Consumer Reports '07

Japanese brands dominate


Consumer Reports magazine's April auto issue, coming next week, is a guide for millions of auto shoppers.
Here's a look at some of this year's key rankings.

Top picks for 2007
Consumer Reports considers these the best all-around performers in each category. The magazine didn't name a top pickup because it didn't have enough time to test all new models.

Category Vehicle Price

Budget Honda Fit $14,000 to $16,000

Small sedan Honda Civic $17,000 to $23,000

Family sedan Honda Accord $20,000 to $33,000

Upscale sedan Infiniti G35 $35,000 to $39,000

Luxury sedan Infiniti M35 $42,000 to $45,000

Fun to drive Mazda MX-5 Miata $21,000 to $27,000

Small SUV Toyota RAV4 $23,000 to $27,000

Midsize SUV Toyota Highlander hybrid $35,000 to $40,000

Minivan Toyota Sienna $26,000 to $38,000

Green car Toyota Prius $23,000

Source: Consumer Reports


CR Good Bets have performed well in CR's road tests and have had several years of better-than-average reliability. Bad Bets performed much worse than average.

Good bets / Bad bets

Acura Integra /BMW 7 Series

Acura MDX/ BMW X5 (v

Acura RL /Chevrolet Astro

Acura RSX (except '06) /Chevrolet Blazer

Acura TL /Chevrolet Express

Acura TSX /Chevrolet S-10 (4WD)

Buick Regal /Chevrolet Venture, Uplander

Chevrolet Prizm /Chrysler Town & Country (awd)

Honda Accord /Dodge Caravan (awd)

Honda Civic /GMC Jimmy

Honda Civic hybrid /GMC Sonoma (4wd)

Honda CR-V /GMC Safari

Honda Element /GMC Savana

HondaOdyssey /Infiniti QX56

Honda Pilot /Jaguar S-Type

Honda Prelude /Jaguar X-Type

Honda S2000 /Jeep Grand Cherokee

Infiniti FX /Kia Sedona (except '06)

Infiniti G20 /Land Rover Discovery, LR3

Infiniti G35 /Lincoln Aviator

Infiniti I30, I35 /Lincoln Navigator

Infiniti QX4 /Mercedes-Benz CLK

Lexus ES /Mercedes-Benz M-Class (v

Lexus GS /Mercedes-Benz S-Class (v

Lexus GX /Mercedes-Benz SL

Lexus IS /Nissan Armada

Lexus LS /Nissan Titan

Lexus EX /Oldsmobile Bravada

Lexus SC /Oldsmobile Cutlass

Lincoln Town Car /Oldsmobile Silhouette

Mazda Millenia /Pontiac Aztek

Mazda MX-5 Miata /Pontiac Trans Sport, Montana, Montana SV6

Mazda Protg /Volkswagen Cabrio

Mazda3 /Volkswagen Jetta (turbo, gas)

Nissan Altima /Volkswagen Jetta (v6)

Nissan Maxima /Volkswagen New Beetle (4 cyl.)

Nissan Pathfinder /Volkswagen Touareg

Pontiac Vibe /Volvo XC90 (6-cyl.)

Scion xB

Subaru Forester

Subaru Impreza

Subaru Impreza WRX

Subaru Legacy

Subaru Outback

Toyota 4Runner

Toyota Avalon

Toyota Camry

Toyota Camry Solara

Toyota Celica

Toyota Corolla

Toyota Echo

Toyota Highlander

Toyota Land Cruiser

Toyota Matrix

Toyota Prius

Toyota RAV4

Toyota Sequia

Toyota Sienna

Toyota Tundra


How 'Consumer Reports' survey ranks cars
Predicted reliability of brands and where they placed last year. Bold = gained; italics = lost.

Maker '07 '06

Toyota 1 3

Honda 2 2

Scion 3 7

Acura 4 6

Lexus 5 1

Subaru 6 5

Hyundai 7 13

Infiniti 8 28

Mitsubishi 9 4

Mercury 10 8

Mazda 11 9

Audi 12 27

Lincoln 13 30

GMC 14 25

Volvo 15 12

Ford 16 16

Kia 17 14

Buick 18 20

BMW 19 21

Pontiac 20 17

Chevrolet 21 24

Dodge 22 18

Chrysler 23 15

Nissan 24 26

Saab 25 23

Suzuki 26 10

Volkswagen 27 33

Mini 28 11

Porsche 29 36

Saturn 30 29

Cadillac 31 22

Jeep 32 19

Jaguar 33 31

Hummer 34 35

Land Rover 35 34

Mercedes-Benz 36 32

Source: Consumer Reports

i just read that yesterday... mercedes got a 0% for reliability

Vegasdriver said:

Chevrolet Prizm /Chrysler Town & Country (awd)

Click to expand...

toyota corolla?

Toyota's vaunted Lexus luxury brand has fallen from first to fifth in Consumer Reports magazine's annual predicted reliability survey. Other luxury brands took worse drubbings. The automaker's Toyota brand and its youth-oriented Scion brand are in the top three along with Honda and its Acura, the magazine says in its April auto issue, on sale next week.

Mercedes-Benz was last among 36 brands. Other luxury brands at the bottom: Land Rover, Hummer and Jaguar.

The magazine, operated by the non-profit Consumers Union, bases the reliability rankings on responses from 965,000 subscribers covering 1.3 million vehicles. The auto issue also includes the magazine's ratings of vehicles based on its own testing.

Some luxury brands improved: Nissan's Infiniti, Volkswagen's Audi, Ford Motor's Lincoln; Honda's Acura.

David Champion, the magazine's director of automotive testing, blamed one model for Lexus' fall, the midsize GS that was redesigned last year. He said the car had problems in three areas -- body integrity, defined as rattles or poorly fitting panels; body hardware, such as locks and trunk mechanisms; and the sound system.

The model still rated average and earned a purchase recommendation. All other Lexus models were better than average.

Toyota officials looked at the bright side. "We had three of the top five. It reflects well on our products," spokesman Xavier Dominicis said.

Mercedes, DaimlerChrysler's luxury brand, tumbled four places to the cellar, "a very poor showing for a very expensive car," Champion said. Mercedes' quality is so imperiled that a 9-year-old Lexus LS 400 has potentially fewer problems than a new Mercedes ML. Champion said of Mercedes: "They perform well, have great fit and finish. But they seem to have a lot of problems with the seven-speed automatic transmission in all their products, and power accessories and electrical systems."

Mercedes disputed the findings. Today's models "are without question some of the best we have ever built," spokeswoman Donna Boland said. "If the survey doesn't reflect that, there's something wrong with the survey."

She noted that 74 percent of Mercedes models sold in the USA over the past 50 years are still on the road. A 2006 survey by R.L. Polk showed that Mercedes has the highest owner loyalty of any brand.

Mercedes had quality issues a couple of years ago, but they were fixed, she said. "We have been out-front about that. But the data we have on the new models absolutely support that the quality is right up there with people's expectations."

http://autos.aol.com/article/general/v2/_a/auto-reliability-survey/20070301102009990002

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/autos/0702/gallery.consumer_reports_top_picks/index.html

Working link?

Vegasdriver said:

Mercedes disputed the findings. Today's models "are without question some of the best we have ever built," spokeswoman Donna Boland said. "If the survey doesn't reflect that, there's something wrong with the survey."

Click to expand...

what a crock of s***...talk about taking the hoity toity mercedes benz persona to a whole new level