WASHINGTON — When it comes to the best car brands on the market, Lexus is driving away with the top honors for the second year in a row, according to Consumer Reports’ annual rankings.
Lexus, Toyota’s luxury brand, received the highest score of 79 in Consumer Reports’ ranking because its models are usually quiet, comfortable, fuel efficient and they are among the most reliable.
Behind Lexus on the list are Acura, Honda’s luxury car, and Audi, from the Volkswagen luxury brand. Acura and Audi scored 75 and 74 points, respectively, thanks to their well-crafted interiors, good gas mileage and efficient engines, among other factors, according to Consumer Reports.
Jeep and Ford tied for the lowest scores.
“Jeep has a mix of spotty reliability and mediocre road-test results, and Ford continues to have reliability problems, especially with its MyFord Touch system,” Consumer Reports says.
To determine the ranking, Consumer Reports calculates each brand’s overall score based on how the model performs in a road test and how they rate in reliability based on subscribers’ input on the Annual Auto Survey.
In the ranking, Japanese brands were in seven of the top eight spots. Following the three highest-scoring are Subaru, Toyota, Mazda, Honda and Infiniti.
The bottom five brands are from Detroit: Jeep, Ford, Dodge, Cadillac and Chevrolet. The top American makes — Buick, GMC and Chrysler — scored midpack.
Below is a list of the top 10, according to Consumer Reports:
- Lexus
- Acura
- Audi
- Subaru
- Toyota
- Mazda
- Honda
- Infiniti
- Mercedes-Benz
- BMW
Editor’s note: Consumer Reports will release its list of top cars on Tuesday.
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