Industry News: Consumer Reports Picks The Vehicles With The Best Value

[William Maley]

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If you're looking a vehicle that has the best value in the marketplace, then according to Consumer Reports, you should be looking at the Toyota Prius. The publication announced the results of their annual Best New-Car Value analysis. The analysis looks at the five-year cost for a vehicle to an owner which includes such factors as maintenance, insurance, and depreciation. That cost is factored in with Consumer Reports’ road-test score and reliability rating for each vehicle.

This is the second year the Prius has been named the best value in the marketplace. Consumer Reports says the Prius has a nice balance of performance, reliability, and low estimated five-year ownership costs of 47 cents per mile.

“The Prius’ 44 mpg overall is the best fuel economy of any non-plug-in car that Consumer Reports has tested. Though it’s not particularly cheap to buy, the Prius’ depreciation is so low that it costs less to own over the first five years than its initial MSRP. We call that a bargain,” said Consumer Reports Automotive Editor Rik Paul.

Now with there being a best, that usually means there is a worst. In this case, it happens to be the Nissan Armada. Consumer Reports says the Armada scored poorly in this year's reliability survey and gets 13 MPG combined, giving it the highest ownership cost of a $1.20 per mile.

Here is a list of the best and worst for each class.

• Compact /Subcompact Cars: Best, Toyota Prius Four; Worst, Volkswagen Beetle 2.5L
  
• Midsized Cars: Best, Subaru Legacy 2.5i Premium; Worst, Nissan Altima 3.5 SL
  
• Large Cars: Best, Toyota Avalon Hybrid Limited; Worst, Ford Taurus Limited
  
• Luxury Cars: Best, Lexus ES 300h; Worst, BMW 750Li
  
• Sports Cars/Convertibles: Best: Mazda MX-5 Miata Grand Touring; Worst, Chevrolet Camaro convertible 2SS (V8)
  
• Wagons/Minivans: Best, Mazda5 Grand Touring; Worst, Chrysler Town & Country Touring-L
  
• Small SUVs: Best, Subaru Forester 2.5i Premium; Worst, Ford Escape SE (1.6T)
  
• Midsized SUVs: Best, Nissan Murano SL; Worst, Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sahara
  
• Luxury/Large SUVs: Best, BMW X1 xDrive28i; Worst, Nissan Armada Platinum
  
• Pickups: Best, Honda Ridgeline RTS; Worst, Ford F-250 Lariat (6.7L V8)
  

Source: Consumer Reports

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected]or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

Press Release is on Page 2

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Consumer Reports Names Toyota Prius Best New-Car Value for Second Year in A Row

• Nissan Armada ranked lowest overall in CR’s annual Best- & Worst-Value Ranking
  

YONKERS, NY— Consumer Reports finds the Toyota Prius to be the best overall value for the automotive dollar and the Nissan Armada the worst in its annual Best New-Car Value analysis.

This is the second straight year that the Prius has topped CR’s best-value list, which highlights the cars that give you the most bang for your buck. The popular hybrid has the right combination of performance, reliability and low estimated five-year ownership costs of 47 cents per mile. Last year, the Prius unseated the perennial best-value leader, the Honda Fit. The Fit had held the best new-car value title for the previous four years.

The Armada, a large SUV that gets only 13 mpg overall and scored poorly in Consumer Reports’ annual reliability survey, costs a hefty $1.20 per mile, according to CR’s analysis.

Toyota and Lexus models placed at the top in three of the 10 categories that Consumer Reports analyzed—with the Prius taking top overall ranking and emerging in first place in the Compact/Subcompact Cars category. The Toyota Avalon Hybrid Limited is the top-scoring vehicle in the Large Cars group and the Lexus ES 300h is the top model in the Luxury Cars category.

Vehicles from Subaru and Mazda were also standouts in the analysis; each automaker had vehicles that topped the rankings in two categories. The Subaru Legacy 2.5i Premium was the top-scoring vehicle in the Midsized Cars category and the Subaru Forester 2.5i Premium scored best among Small SUVs. The Mazda MX-5 Miata Grand ranked first overall in the Sports Cars/Convertibles category while the Mazda5 Grand Touring was best in the Wagons/Minivans group.

