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The SUV champions over the sedan in the U.S., now accounting for 52% of new vehicle sales in 2025, up from 46% in 2021 and 38% in 2016, according to GCBC. This makes sense in certain aspects because an SUV can be superior compared to sedans and other types of vehicles. For one, it is higher off the ground, it typically has more space, and it can go on terrains that most passenger cars can not.
People also love SUVs because they give you a more commanding position over the road, you see better, and can often place the car more easily into parking spots. Even though they can be quite big, they are also often boxy, which can also help you position them correctly. All in all, the sedan has a hard time competing with an SUV it the eye of the modern buyer, and as the trend is continuing, the gap is likely to widen.
This has also led many automakers to discontinue their sedans entirely. In 2025, we lost the Chevrolet Malibu, the Nissan Altima, Volvo’s S60/S90, the Subaru Legacy, and the Acura TLX. Still, plenty of the reasons people flock to SUVs don’t hold up, and a lot of common SUV myths are actually pretty exaggerated once you look closer, which is why we need to talk about the four ways sedans beat SUVs where it really matters.
Performance and handling
Where the sedan typically loses to the SUV in terms of utility, it makes up for it in the performance department. Granted, the market is now filled with super SUVs that can do 0-60 mph in around the three-second mark, but when the road gets technical, twisty, and tight, they are still no match for a dedicated performance sedan.
Take the 543-horsepower BMW M3 CS, for example. Compare it to the much more powerful, much more expensive, and much more compromised 640-horsepower Audi RS Q8 Performance. Around the Nürburgring Nordschleife, the M3 CS completed the lap in 7 minutes 28 seconds. The Audi RS Q8 performance was lapped at 7 minutes and 36 seconds — almost eight seconds behind the M3, despite having 100 horsepower more.
That gap comes down to physics. An SUV’s higher body sits further from the road, so more weight shifts side to side under cornering load, forcing the suspension and tires to work harder just to keep the car flat. That same height and mass also means bigger brakes doing more work to shed speed, and they fade sooner under repeated hard stops than a sedan’s.
The RS Q8 performance is still the fastest SUV ever officially tested on the Nürburgring, and the number it posted is genuinely absurd for something this tall and heavy. Still, the fastest sedan on the Nürburgring, the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT with the Manthey Kit, managed 6 minutes and 55 seconds. No matter how hard automakers try, you are never going to make a racing horse out of a bull, unless it’s a Lamborghini, of course.
Fuel economy
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Gas prices are at record highs, and as things stand, it is unclear whether that will become a bit worse, or a lot worse in the future. For someone who owns a gas-guzzler SUV, this is particularly important because SUVs, on average, use 20% to 30% more fuel compared to a smaller passenger car.
If the SUV in question is a more performance-oriented SUV, like the previously mentioned Audi RS Q8, those numbers can become ludicrous. For example, the RS Q8 performance carries an EPA-estimated 16 MPG combined rating — 14 MPG in the city and 20 MPG on the highway. Edmunds’ own testing loop returned even less, with the outlet recording just 13.3 MPG.
Compare that to a proper performance sedan like the BMW M340i, EPA-rated at 29 MPG combined — 27 MPG in the city and 33 MPG on the highway — despite packing a 382-horsepower turbocharged inline-six and hitting 60 mph in about four seconds. That’s nearly double the RS Q8’s combined figure from a car that isn’t a hybrid and isn’t sacrificing much in a straight line either.
That difference comes down to good old physics, not engineering wizardry. A sedan’s smaller footprint and lower ride height cut through the air more efficiently, making it more slippery and more efficient. A sedan also has lighter overall weight, which means the engine works less to move it. Even smaller hybrid SUVs with exceptional gas mileage can get into the 40s, while the most efficient sedans out there can even get close to 60s.
Price and value
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A pretty major and immediately noticeable difference between SUVs and normal cars is pricing. This one you can notice directly on the window sticker. Even within the same automaker’s lineup, badge-for-badge, the SUV will typically cost more to buy. Take Toyota, the best-selling brand in the world, for example. The 2026 Camry starts at $29,600, and the 2026 RAV4 opens nearly $2,500 higher at $31,900, despite the RAV4 sharing the Camry’s platform underneath. That gap holds at the top too. So, no matter where in the lineup you look, the RAV4 is always comparably more expensive. At least part of that premium comes down to simple physics again.
The RAV4 is heavier. That means more material, more structure, and a bigger bill to build it. That extra weight and height also tend to mean pricier tires, larger brakes. In general, SUVs are simply priced higher. KBB rounded up the numbers for Cox Automotive’s assessment of mid-size SUV vs mid-size sedan pricing for June 2025, and the difference listed was that SUVs are, on average, 46% more expensive.
The BMW 3-Series starts at $48,000, the X3 starts at $51,300. The new Mercedes C-Class starts at $49,650, the GLC starts at $52,400. No matter how you look at it, chances are that buying an SUV is going to require more money.
Rollover protection and pedestrian safety
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In many people’s eyes, an SUV seems safer than a sedan. That holds merit, but not always. For example, an SUV is higher off the ground and taller, and pure physics dictates that it is a lot easier to experience a rollover in an SUV compared to a sedan. This comes down to the center of gravity relative to the track width of an SUV, a ratio NHTSA calls the Static Stability Factor.
A taller vehicle with a higher center of gravity scores worse on this measurement, and the ratings reflect it. Among different vehicles rated by the NHTSA, SUVs typically landed at two or three stars for rollover resistance. On the other hand, most regular passenger cars scored four or five. According to IIHS’s 2024 fatality data, rollover crashes accounted for 20% of all car occupant deaths that year, compared with 33% of SUV occupant deaths.
Electronic stability control has narrowed that gap significantly since 1999 when these numbers were comparably a lot worse, but the physics haven’t changed. This also extends to pedestrian safety, where SUVs are consistently more dangerous to the people outside the car. In 2023, the IIHS ran the largest study of its kind, examining nearly 18,000 pedestrian crashes, and found that vehicles with a hood height above 40 inches were about 45% more likely to cause a pedestrian fatality compared to one with its hood under 30 inches.
Add a bit of speed into the mix, and the numbers are even worse. A separate IIHS study of Michigan crashes found that, at 20 to 39 mph, 30% of pedestrians struck by SUVs died, compared with 25% of those hit by cars, and above 40 mph, virtually every SUV-pedestrian collision in that sample proved fatal.