Many people like SUVs because of the greater cargo space and a higher driving position they provide compared to a sedan. But one of the typical trade-offs is reduced fuel economy.
Lately, fuel prices haven’t been much of a deterrent to buyers. But the price of gas is on the upswing, with a 24-cent increase in the national average price of a gallon in the last month, according to a June report from the Energy Information Administration.
Since a vehicle purchase is a long-term investment, Edmunds experts have made some forward-thinking recommendations on five SUVs that offer roomy cargo areas and high fuel economy for their respective class sizes. We’ve limited our picks to models that cost under $45,000.
This undated photo from Kia shows the Seltos, an extra-small SUV that gets an EPA-estimated 31 mpg in mixed driving conditions. Kia's all-new Seltos follows the formula of its much larger sibling, the Telluride. It has distinctive styling, an upscale interior design and plenty of cargo space. (Robin TrajanoKia Motors America via AP)
For this article, “minimum” cargo capacity refers to the vehicle with all of its rear seats in a raised position. “Maximum” means all the rear seats are folded down. Edmunds has also recommended a trim level for each SUV. The listed manufacturer’s suggested retail prices include destination fees.
TOYOTA RAV4 HYBRID
EPA-estimated fuel economy: 40 combined (41 city/38 highway)
This undated photo from Buick shows the Enclave, a midsize three-row SUV that gets an EPA-estimated 21 mpg in mixed driving conditions. The Buick Enclave is related to another big General Motors SUV: the Chevrolet Traverse. Both provide a huge amount of cargo space for a three-row SUV, with the Enclave checking in at 23.6 (minimum) and 97.6 (maximum) cubic feet. (Courtesy of General Motors via AP)
Toyota is well versed in making hybrids, and the RAV4 Hybrid is an excellent example. Its cargo space, among the largest in the small SUV class, checks in at 37.5 (minimum) and 69.8 (maximum) cubic feet. This is just as much cargo space as the regular RAV4. The RAV4 Hybrid costs more than a comparable non-hybrid RAV4, but it’ll pay for itself in a few years with the gas savings.
Edmunds also likes the RAV4 Hybrid’s smooth ride and easy-to-access five-passenger seating. The downsides are a grabby brake pedal that makes it hard to stop smoothly and a front passenger seat that can be uncomfortable on long drives. 2020 RAV4 XLE MSRP: $30,765
KIA SELTOS
This undated photo from BMW shows the X1, an extra-small luxury SUV that gets an EPA-estimated 27 mpg in mixed driving conditions. If you want an affordable luxury SUV that can also hold a lot of your stuff, BMW’s entry-level SUV, the X1, could be the vehicle for you. Its interior is roomy for passengers and offers 27.1 (minimum) and 58.7 (maximum) cubic feet of storage. (Günter SchmiedBMW of North America via AP)
EPA-estimated fuel economy: 31 combined (29 city/34 highway)
Kia’s all-new Seltos follows the formula of its much larger sibling, the Telluride. It has distinctive styling, an upscale interior design and plenty of cargo space. The five-passenger Seltos is a lot smaller than the Telluride or even Kia’s Sportage SUV, but its 26.6 (minimum) and 62.8 (maximum) cubic feet of cargo room is among the most you’ll find in the extra-small SUV class.
Kia is also known for having one of the best warranties in the business and giving you a lot of standard features for an appealing price. One drawback of the Seltos, however, is that it has a somewhat firm ride quality. 2021 Seltos EX MSRP: $26,410
SUBARU OUTBACK
EPA-estimated fuel economy: 29 combined (26 city/33 highway)
Subaru’s Outback is one of the brand’s best-selling vehicles, and the redesigned 2020 Outback is particularly intriguing. It has a comfortable interior that’s easy to see out of, strong off-road capability and very comfortable seating. For a five-passenger midsize SUV, cargo volume is ample with 32.5 (minimum) and 75.7 (maximum) cubic feet.
