-cylinder that makes 175 horsepower, but I think we thought that wasn't enough for this vehicle in this test. Yeah, it sure didn't feel like 175 horsepower or 200 some odd pound speed of torque, and it wasn't even just one person versus four people in the vehicle. It just did not have a lot of just get up and go. It did not have a lot of great acceleration. The transmission felt slow to shift and all of this is a little unusual given that GM is frankly a powertrain champ. We like just about every other GM powertrain we've tested in a bunch of other vehicles. This one feels like they didn't actually benchmark their competition very well and they send something out that feels pokey, that feels slow, that isn't really all that responsive. And with all that you'd think, okay, then it's tuned for fuel economy except it finished last in our fuel economy testing. So there's just not really any benefit from that powertrain. It just feels insufficient. Yeah, usually when you've got a smaller engine like this, it has to work harder in order to actually perform at the same level as a lot of its competitors that might have a larger engine, but when you do that, then you lose fuel economy. So it's really kind of a confusing powertrain here. Yeah, I know you said you thought I could use an extra 50 horsepower, 50 pounds via torque, and in some of the other turbocharge engines in our test, that's what they were delivering and they performed better. So a little disappointing to see that with this re-designed vehicle to have that kind of lackluster powertrain. What wasn't lacking though was the style. Oh my god. Of the vehicle as a whole. The thing looks fantastic. I mean, inside and out, I am absolutely smitten with the way it looks and the redesigned, restyle version of this thing is so night and day different from the last Equinox that it's hard to believe it's got the same name on the thing. But even the interior, which I thought it was a nicer interior than I think you did in terms of material quality, but undeniably, it's fantastic to look at and use. Yeah, it's incredibly stylish outside and in the two-tone roof, the bright blue paint. It's called maple sugar I believe, for the interior, but it's basically black and tan. It looks fantastic. And just to me, the materials felt a little bit lower scale when I got into it. But from a visual perspective, it's stylish. And you get the modern tech from GM, like the touchscreen, the digital gauge cluster. It's a good package. Unfortunately we don't score styling that much so... It's a subjective thing for a lot of people. Yeah. Yeah, and it came in at a pretty good price compared to some of the other ones in this test. It was just under $40,000. So one of the more affordable options that we had here. As we said, the Equinox design and style really stood out in a good way in our test, but we weren't grading these SUVs on their looks and its poorer scores in our driver assist features, Cargo space, and fuel economy really hurt the Equinox in its overall finishing spot. In fifth place was the Subaru Forester. It was also redesigned for 2025. This was the gas model we tested. We weren't able to test the new hybrid model in our comparison, but one of the things that stood out was its visibility. It had a near perfect score in our outward visibility assessment. Yeah, it's always been a strength of Subaru and it's excellent in the Forester. You get these really thin A-pillars in front of you. The side mirrors are mounted on the doors. There's a little view window behind the A-pillar, so you can see between the two. It also just makes the cabin feel nice and open. You feel safe. It's almost like the viewing car on a train. It's just really great to see out of and it makes for a good driving experience. Yeah, that's a function of the forester since I think the time began is that it's always felt more upright, more boxy. It doesn't have the swoopier car-like styling that a lot of its competitors do. But again, that's something it's buyers love and that's something that does pay dividends in being able to see out of the thing. Another area that did well was in front seat comfort especially. It wasn't a winner, but it was competitive in that category. Yeah, I mean even for a bigger guy like me, it was a very comfortable area and part of that is the visibility, part of that is just the shape of the seats. You had a lot more room up front. There's a lot of width to it. I thought the backseats were fine too. Once you figured out how the rear seat recline worked, they kind of hid the controls for rear seat recline and when we first got in it, the thing was all the way reclined and I couldn't believe that anybody would wanna sit like that. But no, it actually does work just fine, but there's plenty of leg room. There's plenty of head room because of that tall ceiling. It's just a really comfortable place for four or even five people. Yeah, it's less about the seat cushioning than I think the space and the head room, the visibility, but really enjoyed those front seats. They weren't overstuffed even without, I would say, probably the nicer upholstery of some of the other competitors here. It was a good