Consumer Reports' Top Car Picks All Japanese EMBARGOED
03-01-06, 06:28 PM
#1
Super Moderator
Thread Starter
Consumer Reports' Top Car Picks All Japanese EMBARGOED
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
DETROIT — For the first time in nine years, all of the top picks in Consumer Reports' annual vehicle guide are made by Japanese automakers.
The Honda Civic is the magazine's top small sedan, while the Toyota (TM) Highlander Hybrid is the top mid-sized sport utility vehicle, according to results released Wednesday. Vehicles from Nissan Motor Co. and Subaru, a division of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., round out the top picks in 10 categories.
Asian brands also fared best in the magazine's survey of vehicle reliability. Toyota Motor Corp.'s Lexusbrand was first, while Honda was second and the Toyota brand was third. Ford Motor Co.'s (F) Mercurybrand was the only domestic nameplate to crack the top ten.
Consumer Reports' rankings are important to automakers, even though companies can't use the ratings in their advertising. Consumer Reports spokeswoman Lauren Hackett said the April auto issue is consistently the magazine's most popular, selling more than 300,000 copies at newsstands. That's twice as many copies as its second-most popular issue, the November electronics issue.
Consumer Reports named its top picks based on road and track tests, evaluations of comfort, convenience and fuel economy, crash protection ratings from the government and insurance industry and readers' reliability rankings. The magazine said it recently tested more than 200 vehicles to come up with its top picks.
Honda had the most winners, snagging top picks in five of the ten categories. Besides the redesigned Civic, the Honda Accord was the top family sedan between $20,000 and $30,000 and the Acura TL was the top upscale sedan between $30,000 and $40,000. The Honda Odyssey was the top minivan and the Honda Ridgeline, which is Honda's first entry in the pickup market, was the top pickup.
Toyota and Subaru each had two winners, including the Subaru Foresterfor small SUV and the Toyota Prius for "green car." Nissan had one, the M35 luxury sedan, which the magazine called "an excellent balance of performance, comfort and handling."
Reliability rankings are based on a survey of Consumer Reports subscribers who are asked if they have had serious problems with their vehicles in the past 12 months. The survey questions readers about 17 different trouble spots. For this year's survey, readers rated their experience with 810,000 vehicles from the 1998 through 2005 model years.
Consumer Reports said Japanese and Korean brands had 12 problems per 100 vehicles, while U.S. automakers had 18 problems and European makers had 21 problems. Asian and U.S. automakers have been improving their scores but appeared to stall in 2005, the magazine said. European automakers' ratings haven't changed substantially in the last four years, the magazine said.
After Lexus, Honda and Toyota, the brands rounding out the top ten for reliability were Mitsubishi, Subaru, Acura, Scion, Mercury, Mazda and Suzuki. The ten lowest-rated brands were Audi, Infiniti, Saturn, Lincoln, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Land Rover, Hummer and Porsche.
source : foxnews
DETROIT — For the first time in nine years, all of the top picks in Consumer Reports' annual vehicle guide are made by Japanese automakers.
The Honda Civic is the magazine's top small sedan, while the Toyota (TM) Highlander Hybrid is the top mid-sized sport utility vehicle, according to results released Wednesday. Vehicles from Nissan Motor Co. and Subaru, a division of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., round out the top picks in 10 categories.
Asian brands also fared best in the magazine's survey of vehicle reliability. Toyota Motor Corp.'s Lexusbrand was first, while Honda was second and the Toyota brand was third. Ford Motor Co.'s (F) Mercurybrand was the only domestic nameplate to crack the top ten.
Consumer Reports' rankings are important to automakers, even though companies can't use the ratings in their advertising. Consumer Reports spokeswoman Lauren Hackett said the April auto issue is consistently the magazine's most popular, selling more than 300,000 copies at newsstands. That's twice as many copies as its second-most popular issue, the November electronics issue.