One issue with the newest Outback is its optional 11.6-inch touchscreen. It looks cool but buries a lot of functions and controls in complicated on-screen menus. 2020 Outback Premium MSRP: $29,905
BMW X1
EPA-estimated fuel economy: 27 combined (24 city/33 highway)
If you want an affordable luxury SUV that can also hold a lot of your stuff, BMW’s entry-level SUV, the X1, could be the vehicle for you. Its interior is roomy for passengers and offers 27.1 (minimum) and 58.7 (maximum) cubic feet of storage. The X1 also has a strong, responsive turbocharged engine and is fun to drive on twisty roads.
Other highlights include high-quality interior materials and plenty of standard safety and technology features. On the downside, the X1 is that it is not particularly quiet on the highway. 2020 sDrive28i MSRP: $36,195
2020 BUICK ENCLAVE
EPA-estimated fuel economy: 21 combined (18 city/26 highway)
The Buick Enclave is related to another big General Motors SUV: the Chevrolet Traverse. Both provide a huge amount of cargo space for a three-row SUV, with the Enclave checking in at 23.6 (minimum) and 97.6 (maximum) cubic feet. You also get a very smooth ride, comfortable seating for adults in all three rows, and easy maneuverability at parking lot speeds.
The Enclave is a little nicer on the inside than the Traverse, though the materials and design aren’t as rich as what you’d get from a luxury-branded SUV. 2020 Enclave Essence MSRP: $43,690
EDMUNDS SAYS: Having a fuel-efficient SUV that can carry a lot of cargo — whether supplies, furniture, luggage or recreation equipment — makes it easy on the wallet and easy on your mind when trying to load it up.
This story was provided to The Associated Press by the automotive website Edmunds. Rex Tokeshi-Torres is a vehicle testing technician at Edmunds. Twitter: @trackwrex.
Related links:
—2020 BMW X1 review: https://edmu.in/30zEA3F
—2020 Buick Enclave review: https://edmu.in/2UzoFP3
—2021 Kia Seltos review: https://edmu.in/3cSiCvk
—2020 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid review: https://edmu.in/2UxohAq
—2020 Subaru Outback review: https://edmu.in/3hhcY9v
—Edmunds’ Best Gas Mileage SUVs: https://edmu.in/3fdT2m5
WASHINGTON (AP) — Becky Pepper-Jackson finished third in the discus throw in West Virginia last year though she was in just her first year of high school. Now a 15-year-old sophomore, Pepper-Jackson is aware that her upcoming season could be her last.
West Virginia has banned transgender girls like Pepper-Jackson from competing in girls and women's sports, and is among the more than two dozen states with similar laws. Though the West Virginia law has been blocked by lower courts, the outcome could be different at the conservative-dominated Supreme Court, which has allowed multiple restrictions on transgender people to be enforced in the past year.
The justices are hearing arguments Tuesday in two cases over whether the sports bans violate the Constitution or the landmark federal law known as Title IX that prohibits sex discrimination in education. The second case comes from Idaho, where college student Lindsay Hecox challenged that state's law.
Decisions are expected by early summer.
President Donald Trump's Republican administration has targeted transgender Americans from the first day of his second term, including ousting transgender people from the military and declaring that gender is immutable and determined at birth.
Pepper-Jackson has become the face of the nationwide battle over the participation of transgender girls in athletics that has played out at both the state and federal levels as Republicans have leveraged the issue as a fight for athletic fairness for women and girls.
“I think it’s something that needs to be done,” Pepper-Jackson said in an interview with The Associated Press that was conducted over Zoom. “It’s something I’m here to do because ... this is important to me. I know it’s important to other people. So, like, I’m here for it.”
She sat alongside her mother, Heather Jackson, on a sofa in their home just outside Bridgeport, a rural West Virginia community about 40 miles southwest of Morgantown, to talk about a legal fight that began when she was a middle schooler who finished near the back of the pack in cross-country races.
Pepper-Jackson has grown into a competitive discus and shot put thrower. In addition to the bronze medal in the discus, she finished eighth among shot putters.
