A battery-powered wagon with 8.5 inches of ground clearance is the car Top Gear’s American editors liked best in 2026. Subaru’s all-electric Trailseeker took Car of the Year in the 2027 TopGear.com U.S. Car Awards, published Oct. 28, ahead of new or significantly updated models from other automakers.
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Subaru of America put out its own announcement from Camden, N.J., on Oct. 29, and Top Gear’s full write-up of the winner followed on Nov. 9 under the byline of U.S. correspondent Alex Kalogiannis. Read together, the two documents show what the editors wanted from a Car of the Year, what Subaru is promising, and what the judges still wanted the company to fix before the next model year.
A wagon in the Outback’s old seat
Top Gear’s argument for the winner, as laid out in its awards roundup (published Oct. 28 and updated Nov. 2), is about lineage. The Trailseeker, in the editors’ words, “out-wagoned” the Outback, a car that once won the same honor but has since drifted toward SUV territory, and the roundup adds that the WRX remains the Subaru that fans love most. Subaru markets the Trailseeker as an SUV. Top Gear files it under wagon, and that choice is the spine of the whole case.
In the full Car of the Year write-up, Kalogiannis adds that an electric drivetrain suits Subaru’s outdoorsy image better than a boxer engine does. He lists two motors, all-wheel drive, 375 horsepower, a 74.4-kilowatt-hour battery with an estimated 274 to 281 miles of range, about 8.5 inches of ground clearance, X-MODE for off-road driving and Subaru’s EyeSight safety system.
Off the pavement, Kalogiannis says, X-MODE handles difficult terrain and the car can deal with all but the scariest obstacles. Back on the road, he calls the Trailseeker “quick, balanced, and even-keeled,” a line that Subaru’s release repeats. His closing verdict is that “the pros far outshine the cons.” Jeff Walters, president and chief operating officer of Subaru of America, said in the same release that it was an honor to be named Car of the Year by the experts at Top Gear.
Numbers behind the award: 375 horsepower, 281 miles and $39,995
Subaru’s figures, repeated in the CarPro roundup of the winners, put combined output from the dual electric motors at 375 horsepower, with a 0-to-60 mph time of 4.4 seconds that the automaker itself claims. Standard Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive and X-MODE come on every trim, and the company calls its 8.5 inches of ground clearance best in class. Range is quoted at up to 281 miles.
Price: $39,995, according to Subaru, for the Premium, Limited and Touring trims, with the SUV on sale now.
Charging runs through a standard North American Charging Standard port at up to 150 kilowatts, and Subaru says a 10-to-80-percent top-up can take as little as 28 minutes. Every trim gets a 14-inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, wireless phone charging and seating for five. The EV Report’s recap of the Oct. 29 announcement carries the same specification list. All of these are manufacturer figures, and CarPro labels the 4.4-second sprint as Subaru’s own number rather than an independent test.
What Top Gear docked it for
The praise came with two complaints. Kalogiannis criticized the design of the interior’s gauge cluster, and he said he would like more of the WRX’s personality in the driving experience, a point Subaru’s release repeats as editors saying they “wouldn’t mind” more WRX influence. Neither complaint changed the outcome, because the verdict still landed on the pros.
The gauge-cluster complaint is the only interior fault the review names, and the WRX remark is a wish about attitude rather than a defect. Nothing in Subaru’s release or the Top Gear pieces reports a range test, a charging-curve test or a long-term durability result, so the praise rests on a drive impression and the specification sheet rather than a controlled comparison.
The rest of Top Gear’s 2027 class
The Trailseeker was one of eleven awards. Chevrolet collected three: the Corvette ZR1X as Supercar of the Year, the Corvette Grand Sport as Sports Car of the Year and the 6.7-liter LS6 V8 as Engine of the Year, an engine GM rates at 535 horsepower and 520 lb-ft of torque in the 2027 Stingray and Grand Sport. GM says Top Gear praised the Grand Sport for its engine, track capability and street manners, and the ZR1X pairs a twin-turbocharged V8 with a front electric drive unit for a claimed 1,250 horsepower. BMW was named Manufacturer of the Year, the Genesis Magma GT took Design of the Year, the Tesla Semi won the TG Tech Award, the Gunther Werks Turbo was Restomod of the Year, and Stellantis executive Tim Kuniskis was Person of the Year.
The year before, Top Gear’s 2026 awards, published Dec. 10, 2025 and listed on its winners page, gave the top car prize to the Dodge Charger Sixpack. Moving from a Dodge muscle car to a Subaru electric wagon is a sizable swing in a single year, and Subaru’s own price and range numbers will get their independent test only when owners start comparing the claimed 281 miles with real-world driving.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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