Awards & overall
Edmunds Top Rated Awards (2026)
Ranked from the Edmunds Top Rated Awards (2026). CarOutlay adds the ownership-cost lens — what each result means for the real 5-year cost of owning the car.
The ranking
The 2026 Edmunds Top Rated Award winners by category, with the overall Best of the Best listed first.
- Hyundai Palisade Hybrid Overall winner Also Top Rated SUV. Best of the Best
- Honda Civic Hybrid Top Rated Car
- Tesla Model 3 Top Rated Electric Car
- Hyundai Ioniq 5 Top Rated Electric SUV
- Ford Maverick Top Rated Truck
- Rivian R1T Top Rated Electric Truck
Why this matters for your cost of ownership
Edmunds' rating is rooted in how a car performs and how it lives with you day to day — comfort, technology, usability and driving — which correlates with the kind of broadly competent vehicles that also tend to be affordable to own. Several 2026 winners (the Civic Hybrid, Maverick and Palisade Hybrid) pair their award with strong fuel efficiency or value, trimming the fuel and depreciation lines of ownership. But the rating measures quality, not your five-year bill: an electric winner like the Rivian R1T scores brilliantly yet depreciates fast. Run any Top Rated winner through our TCO calculator to turn 'highly rated' into real dollars for your driving.
Open the 5-Year TCO calculatorHow this ranking is measured
Edmunds rates vehicles on a 10-point Edmunds Rating built from a 227-point testing process that combines on-track instrumented measurements, professional-grade satellite equipment and thousands of hours of real-world driving by its editorial team. The Top Rated Awards take the highest-scoring vehicles and name a winner in each category — Car, Electric Car, SUV, Electric SUV, Truck and Electric Truck — then elevate one of those winners to Top Rated Best of the Best. Because the score reflects how the vehicle performs and lives day to day, the awards favor well-rounded, livable vehicles over narrow specialists.
Source: Edmunds, Top Rated Awards (2026). Winners drawn from vehicles scored on Edmunds' 227-point testing process, combining track measurements, professional-grade equipment and thousands of hours of real-world driving. View the original study ↗
Frequently asked questions
What won Edmunds Top Rated Best of the Best for 2026?
The Hyundai Palisade Hybrid won the 2026 Edmunds Top Rated Best of the Best, the overall top honor, after also winning the Top Rated SUV category. Other category winners were the Honda Civic Hybrid (Car), Tesla Model 3 (Electric Car), Hyundai Ioniq 5 (Electric SUV), Ford Maverick (Truck) and Rivian R1T (Electric Truck).
How does Edmunds rate vehicles?
Edmunds scores each vehicle on a 10-point Edmunds Rating built from a 227-point testing process — on-track instrumented measurements, professional-grade equipment and thousands of hours of real-world driving. The Top Rated Awards name the highest-scoring vehicle in each category, then crown one of them the Best of the Best.
Are Edmunds Top Rated winners cheap to own?
Some are. The rating rewards all-around quality and livability, which overlaps with affordable, sensible choices like the Civic Hybrid and Maverick. But the score measures how good the vehicle is, not its cost of ownership — an electric winner such as the Rivian R1T rates highly while depreciating quickly. Use the award as a quality shortlist, then verify the five-year cost for the exact model and trim.
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