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Subaru is a trusted and beloved car brand that’s well-known for making good, reliable cars that can handle off-road adventures. All-wheel drive is a feature that helps cars go off-road, and unsurprisingly, there are many Subaru cars that come with all-wheel drive. Here’s a look at the best cars with all-wheel drive and how Subaru’s vehicles stack up.

Front angle view of white 2023 Subaru Forester crossover SUV
2023 Subaru Forester | Subaru

Subaru doesn’t have a single car on the list of best AWD cars

TrueCar recently created a list of the 20 best cars with AWD, and surprisingly, no Subaru vehicles made the list at all. The car critic looked at every vehicle in every segment that had all-wheel drive, so Subaru’s lineup was competing against a lot of competition.

On top of that, the site evaluated each vehicle based on a variety of factors, so all-wheel drive wasn’t the only area that the car critic was looking at. 

All said and done, popular automakers like Hyundai, Kia, Lexus, Honda, and Toyota topped the list.  In the top 10, Toyota, Lexus, Honda, and Kia dominated the list, as each automaker had two entries.

Hyundai, on the other hand, had one entry. The only other automaker to make the top 10 was Ford, and the American automaker’s entry came in at 10th place.

Why that is such a surprising snub for Subaru

There were a few other automakers in 11th to 20th place, such as Mazda and Cadillac, but Toyota and Hyundai continued to do well as both automakers had two more entries in that portion of the list.

It’s not surprising that automakers like Toyota and Kia did so well, but it is surprising that no Subaru vehicle made the list at all. This is because Subaru has made a name for itself by making cars that come standard with AWD.

Very few automakers, if any, offer all-wheel drive as standard for every car in their lineup. On top of that, Subaru’s cars aren’t bad options by any means. Many Subies, such as the Outback, have won awards or were good enough to be finalists for an award.

TrueCar, however, doesn’t seem to agree with those sentiments. The fact that every Subie came with all-wheel drive didn’t seem to be a substantial contributing factor either, as most of the cars that did make the list only offer all-wheel drive as an option. 

These are the cars that did make the list of the best AWD cars

Regardless, the cars that ended up on the list aren’t bad cars, so it’s not that surprising that they beat out every single Subaru model. The Ford Escape came in at 10th place, and the site liked its hybrid powertrains a lot.

The Kia Sorento finished in ninth, and it was also praised for its hybrid powertrains. The Honda Pilot was in eighth, and the car critic liked how spacious it was.

The Pilot was followed by the Lexus NX, which had a great interior. The Toyota Highlander was in sixth place, and the car critic liked its tech and safety features. Then there was the Toyota Sienna, which was a solid and capable minivan. The popular Honda CR-V came after that, and it had few flaws overall.

The Lexus RX finished in third place, and it was praised for its redesign. The Hyundai Tucson came in at second place, and the car critic liked the number of features that it came with.

Finally, the Kia Sportage finished at first place, and it was praised for its spaciousness and its hybrid powertrain options.

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