I Drove 18 Of The Latest SUVs And Trucks At NWAPA Mudfest 2026: Here's What Won And What I Voted For

At Mudfest 2026, hosted by the Northwest Auto Press Association at Ridge Motorsports Park in Mason County, Washington, 18 of the latest SUVs and trucks were thrown into the kinds of environments most owners fantasize about their vehicles conquering, even if many will spend most of their lives commuting, hauling groceries, and waiting in school drop-off lines. Over two days, we drove everything from family crossovers to luxury EVs, off-road-ready SUVs, and a full-size pickup on both a paved road course and a dedicated off-road course to determine which new vehicles are best suited for real life in the Pacific Northwest. The official winners included the 2026 Kia Telluride X-Pro, 2026 Lucid Gravity Grand Touring, 2026 Ram 1500 Warlock, 2026 Jeep Wrangler Moab 392, 2026 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid Woodland, and, most importantly, the 2026 Subaru Trailseeker Limited, which took home the overall NW Outdoor Activity Vehicle of the Year award. But the official results only tell part of the story, because after driving the same field myself, I also had my own ballot—and in a few key categories, I didn’t vote with the crowd.

Mudfest 2026 Wasn’t Just About Mud

Mudfest is now in its 32nd year, and for 2026, 18 NWAPA media members evaluated 18 crossovers, SUVs, and pickups at The Ridge Motorsports Park in Shelton, Washington—myself included. Day One focused on pavement performance—acceleration, handling, braking, and road dynamics—while Day Two moved to a custom off-road course designed to test traction, ground clearance, suspension articulation, and off-road technology. Despite the name, Mudfest is not simply an exercise in seeing which SUV can throw the biggest rooster tail through a muddy puddle, though there was certainly plenty of that. The event is designed to evaluate how crossovers, SUVs, and trucks perform across the kinds of mixed-use conditions many Pacific Northwestern buyers actually care about: wet pavement, rough trails, family practicality, comfort, value, technology, and enough outdoor credibility to make weekend escapes feel like a breeze rather than a burden.

Cars were driven in speed-dating format: back-to-back and rapidly. The first day took place on a road course, where each vehicle had to show how it behaved on pavement: how confidently it turned in, how composed it felt under braking, how well its powertrain responded, and whether its suspension tuning felt buttoned-down or merely performative. The second day moved the field to a nearby off-road course, where traction systems, off-road modes, ground clearance, approach angles, tire choices, throttle calibration, and overall durability mattered far more than how accurately each car could approach a corner’s apex.

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The field itself was especially diverse, offering an eclectic mix of powertrains, body styles, and personalities. In the two-row family vehicle category alone, the lineup included the 2026 Hyundai Ioniq 5 XRT, 2026 Jeep Wrangler Moab 392, 2026 Kia Sportage X-Pro, 2026 Mazda CX-5 Premium Plus, 2026 Subaru Outback Wilderness, 2026 Subaru Uncharted GT AWD, 2026 Subaru Trailseeker Limited, 2026 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid Woodland, and 2026 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL R-Line Turbo. Spanning electric crossovers, conventional family SUVs, adventure trims, and one V8-powered Jeep that felt like a snarling beast arisen from the depths of hell compared to smaller EV rivals, we were tasked with finding a favourite in a field of incredibly different vehicles.

The three-row family class brought a more traditional set of family haulers, including the 2026 Honda Pilot Elite, 2026 Hyundai Palisade XRT Pro, 2026 Kia Telluride X-Pro, and 2026 Mitsubishi Outlander Trail Edition. The luxury SUV category, meanwhile, stretched from the 2026 Genesis GV80 3.5T Prestige Black and 2026 Genesis GV80 Coupe 3.5T Prestige Black to the 2026 Lucid Gravity Grand Touring and 2026 Polestar 4 Dual Motor Pilot & Plus. The lone pickup entrant was the 2026 Ram 1500 Warlock Crew Cab 4×4, a particular fan favourite thanks to its roaring Hemi V8 and a striking bright blue paint job.

Not every vehicle participated in every portion of the event, though. The Honda Pilot and Polestar 4 did not take part in the off-road day, which is worth keeping in mind when looking at the final results and my own ballot. Mudfest may sound like a single-purpose contest, but the event’s real challenge is balance. A vehicle has to be comfortable enough for daily life, capable enough for messy conditions, useful enough for families, and compelling enough to still stand out after journalists have driven a long list of rivals back-to-back.