comfortable interior. Even though we didn't test the hybrid, this did the best of the gas only powertrains here in our fuel economy test. It was rated at 31.2 miles per gallon, so it really did well for what powertrain had in it. One thing it didn't do well though was in the screen tech that came in ours. This has the 11.6 inch vertically oriented touchscreen. We've seen it in other Subarus. Haven't been a fan of it there. Really weren't a fan of it here either. No, I mean it's a combination of the fact that it's just not terribly easy to use. It incorporates the climate controls into touch sensitive buttons as part of this screen, so they're not easy to find. The fonts themselves look old, the arrangement looks old, the resolution looks old. And for this being a brand new vehicle in terms of its redesign and refresh, that's becoming unforgivable quite frankly. As you mentioned, it's also just hard to use. There's multiple layers to get to some basic functions that in other vehicles are just physical controls. And on top of that, it's also fairly vulnerable to sunlight. There's a lot of glare. That is one of the downsides I guess, of being able to see out is that the sunlight can come in, but the screen just doesn't react well and you lose about the right half of it in sunnier conditions. And on top of all that, the vertical orientation of the screen really affects how things like the backup camera are displayed. Apple CarPlay, for example, it's more of a square than a full portrait style display when you're using CarPlay, but it's just not the full screen and it's frustrating. Yeah, everybody else has really gone to horizontal screens, a landscape portrait, which really does work a lot better for these kinds of things. While the Forester had the lowest as tested price of the SUVs in our test at just under $38,000, it was also missing a lot of features that were present in our other competitors. And that hurt it in our scoring. Its other scores were mixed too with it having a shared win in our car seat check assessment, but also the smallest cargo space and not a lot of in-cabin storage. But if outward visibility is what you're most looking for in your next compact SUV, the Forester is the one for you. In fourth place was the Mazda CX-5, and it really did well in a lot of the driving-related categories. It won in powertrain, braking, and handling. Yeah, this thing definitely was the sports car of the group. If you're looking for something that is entertaining to drive on your commute, really you can't do better than this thing. The handling is fantastic. It's neutral, it's balanced. It feels centered around the driver. The inputs in terms of steering feel, in terms of ride quality and acceleration, the thing is making a ton of power because we use the optional premium fuel that it says you can use and it'll make more power. Overall, it's definitely the most fun to drive out of this group. Absolutely. When we wrapped filming at the end of our time in Texas, I made a point to take this home and get one last drive on the winding roads near our hotel because it really is that much fun. It's just not that fun to use. Yeah, that's been a common issue with Mazda, is that great to drive, not great to use, and it all centers around the multimedia system. Yeah, it can be a touchscreen in very, very limited circumstances and it feels unsafe when it's not being used as a touchscreen, especially if you're using something like Apple CarPlay, now you have to rely on this weird knob controller that feels like a bad clone of BMW's iDrive system. And for me, when I was driving, I had a podcast end. There were no more podcasts and I cannot drive in silence and I had to use the controller and I was just lost. I think I slowed down maybe 10 or 15 miles an hour. I was probably wandering in the lane. It's just not safe. And it's really funny because the climate control panel is touch button. There's just buttons. Yeah, the idea that Mazda has is that it's too distracting to actually use your multimedia system while you're driving. So they require you to use this remote system that's like operating a laptop as you're driving down the highway. And I think a lot of automakers have figured out that this is not the best way to do it. If I see a thing on the screen, I wanna beep, touch it, and have it happen. That is the least distracting way of making anything happen in these cars. And Mazda resolutely refuses to join the modern era in doing that kind of thing. So a lot of these companies will use voice controls as a backup if the things are a little too complicated and the voice controls didn't do what we wanted them to do either. I had a similar situation to you where I wanted to change the satellite radio station and it didn't work and it gave me something completely different. And so again, I'm driving in silence because I can't get the multimedia system to do what I want it to do while I'm driving. So that really hurt it in our scoring. It lost in our vehicle user interface, but it did better in interior quality. It was competitive in that category and this was the signature trim level, so had a pretty nice interior. Yeah, that's one thing