What’s the Best 3-Row SUV of 2024?

If you need a family vehicle to shuttle around your kids — or maybe your elderly parents — but won’t be caught dead in a minivan, what’s your best option? The answer, increasingly, is something like one of the seven vehicles tested here: a three-row SUV, which has replaced the minivan as the family vehicle of choice. The three-row SUV class is huge, so we couldn’t bring all of them to this test — but we did gather some of the most popular 2024 models: the Honda Pilot, Hyundai Palisade, Kia Telluride, Nissan Pathfinder, Subaru Ascent, Toyota Grand Highlander and the Volkswagen Atlas. And we got the nice versions, with all of them loaded to the roof with amenities and family-friendly features. To test these family haulers we brought them to Palm Springs, Calif., and drove them around town, on twisty mountain roads and through some brutal Southern California traffic. We measured their cargo areas, assessed their features, tested child-safety seat fitment, scored their value for the money and took them on a 250-mile loop to see what kind of gas mileage they get in real-world driving. It was all to determine which one of these family trucksters is the best. Here’s how they finished: 1. 2024 Hyundai Palisade Calligraphy Night Edition 2. 2024 Volkswagen Atlas SEL Premium R-Line 3. 2024 Toyota Grand Highlander Hybrid Limited 4. 2024 Kia Telluride SX-Prestige X-Line 5. 2024 Honda Pilot Elite 6. 2024 Nissan Pathfinder Platinum 7. 2024 Subaru Ascent Touring Read the full results story: https://www.cars.com/articles/whats-t... Chapters: 0:00 Intro 0:29 The contenders 0:48 How we tested 1:13 7th place: 2024 Subaru Ascent Touring 4:11 6th place: 2024 Nissan Pathfinder Platinum 6:53 5th place: 2024 Honda Pilot Elite 10:12 4th place: 2024 Kia Telluride SX-Prestige X-Line 15:32 3rd place: 2024 Toyota Grand Highlander Hybrid Limited 22:54 2nd place: 2024 Volkswagen Atlas SEL Premium R-Line 28:09 1st place: 2024 Hyundai Palisade Calligraphy Night Edition Editorial mission: Cars.com’s Editorial department is your source for automotive news and reviews. In line with Cars.com’s long-standing ethics policy, editors and reviewers don’t accept gifts or free trips from automakers. The Editorial department is independent of Cars.com’s advertising, sales and sponsored content departments.