The Big Winner: Why The 2026 Subaru Trailseeker Limited Took Home The Grand Prize And More

The 2026 Subaru Trailseeker Limited didn’t win the grand prize at Mudfest because it was the wildest, most luxurious, most emotional, or most obviously off-road-biased vehicle there. It swept awards for Best Two-Row Family SUV, Best Electrified Activity Vehicle, and NW Outdoor Activity Vehicle of the Year because it may just well have been the best-balanced vehicle at the entire event. NWAPA’s scoring considered on-road dynamics, powertrain, braking, exterior design, interior function, technology, off-road dynamics, and value. Across that spread, the Trailseeker wasn’t merely skilled at a few small but key things; it was excellent at nearly everything.

That all began with value. At $45,840 as tested, including fees, the Trailseeker Limited felt surprisingly well-positioned for an electric SUV with standard all-wheel drive, useful range, strong performance, and real outdoor capability. Subaru offers 375 horsepower as standard equipment for the Trailseeker, which also offers more than 280 miles of available range, and comes with 8.5 inches of ground clearance. In Limited trim, its 20-inch two-tone wheels also helped it look sharper and higher-end, and its overall shape felt more true to the Outback’s wagon-like heritage than the actual Outback did.

On the road course, the Trailseeker was far more dialled in than expected. Its power arrived immediately, its handling felt precise, and its larger rear motor helped it rotate more willingly than the smaller Subaru Uncharted. Subaru’s product development team wasn’t kidding when they suggested that the Trailseeker was the closest spiritual successor to the turbocharged Legacy GT wagons of the past. Compared with the Outback Wilderness on pavement, the Trailseeker felt like it was in a different league entirely. Off-road, it was just as convincing. X-Mode, immediate electric torque, and Subaru’s Grip Control system helped it tackle the course with genuine confidence. It climbed steep grades without drama, managed descents cleanly, and felt more playful on gravel than I expected, even if its stability control cut the fun much earlier than the Hyundai Ioniq 5 XRT’s system did.

That was only part of the reason why I still ended up voting for the Ioniq 5 XRT in the two-row family category. Although the Hyundai is nearly $3,000 more expensive, at $48,115 as tested, it felt more welcoming inside, more distinctive outside, and more playful to drive. Still, I feel like Trailseeker absolutely deserved its win and, in fact, I’m quite glad that it did. It balanced the score sheet beautifully, costs less than the Hyundai, and feels more aligned with the general spirit of Mudfest.

The Trailseeker wasn’t perfect. Its length could lead to occasional bottoming out over awkward obstacles, its cabin felt a little cold, and its driver assists were quicker to step in than I would have liked. But it also felt like a proper Subaru: easy to use, confidence-inspiring in imperfect conditions, realistic for outdoor-minded buyers, and more capable than most might expect. I may not have voted for it in every category it won, but I am not even remotely surprised that it won as much as it did. The Trailseeker deserves more recognition than it will probably get from people who dismiss it as just another electric crossover with a Toyota twin. At Mudfest, it proved it really is much more than that.

NWAPA’s own explanation for the Trailseeker’s win largely matches what I felt from behind the wheel. In the official release, NWAPA President Tom Voelk credited the Subaru’s powerful powertrain, quiet and spacious cabin, and ability to confidently deliver a family to outdoor adventures as the combination that pushed it to the top.

The Other Mudfest 2026 Winners Demonstrated The Range Of The Field

The Trailseeker may have been the headline result, but the rest of the Mudfest 2026 winners showed just how diverse the modern “outdoor activity vehicle” category has become. This was not a field of body-on-frame SUVs and chunky mud tires alone. It included electric crossovers, luxury SUVs, family haulers, adventure-branded compact SUVs, and one full-size pickup that actually somehow seemed out of place, despite being one of the most traditionally capable vehicles of them all.

Best Three-Row Family SUV Winner: 2026 Kia Telluride X-Pro

In the three-row family SUV category, the 2026 Kia Telluride X-Pro SX-Prestige AWD took the win. That result makes perfect sense to me, even if my own vote went to the 2026 Hyundai Palisade XRT Pro. The Telluride has already built its reputation as one of the most complete family SUVs in the segment, and the X-Pro treatment gives it just enough extra outdoor credibility without compromising its status as a convenient daily driver. It is still spacious, comfortable, useful, and handsome, but with a slightly more rugged edge that suits the Mudfest vibe. Plus, for 2026, the Telluride benefits from an all-new design—one that is incredibly polarizing inside and out, especially when painted in matte-finish gold—and was likely the more exciting, fresher pick, even if I still preferred the relative restraint of the Palisade’s styling. The Palisade XRT Pro struck me as the more interesting pick, personally, but I’ll touch on that more later.