Consumer Reports named its top picks based on road and track tests, evaluations of comfort, convenience and fuel economy, crash protection ratings from the government and insurance industry and readers' reliability rankings. The magazine said it recently tested more than 200 vehicles to come up with its top picks.
Honda had the most winners, snagging top picks in five of the ten categories. Besides the redesigned Civic, the Honda Accord was the top family sedan between $20,000 and $30,000 and the Acura TL was the top upscale sedan between $30,000 and $40,000. The Honda Odyssey was the top minivan and the Honda Ridgeline, which is Honda's first entry in the pickup market, was the top pickup.
Toyota and Subaru each had two winners, including the Subaru Foresterfor small SUV and the Toyota Prius for "green car." Nissan had one, the M35 luxury sedan, which the magazine called "an excellent balance of performance, comfort and handling."
Reliability rankings are based on a survey of Consumer Reports subscribers who are asked if they have had serious problems with their vehicles in the past 12 months. The survey questions readers about 17 different trouble spots. For this year's survey, readers rated their experience with 810,000 vehicles from the 1998 through 2005 model years.
Consumer Reports said Japanese and Korean brands had 12 problems per 100 vehicles, while U.S. automakers had 18 problems and European makers had 21 problems. Asian and U.S. automakers have been improving their scores but appeared to stall in 2005, the magazine said. European automakers' ratings haven't changed substantially in the last four years, the magazine said.
After Lexus, Honda and Toyota, the brands rounding out the top ten for reliability were Mitsubishi, Subaru, Acura, Scion, Mercury, Mazda and Suzuki. The ten lowest-rated brands were Audi, Infiniti, Saturn, Lincoln, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Land Rover, Hummer and Porsche.
source : foxnews
03-01-06, 06:37 PM
#2
Lexus Test Driver
The ten lowest-rated brands were Audi, Infiniti, Saturn, Lincoln, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Land Rover, Hummer and Porsche.
But go Japanese cars!
03-01-06, 06:59 PM
#3
Speaks French in Russian
Interesting to see Infiniti in the bottom 10. Must have a lot of pissed off Customers. But besides that, were we really expecting to see the Japanese falter and not rank the highest on these test(no matter how much people think CR is retarded or biased)??
03-01-06, 07:05 PM
#4
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A couple of things jump out at me on this list, which is the one, after all, our very own exalted mmarshall touts as the most unbiased and accurate in the business.
Perhaps most interestingly, just look at that list of lowest-rated brands! With the exception of Saturn, which is very much an entry-level brand, and VW, which has tried to move itself more upscale, those are all expensive nameplates that somehow STILL get away with charging a premium for their product! And I wonder how all the Infiniti fanboys will rationalize this one, with Japanese marques dominating the list but their over-hyped brand ending up in the "heap of shame". I guess they'll hang all their credibility on the M35.
And how about Suzuki in the best list? I would have expected Hyundai up there instead. Interesting!
Perhaps most interestingly, just look at that list of lowest-rated brands! With the exception of Saturn, which is very much an entry-level brand, and VW, which has tried to move itself more upscale, those are all expensive nameplates that somehow STILL get away with charging a premium for their product! And I wonder how all the Infiniti fanboys will rationalize this one, with Japanese marques dominating the list but their over-hyped brand ending up in the "heap of shame". I guess they'll hang all their credibility on the M35.
And how about Suzuki in the best list? I would have expected Hyundai up there instead. Interesting!
03-01-06, 08:46 PM
#5
Lexus Fanatic
iTrader: (20)
The bottom of the list doesn't mean they suck it means they don't rate high enough on consumer reports criteria which as stated are: road and track tests, evaluations of comfort, convenience and fuel economy, crash protection ratings from the government and insurance industry and readers' reliability rankings.
Comfort, convenience, fuel economy for example are not high on sports cars!
Comfort, convenience, fuel economy for example are not high on sports cars!