Mazda's been trying to do in recent years is go a little bit more upscale and it does show in terms of the interior material quality, the shapes, the designs, the fit and finish, it does feel like a premium vehicle. It's just that it's great to drive, not great to use, and that's become a problem. Yeah, and if you want to use that backseat, it's even worse because it is just cramped. You have to negotiate with front seat occupants if you wanna sit in the backseat at all if you're an adult. It's just not roomy. Yeah, so putting two people in the backseat means you have four people in the vehicle that are uncomfortable. Yeah, one of the comments was it's a gilded closet kind of speaking to that really nice material quality throughout the interior, but just that lack of space in the compact SUV class where this is a vehicle that a lot of families use, that was a big detriment to the CX-5 and one of the areas where it lost. And the packaging in the backseat is also a little goofy because the USB ports and the heated seat controls are in the foldout armrest in the center. So if you have someone sitting in the middle, you don't have those features anymore. The focus is squarely on the driver in the CX-5, which led all other SUVs in most of our driving related tests. However, the CX-5's shortcomings are apparent in other areas where compact SUVs need to do well, like user interface, passenger space, comfort, visibility, and fuel efficiency. And third place was the Hyundai Tucson hybrid. Now it's been refreshed for 2025, has some different exterior styling, interior designs, and it really did well on the features front and did well on our value scoring. I think probably Hyundai still has the best multimedia system out of any modern automaker, quite frankly, in terms of its clarity, usability, the size of the screen, how easy it is to actually get done what you want to get done. It's a really simple, easy to use system and that extends to a lot of the different features in the car. It has my favorite safety feature in the entire test. It's the blind spot view monitor. You turn on the turn signal and a little view pops up in the gauge cluster, see what's in your blind spot, and it corresponds to the side you're activating the turn signal on, which is really nice for setting in your mind what side of the car you're looking at. It really adds to the confidence when you're driving, especially in the city. Yeah, that was a unique feature in the test. It also had multi-level heated steering wheel, so kind of a low and high setting, which was another unique feature and also a great warranty, which helped it in the value scoring too. And we also liked its in-cab storage solutions too, for space for stuff in the front of the vehicle. And it did well in our cargo testing too, with the biggest cargo space. The cockpit is very open. Hyundai has moved to a column mounted gear selector, which really helps open up the center console area and there's a lot of large item storage. It's very easily accessible. It's just a great package. It used to be Honda strength and now it's Hyundai's. And for being such a swoopy styled vehicle, I mean it is pretty slippery looking. To have as much cargo space as it does really is kind of a testament to the packaging that Hyundai has really worked on for the Tucson. Yeah, well and while it had a lot of space for stuff, it wasn't that comfortable for people, which that really hurt it. It lost in front seat comfort. Yeah, this is the area where I was actually most surprised about because a lot of other Hyundai products are fantastic in terms of their usability and their comfort. The Tucson felt like I was sitting on top of the Tucson instead of in it. Everything is so far away from you and low. I mean the climate controls are by your knees, you're looking down into the gauges. Yeah, you've got some decent visibility. But my head was hitting the the headliner in that thing. So that's not something I expect in a vehicle like this. It just was not comfortable up front. Yeah, and to add to your point about sitting on top of it, the seats themselves to me felt just overly firm. Like I was sitting literally on top of the seat rather than in the seat. One of the other things that came through too is the steering wheel had a tendency at times to block the gauge cluster display behind it. I mean, we've seen that in other vehicles that have moved to these digital displays and not shifted to kind of a squared off steering wheel. Hyundai hasn't yet, and that was kind of an issue at times. Another thing that came through was touch sensitive controls. What'd you guys think of that? I don't know how many times we really have to say this, but I'm gonna say it. I'm gonna say it directly into that camera for any automakers that are watching. Stop going to touch sensitive climate controls. Nobody likes them. They don't work very well and you need to stop. All right. I think that's fine. (group laughter) Despite those touch sensitive controls, the Tucson Hybrid did well in our vehicle user interface scoring. And it also did well in our objective tests leading the pack in many of them. But it lagged the group in the areas our judges