Best Luxury SUV Winner: 2026 Lucid Gravity Grand Touring

The 2026 Lucid Gravity Grand Touring won the luxury SUV category over the Genesis GV80 twins, and here, the official results matched my own ballot. It was the obvious luxury standout. The Gravity brought an entirely different kind of capability to Mudfest: enormous performance, impressive refinement, serious EV engineering, and a futuristic cabin experience that makes many traditional luxury SUVs suddenly feel old-fashioned. Lucid’s luxury-category win was easier to justify than an overall win would have been. At $125,650 as tested, including fees, it existed in a completely different financial universe from most of the field, but it was deeply impressive, and driving it genuinely felt like captaining the Starship Enterprise. With 828 horsepower on tap immediately, rear-axle steering, an insane glasshouse architecture, three rows of seating, and a 6,000-pound towing capacity, the Lucid Gravity truly felt like it could do anything and everything. It’s like if a minivan were also a hypercar from ten years into the future, and it simply blew everyone away.

Best Pickup Truck Winner: 2026 RAM 1500 Warlock Crew Cab 4×4

The pickup category went to the 2026 Ram 1500 Warlock Crew Cab 4×4, which also earned my vote. Granted, it was the lone pickup truck at the event, but that doesn’t mean it was an arbitrary contestant. If anything, the Ram helped illustrate how different a truck feels at Mudfest compared with the crossover-heavy field surrounding it. It had the size, stance, ground clearance, and general attitude of something built to welcome serious abuse rather than merely tolerate it. Its contrast helped frame how capable—or incapable—other vehicles in the field truly were. The Warlock also brought a useful sense of honesty to the event. It wasn’t trying to be sleek, precious, or particularly futuristic. It was a big, blue, four-wheel-drive truck that looked happiest when covered in mud and somehow handled the road course surprisingly well, with its braking a standout attribute. It was a big blue dog rolling around in the mud and flapping around its big tow-mirror-sized ears, and we loved it.

Extreme Capability Award Winner: 2026 Jeep Wrangler Moab 392

The 2026 Jeep Wrangler Moab 392 was another easy call. It won the extreme capability category, and it also got my vote here. A V8-powered Wrangler showing up to an off-road capability contest doesn’t exactly arrive under false pretenses. It had the mechanical hardware, the personality, and the unapologetic absurdity required to make the rest of the field feel a little more sanitized by comparison. The Jeep certainly wasn’t the most balanced vehicle at the event, but balance is not really the point of a Wrangler Moab 392. Its job is to make the difficult stuff feel easy, the easy stuff feel comical, and the entire exercise feel more like play than work. In its extremity, it excels, and therefore, this award simply couldn’t have gone to anything else.

Best Value NW Outdoor Activity Vehicle Winner: 2026 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid Woodland

The most interesting non-Trailseeker result may have been the 2026 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid Woodland, which won Best Value NW Outdoor Activity Vehicle. My own vote went to the 2026 Mazda CX-5 Premium Plus, but I understand the Toyota result, which was my second-place choice. The RAV4 Hybrid Woodland sits in the exact sweet spot many real buyers care about: hybrid efficiency, Toyota reliability, standard all-wheel drive, rugged-ish styling, reasonable pricing, and enough outdoor flavour to feel more special than a regular commuter crossover. Value, though, is always subjective. The RAV4 Hybrid Woodland is probably the more logical winner on paper, especially for someone who wants low running costs and long-term confidence. The Mazda CX-5 appealed to me for different reasons. It still feels unusually polished for the money, with a nicer cabin, far better road manners, near-equal off-road capability, a richer sense of everyday quality than many compact SUVs manage, and a lower up-front price tag than the RAV4 Woodland. Plus, I’d feel just as confident about the long-term durability of Mazda’s Skyactiv 2.5-litre four-cylinder as I would about the RAV4’s powertrain. For my money, I’d be taking the CX-5 home over the RAV4.

Considered together, the category winners revealed the real point of Mudfest. The “best” outdoor vehicle is not always the one with the most ground clearance, the biggest tires, the most horsepower, or the most expensive badge. Sometimes it is the family SUV that does everything well. Sometimes it is the luxury EV that redefines expectations. Sometimes it is the pickup truck that simply looks born for the job. And sometimes, as the Trailseeker proved, it is the vehicle that subtly stacks up points better than almost anything else in the field.

Where My Ballot Split From The Final Results

My ballot didn’t perfectly match the final Mudfest results, but that doesn’t mean I was even remotely disappointed by them. If anything, my votes reflected a slightly different set of priorities. I was one of the youngest journalists there—though that’s not to say any of the other fine attendees weren’t also young, by any means—which likely influenced what stood out to me most: design, character, cabin atmosphere, driving playfulness, and an emotional pull that isn’t always reflected by sectioned columns on a score sheet. That said, I was never surprised by any of the official winners. Every vehicle that won deserved its category; my ballot simply shows where my own instincts occasionally broke from the status quo.