03-01-06, 08:55 PM
#7
Super Moderator
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by bitkahuna
The bottom of the list doesn't mean they suck it means they don't rate high enough on consumer reports criteria which as stated are: road and track tests, evaluations of comfort, convenience and fuel economy, crash protection ratings from the government and insurance industry and readers' reliability rankings.
Comfort, convenience, fuel economy for example are not high on sports cars!
Comfort, convenience, fuel economy for example are not high on sports cars!
The bottom 3 paragraphs in the article are referring to reliability rankings of the car brands as follow :
Reliability rankings are based on a survey of Consumer Reports subscribers who are asked if they have had serious problems with their vehicles in the past 12 months. The survey questions readers about 17 different trouble spots. For this year's survey, readers rated their experience with 810,000 vehicles from the 1998 through 2005 model years.
Consumer Reports said Japanese and Korean brands had 12 problems per 100 vehicles, while U.S. automakers had 18 problems and European makers had 21 problems. Asian and U.S. automakers have been improving their scores but appeared to stall in 2005, the magazine said. European automakers' ratings haven't changed substantially in the last four years, the magazine said.
After Lexus, Honda and Toyota, the brands rounding out the top ten for reliability were Mitsubishi, Subaru, Acura, Scion, Mercury, Mazda and Suzuki. The ten lowest-rated brands were Audi, Infiniti, Saturn, Lincoln, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Land Rover, Hummer and Porsche.
Consumer Reports said Japanese and Korean brands had 12 problems per 100 vehicles, while U.S. automakers had 18 problems and European makers had 21 problems. Asian and U.S. automakers have been improving their scores but appeared to stall in 2005, the magazine said. European automakers' ratings haven't changed substantially in the last four years, the magazine said.
After Lexus, Honda and Toyota, the brands rounding out the top ten for reliability were Mitsubishi, Subaru, Acura, Scion, Mercury, Mazda and Suzuki. The ten lowest-rated brands were Audi, Infiniti, Saturn, Lincoln, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Land Rover, Hummer and Porsche.
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03-01-06, 09:14 PM
#9
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I thought Porsche, Lincoln, and Infiniti tended to be relatively reliable. Especially Porsche. Isn't P always on JD Power's top ten list for reliability in both IQS and VDS?
03-01-06, 09:25 PM
#10
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Thread Starter
Report suggests autos may have hit a reliability threshold
By James R. Healey, USA TODAY
Posted 3/1/2006 6:09 PM Updated 3/1/2006 6:21 PM
This is as good as it gets for auto buyers and owners, according to Consumer Reports magazine.
The best brands have stopped getting better and so have the others, the magazine's data for the past five years show.
"It could indicate that the most-reliable new cars have reached a practical limit as to how trouble-free they can become," according to the magazine's annual April auto issue, on newsstands next Monday.
"We've reached a difficult level to break," acknowledges Anne Stevens, COO of Ford Motor's North and South American operations. "That doesn't mean don't keep trying."
The magazine is thought to sway hundreds of thousands of auto buying decisions annually.
"It's very influential, no question," says Jim Hossack, consultant at AutoPacific, a research and consulting company. "In consumer focus groups, when you ask what influences them, Consumer Reports comes up frequently."
Consumer Reports accepts no ads and buys the vehicles it tests rather than borrowing them from automakers.
David Champion, head of auto testing for the magazine, says the quality plateau probably is due to increasing use of electronics in cars. "The electrical and electronic features tend to be problematic, so they could be causing a leveling off of reliability even though the rest of the car is getting more reliable," he says.
That also could help explain the higher scores of Japanese models. "The Japanese economy has been built on consumer electronics — VCRs, DVDs; Sony, Canon, Panasonic," Champion says. "So they might have an advantage in that the supplier structure is more used to working with electronics and is better at it."
Hossack suggests the cost-benefit ratio might have maxxed out, and improving much more "would cost the manufacturer more than it's worth. It might not be a technical issue, but a practical, economic limit."
