13 Of The Best Cars On The Market, According To 2025 Reviews

Every year, automakers vie for your attention with entire lineups of vehicles. These vehicles cover a wide swath of use cases, from enthusiastic driving to grocery getting, outdoorsy adventures, work vehicles, and child haulers. Roughly 15 million vehicles are sold every year, and shoppers have over 150 models to choose from across dozens of automakers. Some of those vehicles rise above the rest as the best in their respective class.

The competition was tight in 2025, with automakers releasing new vehicles, redesigning old ones, and continuing to work on electrifying their lineup. Nearly all of those vehicles were put through their paces by professional and amateur reviewers over the course of the year, and several rose to the top of the ranks. Their ratings may not directly translate to sales, but it's interesting to see who the kings of the metaphorical mountain are.

Standards change over the years, but right now, these are considered the best cars in their categories. 

The Ford F-150 was a nearly unanimous choice as the top dog in the full-size pickup segment. It's easy to see why. The Ford F-150 is one of the best in terms of towing, and reviewers agree that the truck is big, comfortable, capable, packed with good tech, and it has a large number of engine options. You can buy it with a classic V8 if you want to, or go more modern with a V6 with a hybrid motor to help get better fuel economy.

Ford puts a lot of effort into the F-150, and it seems to pay off. The F-150 has been the highest selling truck in the U.S. for nearly 50 years, and there's no reason to doubt that it won't pull off the 50th year, since sales seem to have been picking up. There isn't much else to say for the F-150. It edges out its competition in almost every metric, which is impressive because the full-size truck market faces some stiff competition. It enjoys another year as the top dog in the segment, and that shouldn't surprise anyone.

The Rivian R1T was a popular pick among reviewers in 2026, with several publications ranking it in the top three for electric trucks.  The truck comes with four electric motor options, with the biggest one producing1,000 horsepower. It scoots the truck to 60 mph in 2.6 seconds, which is as fast as some supercars. It can tow 11,000 pounds, has standard all-wheel drive, and gets upwards of 420 miles of range, depending on which trim you pick.

The EV truck segment is a little sparse but has been picking up in recent years. The biggest competitor is the Ford F-150 Lightning, which was cancelled by Ford in December 2025. That leaves the duo of the GMC Sierra and Chevy Silverado EVs, and the Tesla Cybertruck, as the main competitors in the space. The only real downside of the Rivian is the price. It starts at over $70,000, with the top trims going for over $120,000. That puts it out of reach for typical shoppers, which is a bummer because it's otherwise a very good EV truck.

Fully electrified vans aren't terribly common yet, so in a way, Volkswagen wins this category by default with its ID.Buzz van. It's a harken back to the olden days of the microbus in terms of design, but has a modern, electrified powertrain. Even so, most review sites put the ID.Buzz near the top of the regular minivan lists as well, so its win isn't a sham. It is rather expensive, though, with models starting at around $61,000 after destination. The top trim is only another $7,000 or so, so it doesn't cost as much to upgrade trims as some other vehicles.

You get quite a lot for the price. The base motor gets a little over 280 horsepower, while the upgraded motor increases it to 335 horsepower. The interior looks nice, there's a ton of cargo space, and the thing is comfortable to be in. That's mostly what you want in a minivan, so there's every reason to believe that Volkswagen earned its praise with the Buzz.ID. The electrified van segment is getting some competition soon from other automakers, so Volkswagen won't be the only player for long.

Hyundai cruised to a victory with its Hyundai Ioniq 5. It sits at the top of most reviewer websites for electric 2-row SUVs. Hyundai came out with the Ioniq 5 in 2022, and it's been a favorite of reviewers ever since. Its high ranking is thanks to several factors, including its relatively friendly price tag, which starts at $36,000 and some change. The affordability mixed with being genuinely fun to drive puts it in a category where few EV SUVs exist. It also gets to 60 MPH in under five seconds, which is always nice to have.

Reviewers note that the Ioniq 5 has a firmer than average ride, but not so firm that it's uncomfortable. There are three electric motor options in total, with the biggest one equating to 320 horsepower. That model is genuinely quick, so the Ioniq 5 is good both for families wanting a decent electric grocery getter and folks who want high speed. The only two downsides that most reviewers agree on is that the frunk is pretty small and the range isn't as good as some rivals.

Hyundai also took top nod for its Ioniq 9, which was introduced for the first time in 2025 for the 2026 model year. This competition was quite a bit stiffer, though, with the Kia EV9, and the Ford Mustang Mach-E also getting high marks from reviewers. It's a pricey SUV, starting at around $60,000 and ending at $79,000 for the top trim. That puts it directly in competition with Hyundai's Palisade, although the Palisade is cheaper overall. The SUV has three electric motor options, but most reviewers recommend stepping up to at least the 303-horsepower version to increase the tow capacity to 5,000 pounds instead of the base motor's 3,500 pounds.