In creating its annual Best and Worst New-Car Values list, Consumer Reports mines its performance, reliability, and owner-cost data to calculate a value score for more than 200 different vehicles ranging from small cars like the Hyundai Accent and Honda Fit to luxury sedans such as the Cadillac XTS and BMW 750Li.

“The Prius’ 44 mpg overall is the best fuel economy of any non-plug-in car that Consumer Reports has tested,” said Consumer Reports Automotive Editor Rik Paul. “Though it’s not particularly cheap to buy, the Prius’ depreciation is so low that it costs less to own over the first five years than its initial MSRP. We call that a bargain.”

The scores were calculated based on the five-year owner cost for each vehicle, along with Consumer Reports’ road-test score and the organization’s own predicted-reliability score from the latest Annual Auto Survey. In short, the better a car performs in Consumer Reports’ road tests and reliability ratings, and the less it costs to own over time, the better its value. The five-year owner cost estimates factor in depreciation, fuel, insurance premiums, interest on financing, maintenance and repairs, and sales tax. Depreciation is by far the largest owner-cost factor.

The 10 vehicle categories Consumer Reports included in this analysis: Compact/Subcompact Cars, Midsized Cars, Large Cars, Luxury Cars, Sports Cars/Convertibles, Wagons/Minivans, Small SUVs, Midsized SUVs, Luxury/Large SUVs, and Pickups.

“Just because a car is cheap to buy doesn’t mean it’s a good value. The Nissan Versa Sedan, for example, is one of the least expensive cars that Consumer Reports has tested,” Paul said. “For about $1,500 more, we’d go with a Honda Fit, which is fun to drive, cheaper to own, more reliable, and provides almost twice the value.”

Here’s a look at the winners and losers in each of the categories:

• Compact /Subcompact Cars: Best, Toyota Prius Four; Worst, Volkswagen Beetle 2.5L
  
• Midsized Cars: Best, Subaru Legacy 2.5i Premium; Worst, Nissan Altima 3.5 SL
  
• Large Cars: Best, Toyota Avalon Hybrid Limited; Worst, Ford Taurus Limited
  
• Luxury Cars: Best, Lexus ES 300h; Worst, BMW 750Li
  
• Sports Cars/Convertibles: Best: Mazda MX-5 Miata Grand Touring; Worst, Chevrolet Camaro convertible 2SS (V8)
  
• Wagons/Minivans: Best, Mazda5 Grand Touring; Worst, Chrysler Town & Country Touring-L
  
• Small SUVs: Best, Subaru Forester 2.5i Premium; Worst, Ford Escape SE (1.6T)
  
• Midsized SUVs: Best, Nissan Murano SL; Worst, Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sahara
  
• Luxury/Large SUVs: Best, BMW X1 xDrive28i; Worst, Nissan Armada Platinum
  
• Pickups: Best, Honda Ridgeline RTS; Worst, Ford F-250 Lariat (6.7L V8)
  

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[G. David Felt]

As always, Clearly their love for Japan comes through over America. I would disagree with more than half of those choices.

Big benefit is it leaves many awesome auto's at lower prices for those of us that can and do love American Rides to pick up.

[Drew Dowdell]

Ridgeline... best value for a truck? What's the value of a truck that can't haul anything?

[smk4565]

Ridgeline... best value for a truck? What's the value of a truck that can't haul anything?

Exactly. But in CR world, if it gets good mileage it is the best vehicle. If they put a pickup bed on the back of a Prius it would be the best truck on the market because it got 40 mpg, the fact that the tow capacity is 500 lbs wouldn't be relevant.

This list is laughable, the best value Luxury car is an ES300h? Low MSRP compared to other luxury cars and high mpg make it valuable? Value should be judged on what you get for the money, $40k for an Avalon with an italic "L" on the front isn't good value. Based on CR thinking the Mitsubishi Mirage has the best value of any car, it costs $12,995 and gets 44 mpg, so it must be the best car for sale on the market.