The best appears to be an average of 12 problems per 100 new vehicles. That's been the average of all the Asian brands since improving from 15 per 100 in 2002.
Detroit brands have been stuck at about 17 or 18 problems per 100, while European makes, which typically are the most expensive, are holding at 20 or 21 problems per 100 vehicles the past few years, Consumer Reports data show.
Those numbers are based on yearly surveys of the magazine's readers. The latest survey covered a record 1 million vehicles of all brands and types.
Fans of Detroit, who often accuse the magazine of an anti-Detroit bias because Japanese models tend to score better, won't find much to assuage them this year.
There are no Detroit vehicles in the Consumer Reports 10 top picks. All are Japanese. There is only one Detroit brand — Mercury — in the list of 10 most-reliable brands. And only one — Buick — near the top of the dependability chart that shows how well five-year-old vehicles have held up.
"We're particularly sensitive to (the anti-Detroit allegation) this year. For the first time since 1997, all 10 top picks are Japanese nameplates," says Jim Guest, president of Consumers Union, the magazine's publisher. "We don't have, and never have had, a predisposition for certain makes and models of cars," he says, noting that ratings are based on "rigorous and extensive testing" and reliability scores based on problems that owners report on the annual surveys.
"I don't think the magazine has any bias," Ford's Stevens says. "There is still a gap between us and the Asians. I realize that, and there's more (improvement) to go after."
Stevens, who says she studied seven years under quality guru W. Edwards Deming, says it's impossible to manufacture a product as complex as a car or truck with zero defects, but "we won't be happy or satisfied until we oust some of the Asians in those top picks."
Champion says an inkling of improvement at struggling General Motors shows up in its Buick brand, which "seems to be doing quite well on reliability."
One consolation for Detroit fans is that the pricey German makes score a lot worse than Motor City's mainstream machines. For instance, Porsche is the least-reliable brand sold in the U.S., the magazine says. But that is because of the poor record of just one model, the Cayenne SUV.
No Mercedes-Benz vehicle earns a "recommended" from Consumer Reports. Mercedes-Benz also is worst in the list of how well five-year-old vehicles held up. Mercedes-Benz did not respond to requests for comment.
German brands BMW, Audi and Volkswagen also are in the bottom half of the reliability rankings, and relatively few of their models earn a "recommended."
To be recommended by the magazine, a vehicle has to do well in three ways.
• It must score well in instrumented tests conducted by the magazine, measuring such things as stability in emergency maneuvers and braking distance.
• It must have a reliability score of average or better, based on data from readers who own the vehicles. New models that are mechanically similar to their predecessors sometimes are credited with the performance of those previous models.
• It must have adequate or better crash-test scores. If it hasn't been tested by either the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety but scores well otherwise, it can earn a provisional "recommended," subject to revision based on the crash scores. If the crash scores are exceptional, a vehicle gets a sort of super-recommended rating.
Worst showing by a Japanese maker: 40% of owners of 2005 Infiniti QX56 SUVs reported problems, as did 67% of owners of '04 QX56 SUVs.
That's one of the big truck models made at Nissan's Canton, Miss., factory. Other models made there, such as Nissan Armada SUV and Titan pickup, have poor reliability, too, the magazine says. Infiniti is Nissan's luxury brand.
The vehicles in the magazine's survey period were built before a team of manufacturing experts from Nissan's Japan headquarters swarmed through the U.S. plant to improve quality, Nissan says.
Posted 3/1/2006 6:09 PM Updated 3/1/2006 6:21 PM
This is as good as it gets for auto buyers and owners, according to Consumer Reports magazine.
The best brands have stopped getting better and so have the others, the magazine's data for the past five years show.
"It could indicate that the most-reliable new cars have reached a practical limit as to how trouble-free they can become," according to the magazine's annual April auto issue, on newsstands next Monday.
"We've reached a difficult level to break," acknowledges Anne Stevens, COO of Ford Motor's North and South American operations. "That doesn't mean don't keep trying."