rated on where it scored only better than the Toyota RAV4 hybrid in these areas. Poor ergonomics, a lack of driver comfort, a loss in ride quality, and some questionable controls hold it back. In second place was the Honda CRV hybrid, and it did well in a lot of different areas. It had a few wins in the judges' categories. It was competitive in areas one area. One was ride quality though. Yeah, it tied with the Equinox in terms of ride quality despite not having the big balloony tires that the Equinox did. But I think it just kind of shows the sophistication of the CRV and how much effort Honda has put into the tuning of the thing, both in ride quality, handling, dynamics, all of it. It felt like a more sophisticated vehicle than a lot of the other competitors in this test. Yeah, the dynamics are great. You still get that firm suspension that Honda is known for, but it doesn't really punish you in terms of ride quality. You get excellent handling. It's just below the CX-5 for me, which is a nice little spot to be in, honestly. And on top of that, you still get hybrid efficiency. Yeah, and it got 36.5 miles per gallon, so it was only behind the RAV4 hybrid. Another area it did well was in terms of front seat comfort and backseat comfort. It also had really good cargo space too, with also a second place finish in our cargo testing. Yeah, this is also a testament to the CRV shape. I mean, it is a little bit boxier, a little bit more square than a number of the other vehicles there. And that does show up in terms of comfort and usable passenger space and in usable cargo space as well. It's nice, roomy, and comfortable. I just wish they had not gotten rid of the previous generation's funky little center console, which had some really great storage options as well. This just has a very traditional center console. I think one of the other things that stood out was we like the interior in terms of its usability, though the tech was a little bit behind the others in terms of the appearance especially. Yeah, that's something I'm noticing with a lot of Hondas is that it feels old in there. I mean it's a newer vehicle, but the tech itself feels a little bit behind where a lot of the current class leaders are. It's fully usable. It's not glitchy, it's not odd, it's not difficult to see, but it also doesn't feel all that fresh. And if that's something that's not... If you have to have that cutting edge technology, you're gonna be a little bit disappointed. If you'd rather have something that's tried and true and familiar, then the Honda's perfectly fine. Yeah, I don't have a lot of nice things to say about the tech. It looks dated. The graphics are a little bit older. I think the interior as a whole is older, but the stuff works, and when you're dealing with other vehicles where things frustrate you left and right, good solid functionality is really hard to beat. Yeah, I think that came through in terms of that older feel in terms of some of the plastics on the interior and how that came together. But in terms of having nice, easy to use dials and knobs and buttons right on the dashboard for things you used often, it did really well in that regard. It just kind of looks like it needs a bit more of a freshening, but again, that's not always the most important bit. Whether you're looking for passenger space, cargo room, or fuel efficiency, the Honda CRV hybrid is another well-rounded compact SUV for shoppers who just want something that works and works well. And in first place for the third time in a row is the Nissan Rogue. And it did really well in both the judges' categories and the objective categories. It had wins in both, was competitive, had no losses in either of them. So a really well-rounded vehicle that just stood out again for us. Yeah, I mean it's kind of lame to just look at something and say there's nothing about the vehicle we can point to and say, I don't know about that. But that's kind of what happened with the Rogue for the third time in a row is that it's doing everything very competently and very well and that really does show up in everything from the subjective scoring and the objective scoring as well. It looks good. It feels good. It drives well. It's comfortable. It's got technology that's easy to use. I mean overall, I like this thing quite a lot. Yeah, there's nothing it does that's stupid and there are a lot of things it does very, very well. The interior for me was more luxurious even than the Mazda, which is making a point to be upscale and the Nissan beats it in terms of interior quality. You get that nice quilted, leather upholstery. You get really good feeling controls. Everything feels well put together. It's just very comfortable. It's also features laden, this has a ton of unique features. I think I said it was probably the most well equipped contestant we've had in one of these comparisons in forever. It was also one of the most expensive vehicles we've had in the compact SUV test too. It was $48,330, nearly $5,000 more than the next most expensive Tucson hybrid. Now we account for that in our value scoring. There's a price component that it got knocked down in. But with that price comes a lot of