Other than that, there isn't much wrong with the Ioniq 9. The interior is, apparently, extremely quiet, and combined with agreeable suspension tuning and good seats, makes for an excellent ride experience. The only downside seems to be the infotainment, which is a bit slow to react in some scenarios, and some material choices aren't the best. Otherwise, Hyundai hit a home run with this, if you can stomach the high price tag.

Full-size SUVs also have some stiff competition, and choosing just one for the segment was actually pretty tough. The Chevy Suburban scored consistently well across the board, but the Ford Expedition, GMC Yukon, and even the Jeep Wagoneer also put up good numbers. So, if you wanted to put one of those here instead, we wouldn't blame you. The Chevy Suburban is a great full-size SUV, though, and it comes with as many amenities as you could want in a gas-powered SUV. It comes with three engine options, including a 5.3-liter V8, a 6.2-liter V8, and a 3.0-liter inline-six diesel engine.

The Suburban pairs its monster engines with some decently fun features, like an adaptive suspension that heightens and lowers the ride height. Reviewers praise the vehicle's comfortable seats and cavernous cabin along with its agreeable ride quality and its 7,800-pound tow capacity. On the other end of the spectrum, reviewers were less thrilled about its luxury-level price tag, the less-than-ideal fuel economy of the V8 engines, and questionable start-stop system. All told, it's right up there if you want a body-on-frame SUV that can tow and haul almost whatever you want.

The Toyota Grand Highlander was first released to the public in 2024. It comes in both gas-powered and hybrid variants, which are reviewed separately by most publications. It doesn't matter which one you pick, though, since both of them scored very well across the board compared to the rest of the midsize, 3-row crossover segment. In fact, it's good enough to warrant comparisons to Lexus in some reviews, which is reasonable because Toyota has been doing that with a lot of its vehicles recently. Of course, those upgrades also come with price hikes, and with a starting price of $43,000, the Grand Highlander isn't Toyota's cheapest SUV.

You get three engine options with the Grand Highlander, which include a 265-horsepower turbo-four in the gas model and two hybrid engines. The hybrid options let you choose between a 245-horsepower engine in the base trims and a much stronger 362-horsepower option in the Hybrid Max trim. Both of the hybrid options get more fuel efficiency than the gas model. Reviewers also praise the ride quality, spacious cabin for a midsize crossover, and excellent standard features.

The Kia Telluride has been a media darling since it was introduced in 2019. It gave shoppers a good amount of space, a naturally aspirated V6, and enough gizmos and tech in the cabin to feel almost luxury. Little has changed in the years since, and it remains at or close to the top of virtually every reviewer website's ranking list, a distinction it often shares with its stablemate, the Hyundai Palisade. The two SUVs are cut from the same cloth, so really the only difference between the two is the exterior and interior styling. We could've thrown the Palisade on here just as easily as the Telluride.

The Telluride still rocks its V6 engine, although it doesn't yet have a hybrid option like the Palisade does. It also comes with an impressive 10 trim options that range from a very reasonable $37,000 to a near-luxury price tag of $55,000. Its high marks are earned for its quiet, comfortable cabin, couch-like ride quality, and spacious interior. It's not a tow behemoth, but it can still do 5,500 pounds if you need it to. The V6's fuel economy is the only consistent negative among reviewers.

The midsize sedan segment is extremely competitive but has been largely dominated by the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord for many years. When the segment mostly went to hybridization, the Camry and Accord kept their top marks, with the current Camry slightly edging out the Accord on reviewer lists. Every version of the Camry is a hybrid now, so gone are the days of four-cylinder and six-cylinder engines. As such, the Camry gets outstanding fuel economy, with reviewers routinely getting at or least close to EPA estimates.

Its single powertrain is a 225-horsepower hybrid engine that gets 232 horsepower in the all-wheel drive version. Otherwise, it's about as standard of an option as it gets. The base trims are a bit barebones for their starting price of $30,000, but the top trim only increases the price by about $6,000, so stepping up into something nicer isn't that bad. Reviewers note the firm but supportive seats, decently low cabin noise, good passenger space, and smooth, if somewhat unremarkable ride quality. The Accord gets all of those same praises, so really, you can go with either one.

Of all the vehicle segments we explored for this article, the minivan segment might be the most competitive. One of the highest ranking vehicle was the Kia Carnival (and its hybrid variant). However, it didn't take first place in any individual list. Instead, it was often second or third place. Still, the Carnival was the most consistently high-ranked minivan, with the Toyota Sienna, Volkswagen Buzz.ID, Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid, and even the aging Honda Odyssey getting high marks, too.