She attributes her success to hard work, practicing at school and in her backyard, and lifting weights. Pepper-Jackson has been taking puberty-blocking medication and has publicly identified as a girl since she was in the third grade, though the Supreme Court's decision in June upholding state bans on gender-affirming medical treatment for minors has forced her to go out of state for care.
Her very improvement as an athlete has been cited as a reason she should not be allowed to compete against girls.
“There are immutable physical and biological characteristic differences between men and women that make men bigger, stronger, and faster than women. And if we allow biological males to play sports against biological females, those differences will erode the ability and the places for women in these sports which we have fought so hard for over the last 50 years,” West Virginia's attorney general, JB McCuskey, said in an AP interview. McCuskey said he is not aware of any other transgender athlete in the state who has competed or is trying to compete in girls or women’s sports.
Despite the small numbers of transgender athletes, the issue has taken on outsize importance. The NCAA and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committees banned transgender women from women's sports after Trump signed an executive order aimed at barring their participation.
The public generally is supportive of the limits. An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted in October 2025 found that about 6 in 10 U.S. adults “strongly” or “somewhat” favored requiring transgender children and teenagers to only compete on sports teams that match the sex they were assigned at birth, not the gender they identify with, while about 2 in 10 were “strongly” or “somewhat” opposed and about one-quarter did not have an opinion.
About 2.1 million adults, or 0.8%, and 724,000 people age 13 to 17, or 3.3%, identify as transgender in the U.S., according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.
Those allied with the administration on the issue paint it in broader terms than just sports, pointing to state laws, Trump administration policies and court rulings against transgender people.
"I think there are cultural, political, legal headwinds all supporting this notion that it’s just a lie that a man can be a woman," said John Bursch, a lawyer with the conservative Christian law firm Alliance Defending Freedom that has led the legal campaign against transgender people. “And if we want a society that respects women and girls, then we need to come to terms with that truth. And the sooner that we do that, the better it will be for women everywhere, whether that be in high school sports teams, high school locker rooms and showers, abused women’s shelters, women’s prisons.”
But Heather Jackson offered different terms to describe the effort to keep her daughter off West Virginia's playing fields.
“Hatred. It’s nothing but hatred,” she said. "This community is the community du jour. We have a long history of isolating marginalized parts of the community.”
Pepper-Jackson has seen some of the uglier side of the debate on display, including when a competitor wore a T-shirt at the championship meet that said, “Men Don't Belong in Women's Sports.”
“I wish these people would educate themselves. Just so they would know that I’m just there to have a good time. That’s it. But it just, it hurts sometimes, like, it gets to me sometimes, but I try to brush it off,” she said.
One schoolmate, identified as A.C. in court papers, said Pepper-Jackson has herself used graphic language in sexually bullying her teammates.
Asked whether she said any of what is alleged, Pepper-Jackson said, “I did not. And the school ruled that there was no evidence to prove that it was true.”
The legal fight will turn on whether the Constitution's equal protection clause or the Title IX anti-discrimination law protects transgender people.
The court ruled in 2020 that workplace discrimination against transgender people is sex discrimination, but refused to extend the logic of that decision to the case over health care for transgender minors.
The court has been deluged by dueling legal briefs from Republican- and Democratic-led states, members of Congress, athletes, doctors, scientists and scholars.
The outcome also could influence separate legal efforts seeking to bar transgender athletes in states that have continued to allow them to compete.
If Pepper-Jackson is forced to stop competing, she said she will still be able to lift weights and continue playing trumpet in the school concert and jazz bands.
“It will hurt a lot, and I know it will, but that’s what I’ll have to do,” she said.
Heather Jackson, left, and Becky Pepper-Jackson pose for a photograph outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Heather Jackson, left, and Becky Pepper-Jackson pose for a photograph outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Becky Pepper-Jackson poses for a photograph outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
The Supreme Court stands is Washington, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
FILE - Protestors hold signs during a rally at the state capitol in Charleston, W.Va., on March 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Chris Jackson, file)