The magazine is thought to sway hundreds of thousands of auto buying decisions annually.
"It's very influential, no question," says Jim Hossack, consultant at AutoPacific, a research and consulting company. "In consumer focus groups, when you ask what influences them, Consumer Reports comes up frequently."
Consumer Reports accepts no ads and buys the vehicles it tests rather than borrowing them from automakers.
David Champion, head of auto testing for the magazine, says the quality plateau probably is due to increasing use of electronics in cars. "The electrical and electronic features tend to be problematic, so they could be causing a leveling off of reliability even though the rest of the car is getting more reliable," he says.
That also could help explain the higher scores of Japanese models. "The Japanese economy has been built on consumer electronics — VCRs, DVDs; Sony, Canon, Panasonic," Champion says. "So they might have an advantage in that the supplier structure is more used to working with electronics and is better at it."
Hossack suggests the cost-benefit ratio might have maxxed out, and improving much more "would cost the manufacturer more than it's worth. It might not be a technical issue, but a practical, economic limit."
The best appears to be an average of 12 problems per 100 new vehicles. That's been the average of all the Asian brands since improving from 15 per 100 in 2002.
Detroit brands have been stuck at about 17 or 18 problems per 100, while European makes, which typically are the most expensive, are holding at 20 or 21 problems per 100 vehicles the past few years, Consumer Reports data show.
Those numbers are based on yearly surveys of the magazine's readers. The latest survey covered a record 1 million vehicles of all brands and types.
Fans of Detroit, who often accuse the magazine of an anti-Detroit bias because Japanese models tend to score better, won't find much to assuage them this year.
There are no Detroit vehicles in the Consumer Reports 10 top picks. All are Japanese. There is only one Detroit brand — Mercury — in the list of 10 most-reliable brands. And only one — Buick — near the top of the dependability chart that shows how well five-year-old vehicles have held up.
"We're particularly sensitive to (the anti-Detroit allegation) this year. For the first time since 1997, all 10 top picks are Japanese nameplates," says Jim Guest, president of Consumers Union, the magazine's publisher. "We don't have, and never have had, a predisposition for certain makes and models of cars," he says, noting that ratings are based on "rigorous and extensive testing" and reliability scores based on problems that owners report on the annual surveys.
"I don't think the magazine has any bias," Ford's Stevens says. "There is still a gap between us and the Asians. I realize that, and there's more (improvement) to go after."
Stevens, who says she studied seven years under quality guru W. Edwards Deming, says it's impossible to manufacture a product as complex as a car or truck with zero defects, but "we won't be happy or satisfied until we oust some of the Asians in those top picks."
Champion says an inkling of improvement at struggling General Motors shows up in its Buick brand, which "seems to be doing quite well on reliability."
One consolation for Detroit fans is that the pricey German makes score a lot worse than Motor City's mainstream machines. For instance, Porsche is the least-reliable brand sold in the U.S., the magazine says. But that is because of the poor record of just one model, the Cayenne SUV.
No Mercedes-Benz vehicle earns a "recommended" from Consumer Reports. Mercedes-Benz also is worst in the list of how well five-year-old vehicles held up. Mercedes-Benz did not respond to requests for comment.
German brands BMW, Audi and Volkswagen also are in the bottom half of the reliability rankings, and relatively few of their models earn a "recommended."
To be recommended by the magazine, a vehicle has to do well in three ways.
• It must score well in instrumented tests conducted by the magazine, measuring such things as stability in emergency maneuvers and braking distance.
• It must have a reliability score of average or better, based on data from readers who own the vehicles. New models that are mechanically similar to their predecessors sometimes are credited with the performance of those previous models.
• It must have adequate or better crash-test scores. If it hasn't been tested by either the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety but scores well otherwise, it can earn a provisional "recommended," subject to revision based on the crash scores. If the crash scores are exceptional, a vehicle gets a sort of super-recommended rating.
