Drive Car of the Year 2024 – Best Luxury Off-Road SUV under $150K FINALISTS

Over the next few weeks, we'll be explaining all the categories and contenders for Drive Car of the Year 2024. Testing is currently underway, with the final winners to be announced early next year.

*Updated 12pm, December 15, 2023

FINALISTS CONFIRMED

For those seeking a formidable family SUV ready for any adventure, the market offers several contenders eager for your substantial investment. When considering a budget of up to $150,000, discernment becomes crucial as buyers demand a vehicle that excels in myriad aspects. Comfort and capability, ruggedness and refinement, spaciousness and style, performance and prestige are paramount considerations.

While being easily the oldest of this trio, the Nissan Patrol has been given an enticing local makeover with the Warrior variant. Bringing significant updates to the suspension and wheel/tyre package, the Patrol Warrior is taking this outgoing generation of Nissan’s flagship four-wheel drive out with a bang. 

The interior is mostly the same; huge and comfortable but with dated technology and infotainment. Swapping out the wood panelling with a combination of suede and piano black has helped refresh the cabin by a surprising amount. 

Nissan’s glorious 298kW/560Nm 5.6-litre petrol V8 carries over, but now sounds incredible through a bi-modal exhaust system with side pipes. And with more clearance, huge all-terrain tyres and a more focussed suspension tune, the Patrol Warrior is impressively capable off-road. For those that want something big that can confidently turn its hand to anything, and with room for up to eight inside, the Patrol Warrior has plenty of value and appeal. 

Follow our Nissan Patrol Warrior coverage here. 

If this category was judged based on sales volumes and overall popularity, then the Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series would be a runaway winner. Australia's enduring affinity with LandCruiser continues with the recently launched 300 Series.

A 3.3-litre twin-turbocharged diesel V6 with 227kW and 700Nm easily outstrips the old V8 for grunt, and is well matched by the 10-speed automatic gearbox. 

The interior is classic LandCruiser: comfortable and practical for up to seven, and off-road ability is well maintained through a locking centre differential and smart-tuned traction control system. 

The top-spec LandCruiser GR Sport adds in locking differentials front and rear with disconnecting swaybars for extra off-road suppleness, but we’d argue that GXL would likely be the smart variant in the range to buy. 

More Toyota LandCruiser news and reviews here. 

The Land Rover Defender – now a technological leader in the segment – comes into this category with a strong pedigree of performance, winning the category for two years running. This comes from having an impressively wide bandwidth of excellence, in terms of both on-road and off-road performance. 

The sophisticated aluminium chassis and independent suspension with adjustable air springs allow for high levels of refinement and comfort on-road, but also bring segment-leading levels of capability and raw ground clearance for off-road driving. 

Land Rover’s off-road traction control smarts are still some of the best in the segment, and the cabin comes loaded with plenty of technology and practical touches for family useage. The Defender's appeal further extends with the introduction of an eight-seater Defender 130 variant alongside the 110 and short-wheelbase 90, offering a diverse array of petrol and diesel powertrains.

Read Land Rover Defender news and reviews here and read about the Defender’s Best off-road SUV 2023 win here. 

The below was first published on November 19, 2023

Here we’re looking at large and extra-large prestige 4WDs under $150K with no-nonsense capability for adventurous Australian families – who want more style and status than lower-priced vehicles can offer, with no compromise.

This is a category that might look familiar from 2023. We knew it as Best Off-Road SUV last year, but is now price banded and so is considered as a new category, Drive Car of the Year Best Luxury Off-Road SUV Under $150K. It includes a tidy array of luxury off-road models, now all under consideration for their ability to go mud-plugging with the best out in the bush while also scrubbing up to be not the least bit out of place when delivering its occupants to the opera in town. 

These are vehicles that, despite their cost, have all the mechanical and electronic systems to get them as far off-road as possible as a standard vehicle can. Some have a particularly off-road focus, while others are designed to be just as equally at home on the blacktop. There is no lack of safety or technology for most of them, or indeed luxury equipment.

Whichever way it goes, it’s going to be a tight contest.

There are some clever and interesting candidates this year that might prove a strong threat to what is, despite the category shift, last year’s winner, the Land Rover Defender.

There’s the Ineos Grenadier, such an interesting take on the iconic boxy SUV and to many eyes the spiritual successor to the original Land Rover; then, the Jeep Grand Cherokee, now having moved up well into luxury status with most models well beyond $100K, while the evergreen Nissan Patrol has been significantly rebooted and armoured for off-road work as the Warrior by local outfit Premcar. The LandCruiser 300 needs no introduction and surely must be a readers’ favourite to win this category as Toyota’s best and biggest SUV. 

Because the Drive Car of the Year Best Off-Road SUV Under $150K is, basically a new category this year (last year the category had no price cap), everything that meets the definition of off-road and is under the price barrier of $150,000 is eligible for consideration.

Drive’s rules require that, for a car to be eligible, it must:

The winner of the 2024 Drive Car of the Year Best Luxury Off-Road SUV under $150K will be announced in February 2024.

Before then, we will announce the finalists, all of which deliver on the buyer’s expectations for cost-effective urban motoring. One thing is certain: this category promises to be one of the toughest confronting our 11 experienced judges.

Read more: 

Drive Car of the Year 2024 is a go!
Drive Car of the Year Overview
Drive Car of the Year 2023 winners