Good news for Toyota and Lexus

EVs like the Tesla Model 3 and Toyota hybrids dominate Consumer Reports’ top auto picks

After years of being touted as a smarter option for car buyers seeking better fuel efficiency and lower costs, hybrids and EVs are getting a big endorsement from Consumer Reports.

The 2023 Consumer Reports 10 Top Picks for cars, trucks and SUVs includes seven models that are either hybrid or fully electric.

“This really just shows how the market is changing,” said Jake Fisher, senior director of automotive testing at Consumer Reports. “Electrification, not just battery electric vehicles, but just electrification, is changing the market and making a lot of really great options.”

Consumer Reports selects top models at a variety of price points based on its testing of new vehicles, with an emphasis on affordability and safety. For 2023, the selection of hybrids and EVs highlight two advantages those types of vehicles often have over models with internal combustion engines: fuel efficiency and reliability.

“With hybrids, you’re kind of being really easy on the engine, being really easy on the brakes, because you’re actually using the generator and the battery to kind of soften everything,” Fisher told CNBC. “There are less brake problems, less transmission problems, everything is kind of muted. Plus, when you look at the hybrids and who’s producing these hybrids, they generally are from very reliable automakers who have been using this technology for a long time.”





That explains why Toyota builds four of the 10 models chosen for 2023 Top Picks, including the Toyota Corolla Hybrid, Toyota Camry Hybrid and Lexus NX 350h.

Those models are part of a wave of hybrids that have helped establish Toyota as the leader in this category. Last year, one out of every four vehicles Toyota sold in the U.S. was a hybrid. In the U.S., hybrids and EVs accounted for just over 10% of all vehicles sold last year, according to the auto research firm Edmunds.

Styling and performance of hybrids and EVs now make them more appealing than a few years ago.

“Today, you can really have it all. You can have something roomy, something comfortable, something fuel efficient,” Fisher said. He pointed to the Ford Maverick Hybrid which gets 37 miles per gallon as an example of a hybrid that is changing perceptions. “You don’t have to compromise as much as you had to do in the past.”

Tesla, which sells two out of every three EVs in the U.S., is back on the Top Picks list after being off it last year. Consumer Reports selected the Tesla Model 3 and the Lexus NX 350h as the best choices for vehicles priced between $45,000 and $55,000.

Meanwhile, Consumer Reports ranks BMW as the No. 1 auto brand, followed by Subaru and Mini.

“BMW builds many high-performing, full-featured and reliable models, so it’s not surprising to see it at the top of our brand rankings,” Fisher said in a release outlining Consumer Reports’ selections.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/16/tesl...top-picks.html

 

Toyota I obviously agree with but BMW? I don't believe they will anywhere near as reliable as Toyota in the longer term. Consumer Reports is getting worse and worse IMO.

 

I know others on here don't trust CR, but my brother in law swears by them. He's been a subscriber since the 1990's and has always based his buying decisions on their reports. He says they have rarely been wrong. I totally believe the Toyota/Lexus reliability reports. I've yet to have a Toyota/Lexus product break down

 

BMW is their number 1 brand but none of their products made their top 10 list.

How is that possible?

 

I think the BMW product(s) they are referring to is above $55K

 

I don't have any feelings one way or another for CR, but the article says "The overall score for individual brands is based on four key factors: the road test, reliability, owner satisfaction and safety". Thats's where their brand rankings come from.

 

Well now I can take Consoomer Reports even less serious because the Model 3 is unaesthetic and overly expensive imo.

 

PFM.............

 

I generally have a lot of respect for CR, but I agree.....they may have overrated the Model 3.

 

So you are saying they just added the model 3 to their top 10 just for the heck of it? You have to explain that to me. Either you respect their ratings or you don't

 

With all due respect, you may be coming from the wrong premise. It is not a simple black/white issue, with no shades of gray. I have a lot of respect for the publication, but, on occasion (uncommon occasions), their ratings are questionable. I have reviewed and test-driven a Model 3, and, except for the massive torque level (which is far more than is needed for normal driving), found it unimpressive.

 

I've spent a lot of time with lots of Tesla's, including my brother in law's Model 3, and I find them extremely impressive. More impressive than most cars I've owned and driven. We just have differing opinions, which is perfectly fine. Also if you disagree with CL on this pick, that's fine as well, as I wouldn't buy many of the cars they recommend anyway. I respect as well that you don't like Tesla's

 

Isn't CR's ratings partially based on customer surveys also? Most Tesla owners (not all) seem to be extremely happy with them, which would boost Tesla's ratings. I've gotten the surveys in the past and thought these were considered when making their top picks, as well as when they do their basic above/below average reports.

 

The 3-series, X5, and X7 led their respective luxury segments, and pretty much every vehicle they make scored well. The way CR presents the cars in the top list is confusing as it's more of a hodge podge from all segments.

 

I want to like CR, and there is value. But they get their information from subscribers, which is a captured group. Not to mention subscriptions are down. Hardly a valid statistical study.
Tell me why, one year Tesla is the highest car they ever tested, then it is junk, then it is good again?