My Two-Row Family SUV Vote Went to the 2026 Hyundai Ioniq 5 XRT

The closest split was in the two-row family SUV category, where the 2026 Subaru Trailseeker Limited took the official win, and I voted for the 2026 Hyundai Ioniq 5 XRT. This one was genuinely close. The Ioniq 5 XRT felt more playful, more charismatic, richer inside, and more visually interesting. Its shorter length (despite a longer wheelbase) made it feel more intuitive on both road and off-road courses, and because it felt slightly undertired, it had a looser, more adjustable character that made it unusually fun to place and rotate. That playfulness was important to me, especially as a prospective adventure vehicle. Adventure shouldn’t just be challenging; it should also be fun. The Ioniq 5 XRT was not just capable; it felt eager. It handled the off-road obstacles just as confidently as the Trailseeker, but with more flair. Its cabin also felt warmer and more premium, while its exterior design remains one of the most distinctive shapes in the modern EV segment.

The problem, of course, is price. The Ioniq 5 XRT was $48,115 as tested, while the Trailseeker Limited was $45,840 as tested—a gap brings the head-in-the-clouds Hyundai back down to earth. The Subaru does nearly everything the Ioniq 5 XRT does, but for thousands less, and with hindsight, this is the one vote I might actually change. I still personally prefer the Hyundai, but the Trailseeker’s overall argument is hard to deny.

My Three-Row SUV Vote Went to the 2026 Hyundai Palisade XRT Pro

My three-row vote was also different from the official result. NWAPA awarded the category to the 2026 Kia Telluride X-Pro SX-Prestige AWD, while I voted for the 2026 Hyundai Palisade XRT Pro. These two are corporate cousins, obviously, but they felt different where it mattered and similar where they did not. At first, the Palisade’s naturally aspirated V6 was the biggest deciding factor for me. Its low-end torque response felt smoother, quieter, and more satisfying than the Telluride’s turbocharged four-cylinder, even though it produced less power, giving the Hyundai a calmer, more polished feel. Then, I discovered that, at $51,715 as tested, the Palisade XRT Pro costs nearly $8,000 less than the Telluride X-Pro, which came in at $59,580 as tested. For my money, there was no question that I’d have the Palisade XRT Pro over the Telluride X-Pro.

That’s not to say I felt the Telluride was undeserving. It was excellent in its own right, and its cabin was undoubtedly more dramatic than the Palisade’s. Its newer-looking exterior also adds shock value, which helps in a field full of familiar-looking family SUVs. Buyers at higher altitudes may also prefer the Telluride’s turbocharged setup, even if it brings more noise and loses some of the effortless muscle I liked in the Palisade. But for my taste, the Hyundai’s engine character and styling gave an edge, and its significantly lower price tag was impossible to overlook.

My Best Value NW Outdoor Activity Vehicle Vote Went to the 2026 Mazda CX-5 Premium Plus

The other major split came in the value category, where the 2026 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid Woodland won Best Value NW Outdoor Activity Vehicle, and I voted for the 2026 Mazda CX-5 Premium Plus. I completely understand why the RAV4 won. It has hybrid efficiency, Toyota’s reputation, standard all-wheel drive, a rugged-ish Woodland package, and the kind of long-term ownership logic that makes it very easy to recommend. It was also genuinely impressive and was my second choice in the category. But I would still vote for the Mazda again, even if I could go back. The CX-5 felt better to drive, had a simpler yet more lively powertrain, offered a more premium-feeling cabin, and looked similarly fresh. More importantly, it handled the off-road obstacles just as well as it needed to, even without the adventure-ready packaging extremities worn by many of its rivals. The CX-5 is a vehicle that feels expensive relative to its price, punches above its weight in terms of driving character, and can still handle the rough stuff, all for a slightly lower price tag than the RAV4 Woodland. For that, I stand confidently behind my vote, but would still just as easily recommend the RAV4.

All these splits are what make Mudfest such an intriguing experience to behold. The official results named the Trailseeker, Telluride, Lucid Gravity, Ram Warlock, Wrangler Moab 392, and RAV4 Hybrid Woodland as the vehicles that best satisfied their categories, with the Trailseeker also taking the overall NW Outdoor Activity Vehicle of the Year title. Even though my own votes didn’t always align with the consensus, the overall winners were pretty easy to concede to. Even if they weren’t everyone’s first choice, the winners seemed to strike an accurate balance of attendees’ tastes, thereby making them the easiest to recommend to a broader audience of buyers looking for helpful advice without getting overly nuanced.

