These are the gravel-oriented cars we've actually driven in 2019 – an exceptional year for Mzansi's roads with several debutantes and stalwarts battling for dominance in their segments. But, and we've always said this, there's plenty of excellent metal that flies under the radar too.
Rather than break it up into segments, these are simply cars we've driven this year that stood out for whatever reason – and as such should definitely be under serious consideration for your driveway.
Best Compact SUV
We've been raving about the new Volkswagen T-Cross so no reason to stop now. It's not perfect by any means but this soft roader comes with VW's unique street cred and a spirited one litre engine mated to a smooth DSG transmission. It's already a sales success, and we can confirm it's well deserving of the attention.
Next Best:
The Suzuki Vitara Turbo, and it only narrowly beat out its tiny 4x4 sibling, the Jimny, but for good reason. It's an overlooked gem, ripe for any family – so long as you don’t expect it to do proper 4x4 things.
Best Mid-Sized SUV
This is it, where the biggest battles are fought, a segment practically overflowing with metal. Choosing something here is nearly impossible for us, so we can imagine what it's like for you, the consumer.
We’ve opted for the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross even though not nearly enough people are buying it. It hasn’t been around quite as long as the Subaru Forester and Renault Koleos, great SUVs we’ve driven this year – but it is was a great entry from a manufacturer with a great history of gravel. Just don’t try scaling mountains in it.
Next Best:
Ag come on Mzansi, can we please give the Peugeot 5008 a chance? A truly great little soft-roader with gallic charm. And with that, we’ve done our part in recommending two unusual suspects.
Best Full-Sized SUV
It's not a 4x4, but oh man did we enjoy the BMW X5. We had the luck of playing with two monolithic models, the X5M and the 3.0D – neither exactly slouches. In the end it was close, the newly launched Audi Q8 55 was a fantastic drive and we imagine the upcoming RS Q8 will be a very desirable piece of kit.
Next Best:
The Isuzu MU-X. Almost exclusively because it isn't the Ford Everest and the Fortuner. Those are great cars of course, but the Isuzu matches them in every regard. It’s our People’s Champion.
Best Double-Cab Bakkie
We hate to look like we have no imagination here at Carshop, but the Toyota Hilux deserves this accolade, especially in Legend 50 trim. We drove 4000km plus across four African countries and came away perfectly satisfied and mostly impressed with Mzansi's most legacy’d bakkie.
Next Best:
The Nissan Navara Stealth, for similar reasons – we did 3100km from JHB to Cape Town over six days and relished every moment. Every single moment.
Special mentions
A car that really impressed us this year has to be the Mahindra XUV300. This mid-sized SUV from the Indian marque is by no means perfect, but it is easily the best passenger car they’ve ever made – taking the fight convincingly to the emerging Chinese SUVs like the Haval H6C. In fact, we’d almost compare it to the Suzuki Vitara which is quite the compliment.
Carshop's Best of 2019: Part Two Cheat Sheet