Worst showing by a Japanese maker: 40% of owners of 2005 Infiniti QX56 SUVs reported problems, as did 67% of owners of '04 QX56 SUVs.
That's one of the big truck models made at Nissan's Canton, Miss., factory. Other models made there, such as Nissan Armada SUV and Titan pickup, have poor reliability, too, the magazine says. Infiniti is Nissan's luxury brand.
The vehicles in the magazine's survey period were built before a team of manufacturing experts from Nissan's Japan headquarters swarmed through the U.S. plant to improve quality, Nissan says.
03-01-06, 10:48 PM
#11
Lexus Fanatic
Originally Posted by Incendiary
I thought Porsche, Lincoln, and Infiniti tended to be relatively reliable. Especially Porsche. Isn't P always on JD Power's top ten list for reliability in both IQS and VDS?
That is pathetic that Mercedes is yet again at the bottom and has still not taken care of their horrible QC yet they charge such a premium on their vehicles and people still overpay for them in droves just to say they drive a Benz. MB makes beautiful elegant cars in their upper range segment like S class, SL, CLs, SLR, Maybach but their low end cars are pretty bad like the original ML suv, C class, that ugly hatchback like coupe. MB is leading the power wars with amazing horsepower in AMG form, why not focus more on quality.
03-01-06, 10:56 PM
#12
Guest
Posts: n/a
Worst showing by a Japanese maker: 40% of owners of 2005 Infiniti QX56 SUVs reported problems, as did 67% of owners of '04 QX56 SUVs.
That's one of the big truck models made at Nissan's Canton, Miss., factory. Other models made there, such as Nissan Armada SUV and Titan pickup, have poor reliability, too, the magazine says. Infiniti is Nissan's luxury brand.
LMAO
That's one of the big truck models made at Nissan's Canton, Miss., factory. Other models made there, such as Nissan Armada SUV and Titan pickup, have poor reliability, too, the magazine says. Infiniti is Nissan's luxury brand.
LMAO
03-01-06, 10:58 PM
#13
Super Moderator
My firiends down here in Mexico are shocked when I show them Consumer Reports. Mexico is very strict about comparative advertising including quality.
Most believe the European luxury brands, simply because they are luxury cars, must have better quality.
Most believe the European luxury brands, simply because they are luxury cars, must have better quality.
03-02-06, 05:19 AM
#14
Infiniti M
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/c...6/overview.htm
April 2006 send to a friend printable version
Top Picks for 2006
The best models in 10 categories
Four new models made our Top Picks list this year. The redesigned Honda Civic is our choice among sedans priced below $20,000. The outstanding Infiniti M35 dethroned the Lexus LS430 in the luxury-sedan class ($40,000 or more). The Toyota Highlander Hybrid scored highest among SUVs priced above $30,000. Among pickup trucks, our choice is the new Honda Ridgeline.
The addition of the Highlander Hybrid means that our Top Picks now include two hybrid models, but for very different reasons. The Toyota Prius is our Top Pick in the “green”-car category because of its excellent 44-mpg overall fuel economy, the best we’ve measured in any five-passenger vehicle. The high rating of the Highlander Hybrid is based on its excellent overall package, which includes all the inviting attributes of the conventional Highlander as well as better acceleration and moderately better fuel economy. For an in-depth look at the ownership costs of hybrids, see our April 2006 report on the high cost of hybrid vehicles, available to subscribers.
Of the more than 200 vehicles that Consumer Reports has recently tested, our Top Picks are worth special consideration. All are recommended models and all-around high performers that:
• Scored at or near the top among competing vehicles in our testing.
• We predict will have average or better reliability, based on our latest Annual Car Reliability Survey.
• Performed adequately in overall crash protection if tested by the government or insurance industry.