those features you were mentioning that are unique too. It had Tri-Zone climate control, rear sunshades, and also a hands-free driving system. The only one in the test that had that, and that helped it get a win in our driver assist features category too. Yeah, the new pro pilot 2.1 plus, I believe it's called, is a hands-free cruise control that works very similarly to General Motors Super Cruise, but it's not Super Cruise. It doesn't work quite that well, but it does work reasonably well and we've all tried it at some point. And if it's something that's important to you in terms of being a commuter vehicle, then it can make highway driving a little bit less stressful. But you are gonna pay for that thing. Yeah, I believe on the price sheet it's $3,200 as an option and for me, that's not a priority. So for me, I'd probably skip this option and get the Rogues price more in line with the other competitors in the test. Yeah, $48,000 is roughly the average new car transaction price these days. So I mean while it does feel high in terms of the overall pantheon of vehicles that we tested, it's not out of the realm of possibility for what people are paying for an average new family vehicle these days. And this one had a turbocharge three-cylinder engine. Still had decent power though, 201 horsepower, and it still got reasonable fuel economy among the gas only vehicles rated at 30.8 miles per gallon. Second in terms of the gas only vehicles in the test, it was behind the hybrids as you'd expect. Also, cargo room was pretty decent in it wasn't the highest. It had 18.5 cubic feet, so kind of mid-pack. But again, it was doing enough to do well in all these categories even if it wasn't a standout on everything. Yeah, that engine in particular I think is fascinating. We were worried about it during the last test we did two years ago, switching to a turbocharged three cylinder from the four cylinder that it had. But it impressed us then and it impresses us now again. Despite the fact that it's only three cylinders, it's tuned in such a way that it has plenty of around town torque. I do kind of wish we saw the actual geared transmission from the Nissan Murano in this vehicle instead of the continuously variable automatic transmission. But this is not one of the bad CBTs on the market. It actually does work very well. It's reasonably smooth, not overly loud inside. In terms of powertrain, it's punchy, it's peppy, and I think it works really well. Yeah, it's a great package. And on top of that, you're not gonna get the sporty ride quality or handling of some of the vehicles here, but what you do get is just very competent ride quality. There's no complaints to be had when you're driving this around highway or around town. It's just balanced. The entire thing just feels comfortable, balanced, competent. It doesn't embarrass itself when you get onto twisty bits. Braking feel is really good. I mean overall it's not the sportiest, but then again, it's not a sports car. And so I think it'll do really well for a lot of families' uses. And it won in our vehicle user interface category. But Nissan has also introduced Google built-in in these versions of the Rogue. So I think there was some concerns we had about that system here like we've had in other vehicles. But the overall user experience was still good enough to give it the overall win. Yeah, Google built-in is slowly spreading and taking over pretty much all automotive applications that we've been testing. Sometimes it works great, sometimes it doesn't work great. We had one tester that just had incredible difficulties syncing their phone up to the actual system. And we've all experienced issues with the voice commands in Google built-in. They don't always work. And some work in some vehicles and some don't work in other vehicles. And if you don't have data connection, you also lose a lot of your controls for Google built-in in terms of the voice command. So it's not a perfect solution, but it did seem to work pretty reasonably well in the Nissan. Yeah, I didn't run into any issues myself. I think the graphics are great. I'm a heavy Google Maps user when I'm driving and I feel like Google OS really goes out of its way to make its own native navigation system look better when you're using it. So it's a positive experience. I'm worried about the continued creep of Google OS and the glitches we continue to experience from time to time. But for now here, I liked it. Comfortable, finely finished. and extremely well equipped. The Nissan Rogue Platinum is the most well-rounded compact SUV in our test and that's really what makes it the winner. It delivers a premium experience, but it comes at a very premium price. And there you have it folks. For the third comparison in a row, the Nissan Rogue is our winner. We think the Rogue is worth its premium price, but shoppers looking to save a little bit more money have a ton of solid choices in this segment. And that's why we suggest that you look at our detailed scoring and figure out which categories matter most to you. You can find the full results of this comparison and all of our deeper dives into the competitors at cars.com/news. (upbeat music)