Top 10 Most Comfortable SUVs on Sale Today

When it first entered our common lexicon, the “Sport Utility Vehicle” moniker was reserved for wagon-style vehicles riding on traditional truck platforms.

Those truck underpinnings tended to produce durable, robust vehicles, often with some off-road acumen, but they also frequently resulted in an unsavory ride.

Today, the SUV label is often expanded to encompass their car-based crossover utility vehicle cousins. Those vehicles tend to be smoother and more livable than the truck-based SUVs of the past, leading to high consumer expectations when it comes to comfort. As a result, the new-vehicle market is positively lousy with plush, cozy utility vehicles, capable of carrying you and yours to whatever destination in luxury.

Below, we’ve picked out the ten most comfortable SUVs on the market, listed in no particular order:

Based on the same mechanicals as the GMC Acadia and the more downmarket Chevrolet Traverse, the Buick Enclave elevates these underpinnings into the realm of the premium. Its suspension is soft and supple, insulating occupants well from even the most uncouth of roads, and even the base Preferred trim comes with Active Noise Cancellation and other effective sound-deadening measures.

What’s more, the Enclave delivers best-in-class cargo space without sacrificing its impressive sense of roominess, and leather upholstery is standard on all but the base trim level. The standard eight-way power adjustable driver’s seat is easy to adjust just how you want it, and standard adjustable lumbar support on both front seats is a standout feature on such a reasonably priced vehicle.

The most expensive SUV on our list (we had to draw the line somewhere), the Land Rover Range Rover is a bona fide luxury icon with the ride and comfort to match.

With a price tag well over the US median household income, it had better be.

A gargantuan panoramic moonroof and leather-appointed 16-way-adjustable heated front seats are standard—yes, standard—and a beautiful Walnut veneer is worn across much of the dash. But what we love most about the Land Rover Range Rover is, of course, how it glides over the road—an attribute possessed largely thanks to its air suspension.

Unlike most of the other vehicles on this list, the Range Rover was developed to be a true, capable off-roader, and if its suspension can dampen against rocks and ruts, the occasional pothole ain’t nothing.

The only truck-based SUV on this list, the Chevrolet Suburban is a gargantuan bit of mass-market utility vehicle.

Fun fact: “Suburban” is also considered the longest-running continuous-use nameplate in automotive history, having first adorned a Chevrolet station wagon all the way back in 1935.

But forget about its depression-era origins; today’s Suburban is anything but austere. Even at the base trim level you get a leather-wrapped steering wheel and power adjustable front seats, and the interior is well laid-out and uncluttered. In true GM fashion, the materials and switch gear could stand to look and feel a bit nicer, but the ergonomics are all well-sorted, and having such a large footprint, there is plenty of room to spread out.

If there were an award for comfort-per-dollar, the Jeep Grand Cherokee might well be in the running.

Roomy and nicely styled on the inside, the Grand Cherokee’s standout virtues are a cushy, quiet ride and a cabin devoid of any obvious, glaring signs of chintziness.

The Grand Cherokee is such a titan of the industry it needed two years to carry out its recent revision: 2021 saw the introduction of the three-row Grand Cherokee L, while 2022 brought a replacement for the original. Four-wheel independent suspension contributes to the GC’s gentle on-road manners. Other automakers could learn a thing or two from the Jeep about how to make a driver’s seat; the base Laredo trim gets a 12-way adjustable seat that includes four-way adjustability for the lumbar support. In addition, standard acoustic glass for the windshield and front doors help keep the noise of the outside world where it belongs.

Hyundai has come a long way in the US over the past two decades, and for proof, look no further than the Palisade.

All-new for 2020, the Palisade has earned accolades all over the place (including from AutoGuide). It’s well-earned; the Palisade is an astonishingly well-appointed vehicle, especially at its price point, with good ergonomics and impressive fit and finish.

The sound deadening is thorough, rendering the cabin more serene and peaceful than any sub-$40,000 SUV has any right to have. It speaks to Hyundai’s evolution as an automaker that such an inexpensive vehicle should feel so quiet, well-mannered, and cozy.

And while it’s not as large as some of the other vehicles on this list, the seven-seat Hyundai Palisade never gets to feeling cramped or claustrophobic. Bravo.

It should come as no surprise that Toyota’s dedicated luxury brand offers one of the more luxurious crossovers on the market today: the Lexus RX.

Its current fifth-generation design dropped for the 2015 model year, boasting a 2-inch increase in wheelbase and all the extra cabin space that implies. The interior is, unsurprisingly, well-crafted and upscale, with standard supple NuLuxe faux-leather upholstery, or the option of even-more-supple semi-aniline perforated leather.

Most impressively, even the performance-oriented F Sport models can deliver a smooth, inoffensive ride on the road that belies their competent handling. This is thanks to an Adaptive Variable Suspension with 650 levels of damping stiffness, part of an available Performance Package.

Unlike many of the SUVs on this list, the Volkswagen Atlas—VW’s mid-size crossover—won’t blow you away with its abundance of rich standard comfort and convenience features. The base driver’s seat is a run-of-the-mill six-way manual adjustable unit, and real leather upholstery doesn’t come into play until the top SEL Premium trim level.

What it offers instead is a thoughtful, handsome interior design with superior ergonomics, and the sort of supreme fit and finish that we’ve come to expect from Germany’s people’s car company. Dual-zone climate control comes standard, and there are vents for second- and third-row passengers from the base trim level up.

The ride can get a bit choppy over rough pavement, but in most any other circumstances, it’s the cozy, comfy, well-put-together family hauler you would expect.

This list wouldn’t be complete without a Volvo on it. And the comfiest, cushiest of the lot is without a doubt the XC90 range-topper. It’s a classy Scandinavian with the sort of exemplary ride other brands only wish they could pull off.

The XC90 might be getting on in years, but it’s still a sharp design inside and out. Lots of sound deadening keeps the interior whisper-quiet even at highway speeds. The seats are some of the most comfortable in the business, with higher trims even including a handy massage feature. If we have to drive great distances, there are few rides we’d take over the XC90.

One doesn’t need to spend an arm and a leg for comfort, and as affordable compact SUVs go, the Subaru Outback delivers.

The Outback was completely redesigned for 2020, and nice, soft-touch materials adorn all the usual touch points. The seats are comfortable, despite limited adjustability on the base model, and the dash is well laid-out and pleasant to the eye. Most importantly, the re-engineered chassis manages to be rigid without rattling anyone’s teeth out; Subaru’s engineers set out with the aim of making the suspension, not the body, do the hard work of absorbing bumps in the road—and off-road, for that matter. In that, they were successful, giving the Outback a pleasant, cushy ride fitting of a much more expensive SUV.

Brand new for 2020, the Lincoln Aviator is Ford’s luxurious, premium take on its own all-new Explorer SUV, and it’s a beautifully executed paradigm of American luxury.

The base model features cozy, heated 10-way adjustable power front seats with driver’s seat memory, upholstered in a soft faux leather, while Lincoln’s ludicrously adjustable 30-way seats are available on higher trims. The rest of the materials, from the basic Standard trim up to the top-of-the-line Black Label and Black Label Grand Touring, are pleasant to see and to touch, with effective use of veneers across the dash and nice, soft-touch materials in key places.

Looking at the cabin side-by-side with that of the new Ford Explorer, it’s apparent straight away that the differences are more than superficial; serious effort has been poured into making the Aviator a uniquely posh vehicle next to its less luxurious stablemate. The result is a truly premium-feeling SUV with oodles of comfort and class.