Each vehicle’s “report card” shows how it fared in testing, reliability, and crash protection, if available. “NA” means that we can’t provide an overall crash-protection rating because information wasn’t available. Multiple ratings refer to different versions. Prices are rounded to the nearest thousand dollars.
These Top Picks are the result of the most comprehensive auto-test program of any U.S. publication or Web site. Here are some of the ways in which CR’s testing differs from that of other auto reviewers:
• We anonymously buy all the cars we test from dealerships, rather than borrowing them from automakers, so we get the same quality as you would.
• We use a dedicated, 327-acre auto-test center, staffed by a team of experienced auto engineers.
• Every vehicle that CR tests is evaluated for months and driven for 6,000 miles or more.
• More than 50 individual tests are performed on every vehicle, including some tests that were developed exclusively by CR’s auto engineers and adopted by the auto industry.
April 2006 send to a friend printable version
Top Picks for 2006
The best models in 10 categories
Four new models made our Top Picks list this year. The redesigned Honda Civic is our choice among sedans priced below $20,000. The outstanding Infiniti M35 dethroned the Lexus LS430 in the luxury-sedan class ($40,000 or more). The Toyota Highlander Hybrid scored highest among SUVs priced above $30,000. Among pickup trucks, our choice is the new Honda Ridgeline.
The addition of the Highlander Hybrid means that our Top Picks now include two hybrid models, but for very different reasons. The Toyota Prius is our Top Pick in the “green”-car category because of its excellent 44-mpg overall fuel economy, the best we’ve measured in any five-passenger vehicle. The high rating of the Highlander Hybrid is based on its excellent overall package, which includes all the inviting attributes of the conventional Highlander as well as better acceleration and moderately better fuel economy. For an in-depth look at the ownership costs of hybrids, see our April 2006 report on the high cost of hybrid vehicles, available to subscribers.
Of the more than 200 vehicles that Consumer Reports has recently tested, our Top Picks are worth special consideration. All are recommended models and all-around high performers that:
• Scored at or near the top among competing vehicles in our testing.
• We predict will have average or better reliability, based on our latest Annual Car Reliability Survey.
• Performed adequately in overall crash protection if tested by the government or insurance industry.
Each vehicle’s “report card” shows how it fared in testing, reliability, and crash protection, if available. “NA” means that we can’t provide an overall crash-protection rating because information wasn’t available. Multiple ratings refer to different versions. Prices are rounded to the nearest thousand dollars.
These Top Picks are the result of the most comprehensive auto-test program of any U.S. publication or Web site. Here are some of the ways in which CR’s testing differs from that of other auto reviewers:
• We anonymously buy all the cars we test from dealerships, rather than borrowing them from automakers, so we get the same quality as you would.
• We use a dedicated, 327-acre auto-test center, staffed by a team of experienced auto engineers.
• Every vehicle that CR tests is evaluated for months and driven for 6,000 miles or more.
• More than 50 individual tests are performed on every vehicle, including some tests that were developed exclusively by CR’s auto engineers and adopted by the auto industry.
I have always liked that the M Sport gives you the aluminum instead of wood trim (something I wish Lexus did) but it fails my line of 20mpg requirement that I try to keep & those tail lights are not cute .. .then again, the GS tail lights look like droopy eyelids to me ... anyhoo, do people here agree that the M is all that & a bag of chips?
Oh & perhaps I should relook @ the Ridgeline -- t'is still ugly but perhaps better suited for me (trips to Lowes/Home Depot & nothing off road). But a 4cylinder 2WD Tacoma would cost much less .... decisions decisions.
03-02-06, 05:42 AM
#15
Funny thing is M35 mileage is very close to the M45s mileage, ill take the V8 please, the M35 must be really slow. M really really needs a 6 speed auto, its using a 5 speed now, but its a great looking and performing car and is a strong bargain in the mid size luxury market
I honestly dont see how the M35 beat out a LS430 when they arent even in the same class or price range
I honestly dont see how the M35 beat out a LS430 when they arent even in the same class or price range