The Kia Carnival has plenty of advantages. It now has a hybrid variant that gets pretty decent fuel economy, keeping pace with others in the segment, while retaining its 287-horsepower, naturally-aspirated V6 for people who want to rock it old school. Regardless of powertrain, all models feature a ton of space, a comfortable interior, and enough in-cabin tech to make your head spin. The ride quality is a tad stiff, but not necessarily in a bad way. Reviewers tend to prefer the hybrid, thanks to its superior fuel economy numbers, but there isn't a bad one in the bunch. It is a little expensive though, with prices starting well over $40,000.

The Ford Ranger was put on hiatus for most of the 2010s before it was brought back in 2019. It has been getting better and better ever since and currently tops the charts (or at least comes close) on most reviewer ranking lists. This is due to two reasons. The first is that the Ranger is actually a pretty good midsize truck without a lot of downsides. Secondly, the Ford Ranger Raptor exists, and at $58,965 after destination fees, is an absurdly fun and powerful truck to own and drive. The existence of an extra special trim definitely skewed the numbers a bit for the Ranger.

The regular Ranger is still pretty excellent, with reviewers praising its beefy engine options, which include a 270-horsepower turbo-four and a 315-horsepower twin-turbo V6. It also got high marks for ride quality, its quiet cabin, and its conservative, but still nice styling. In short, it's just a nice all-around truck. The only detriments were its lack of bed sizes (there is only one), and the fact that it's a bit pricey for the segment, even without the Raptor being taken into account. Its 7,500-pound towing capacity is class competitive, and its 1,788 pounds of payload capacity is towards the top of the segment as well.

The compact crossover segment is arguably the most competitive of them all, with every automaker having a horse in the race. As such, it was almost impossible to pick just one compact SUV that topped the charts. The Honda CR-V performs very well, as does the Mazda CX-5, Kia Sportage, Volkswagen Tiguan, and, of course, the Toyota Rav4. However, the Hyundai Tucson Hybrid had arguably the best showing of all of them. The regular gas-only version also did pretty well, but reviewers overwhelming recommend the Hybrid if you can swing it.

The reason is because the Tucson Hybrid outperforms its gas-only sibling in every way. It's faster, gets better fuel economy, and still handles nicely around corners and straightaways alike. Unlike most hybrid crossovers, Hyundai used a regular automatic transmission, so driving it is much like driving a gas-only vehicle, which a lot of reviewers seemed to like a lot. It's also comfortable, quiet, rides well, and has plenty of cargo capacity for weekend trips or school events. A few years ago, Hyundai messed up with the infotainment, making it all capacitive, which most people didn't like. However, modern models have button controls, so there's really no downside to this SUV.

The Honda Civic cleaned up every website's compact sedan ranking, and it wasn't even close. On U.S. News, some variant of the Honda Civic took the number one, two, and three slots on the site's small cars list. The Prius scored well, and often tied with the Civic, but the Civic Hybrid won Edmunds' best car (any category) of 2025. So, the win goes to the Civic. It makes sense, because the Civic has a lot to offer. 

For enthusiasts, the Civic Type R is a blend of speed and handling that is truly enjoyable to drive. The regular Civic gives you the old pep and handling that Civic owners have come to enjoy for decades, while the Civic Hybrid gets utterly absurd fuel economy, averaging nearly 50 MPG. All three models are good for daily driving, have excellent handling, and all you're really choosing is the track-ready components in the Type R versus the fuel economy in the Civic Hybrid, and the regular street driving of the Civic. 

They are also some of the least expensive vehicles on the market, starting at $25,000 for the gas-only LX and ranging up to around $34,700 for the very top trim with a hybrid and hatchback.

This was a difficult list to put together. It involved reading and watching dozens of reviews from dozens of creators, from mainstays like Edmunds and Car and Driver to YouTube creators like Savagegeese, Alex on Autos, and TheStraightPipes. From there, we used aggregate lists from the main auto blogs to piece together a first draft of the list, before further culling down the cars. The first draft of this article had over 45 vehicles on it. The final had 13.

Initially, this was going to be a ranked list. However, how does one compare a full-size, body-on-frame SUV to a Civic Hybrid? Those vehicles are for completely different types of buyers and the number of people cross shopping the most fuel-efficient small sedans with a coal-burning, bus-sized SUVs is exceptionally small. So instead, we pivoted to make this a list of the top cars in various categories.

Reviews are subjective, though, making this list a subjective ranking based on other people's subjective views. Ultimately, you should always buy the vehicle you like the most. This list was created mainly for educational purposes, and hopefully it will help you choose the right vehicle for you.