If you want all-wheel drive without paying extra for it, this comparison gets short fast. Every Crosstrek includes it. The Honda HR-V charges $1,500 for it and the Toyota Corolla Cross charges $1,300. We also answer the question behind the question: what is the least expensive new vehicle in America you can buy with all-wheel drive included?

The RAV4 Hybrid returns better fuel economy. That part is not close. But there is a question nobody outside the mountains thinks to ask: does a hybrid lose power at 5,800 feet, and does hybrid all-wheel drive still work when the snow is deep? The answer comes down to how each system connects the rear wheels, and the two are built very differently.

Two of these three are not the vehicles they were a year ago. The 2026 RAV4 is now hybrid-only and starts with front-wheel drive; the CR-V is front-drive on five of its seven trims. The Forester includes Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive on every trim, at no extra cost. Here is how all three compare on clearance, capability, and what 5,800 feet does to horsepower.

Subaru builds all-wheel drive differently, and around Montrose that difference isn't academic. Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive drives all four wheels all the time. Toyota and Honda build front-wheel-drive vehicles that add the rear axle when the system decides you need it. Here is what actually separates them, what each does well, and the one upgrade that matters more than any of it.