One vehicle that deserves a quick mention here is the Polestar 4. It did not participate in the off-road day, so it could not factor into my Mudfest voting the same way the full-event competitors did, but it was easily one of my favourite vehicles of the entire event. On the road course, it felt quick, composed, and wonderfully calculated—a reminder that not every standout at Mudfest is necessarily positioned to become a final-category winner.

Final Thoughts: What Mudfest 2026 Says About The Future Of Outdoor Activity SUVs

If Mudfest 2026 proved anything, it’s that the idea of an “outdoor SUV” has become far more complicated than it used to be. Once upon a time, this category was defined by a familiar uniform: some black cladding, chunkier tires, a raised ride height, roof racks, and a brochure image involving either a muddy mountain bike or a majestic Labrador retriever staring wistfully into the distance. That stuff still matters, or at least still sells, but it no longer tells the whole story. The modern outdoor vehicle has to be more than a commuter crossover wearing hiking boots, and more livable than a pickup truck with a stretched roof and rear seats. It has to survive the weekday grind without punishing its owner for having weekend hobbies. It has to be comfortable in traffic, settled on the highway, useful for family life, efficient enough to make sense financially, and capable of handling the sloppy, wet, uneven terrain that Pacific Northwest buyers often encounter. That is not an easy thing to achieve, and yet here before you is a field of 18 vehicles that have done just that.

That is why the Trailseeker’s overall win feels so significant. This year’s competition was so tough to judge because each and every entry was genuinely compelling in its own way, and yet the Trailseeker came out ahead in not one but three categories. The Subaru was not the loudest car at Mudfest—that honour proudly belonged to the Jeep Wrangler Moab 392, which approached the event with all the subtlety of the Scarface chainsaw scene. It was not the most luxurious, either; the Lucid Gravity Grand Touring had that locked down with its immense price, immense performance, and a sense that it had been transported to the event not by trailer but by UFO. The Trailseeker was not the cheapest, flashiest, or most emotionally charismatic vehicle there, but it was the one that best understood the assignment at hand.

Its win suggested that the future of outdoor SUVs won’t just be about bigger tires and louder branding. It is electrified power done right, practical packaging backed by obsessive research, useful technology integrated relatively unobtrusively, approachable pricing as a priority, and enough real capability to remain deserving of Subaru’s adventure-capable reputation. The Trailseeker didn’t need to roleplay as a rock crawler to prove its point. It simply went out, threaded gracefully through the road course with surprising precision, clawed through the off-road course with confidence and immediacy, and made a compelling case for itself as the sort of EV an outdoorsy family could actually abuse rather than merely admire from an inner-city charging station.

The rest of the field made a similar point using different strategies. The Hyundai Ioniq 5 XRT showed that an electric crossover can be playful, distinctive, and genuinely fun off-pavement, not just efficient and smugly geometric. The Lucid Gravity proved that a luxury EV need not behave like a fragile glass sculpture the moment pavement disappears. The Toyota RAV4 Hybrid Woodland reminded everyone that hybrid efficiency and outdoor credibility may be one of the most important combinations in the mainstream SUV market right now. Even the Mazda CX-5, which lacked the costume-party adventure gear of some rivals, showed that usefulness doesn’t always need to arrive dressed as Indiana Jones.

While it underscored the value of modern electrification, Mudfest did not announce the death of old-school capability and fire-breathing V8 engines. The Ram 1500 Warlock and Jeep Wrangler Moab 392 were reminders that some vehicles still earn their appeal the loud, simple, mechanically honest way. They were not there to whisper about efficiency or dazzle anyone with minimalist cabin design, even if, at least for a while, it seemed like Stellantis was headed that way. They were there to churn through mud, make raucous noises, and remind everyone that sometimes the blunt instrument is still the best instrument. The future may be electrified, but it needn’t be entirely rid of its red-bloodedness either. What seems to be changing most is the definition of outdoor credibility. A vehicle no longer needs to ride like farm equipment to be taken seriously off-road, and it no longer needs to burn fuel with the enthusiasm of a cruise ship to feel robust and powerful. The best vehicles at Mudfest were the ones that understood how most people actually live their lives: commuting during the week, hauling groceries and gear when needed, then heading toward trails, ski hills, campsites, beaches, bike paths, and rain-soaked forest roads when the calendar finally allows for a little bit of freedom. And for a lifestyle like that, in 2026, it seems there’s not much out there that ticks off quite as many automotive boxes as the Subaru Trailseeker.