Friday Fights: Did Motor Trend Get Its SUVOTY Finalists Right?

Tim Healey
by Tim Healey

It’s Friday, it’s been a slow news day — as evidenced by the dearth of posts today — and there’s just not much going on the rest of the afternoon. So instead of doing a post on some appearance package on a crossover that you don’t care about, I’m going to do that old blogger trick of throwing some red meat to you, the commenters, allowing you to fight it out. Just like lions on the savannah.

Consider this an afternoon version of QOTD (by the way, we know we haven’t done one in a while. Once the next news chief is installed, QOTD will almost certainly return.). Today’s fight is about Motor Trend’s announcement of the 2021 SUV of the Year finalists — did the venerable buff book get it right, in your (humble or not so humble) opinion?

Here’s your top six, in alphabetical order: Cadillac Escalade, Genesis GV80, Land Rover Defender, Kia Seltos, Nissan Rogue, and Toyota Venza. The rest are also listed at MT’s site.

I’d give you my take to get the ball rolling, but of those six, I’ve only driven the Seltos, which is a fine small crossover. Adam praised the Rogue recently, and I have a Defender scheduled soon. The Venza, ‘Sclade, and GV80 are high on my “to-drive” list, and I am sure I will see a Rogue grace my garage before too long.

Youse guys may have had chances to drive at least some of these vehicles by now, though. I could be wrong, but I think five of the six finalists have been on sale for a bit now, with only the Rogue launching in recent weeks. So, go ahead and argue it all out.

Others on the list — such as the Hyundai Venue, Toyota Highlander, and Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport have been reviewed on this very site. I also have driven the Chevrolet Trailblazer, with the review forthcoming.

See you Monday. ‘Till then, it’s Miller Time.

[Image: Cadillac]

Tim Healey
Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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  • ToolGuy This is the kind of thing you get when you give people faster internet.
  • ToolGuy North America is already the greatest country on the planet, and I have learned to be careful about what I wish for in terms of making changes. I mean, if Greenland wants to buy JDM vehicles, isn't that for the Danes to decide?
  • ToolGuy Once again my home did not catch on fire and my fire extinguisher(s) stayed in the closet, unused. I guess I threw my money away on fire extinguishers.(And by fire extinguishers I mean nuclear missiles.)
  • Carson D The UAW has succeeded in organizing a US VW plant before. There's a reason they don't teach history in the schools any longer. People wouldn't make the same mistakes.
  • B-BodyBuick84 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport of course, a 7 seater, 2.4 turbo-diesel I4 BOF SUV with Super-Select 4WD, centre and rear locking diffs standard of course.
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