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What’s the Best Car Brand in America?

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2017 Audi Q7

Which car brand would you say is the best on the market today?

The answer to that question will be as varied as car buyers themselves. Some people judge brand based on style, while others make it all about reliability. The customer experience will surely rank high on anybody’s list of best car brands, while a reputation for high performance or stellar fuel economy may be a priority for others.

To name a “best” brand is certainly a subjective effort. Anyone can apply a custom set of qualifiers and name their favorite brand as the best on the market.

Consumer Reports tackled the project by naming the brands that exhibit high-level performance across their lines. According to that standard, CR says Audi is the best brand available. Continue reading >>>

Dependable Drives: Ten 2014s Worth a Look

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2014 Ford F-150
As anyone who’s shopped for a used car knows, cars retain value inconsistently. In this era of Big Data, armies of statisticians are gathering and analyzing all sorts of car numbers by maker, body style, price, location, model, and so on to see what we can learn. J.D. Power recently published its 2017 Vehicle Dependability Study, which rates both makers and models, and it shows that Lexus and Porsche had the fewest reported problems per 2014-model-year vehicle, followed by Toyota, Buick, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, and BMW.

Each year J.D. Power polls owners of 3-year-old cars to determine the number of problems they experienced during the previous 12 months, then ranks each maker and model by the number of problems experienced per 100 vehicles. Last year we built a list of Reliable Rides featuring 10 cars that performed well in studies based on model years 2010 through 2013, and this year we’re going to take a look at some new winners and returning champs as well as some cars that have made important changes since 2014. Continue reading >>>

Lexus Tops Dependability List While Jaguar Rises and Acura Falls

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If you were to buy a car based on its reliability reputation alone, what would you get?

Would you take home a Honda or Acura because of their legendary commitment to being problem-free? Would you purchase a Toyota because you know they routinely go 300,000 miles or more?

Would you avoid Jaguar and Land Rover at all costs because of their reputation for spending more time in the shop than on the road?

J.D. Power’s annual U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study, released yesterday, reinforces some of those preconceived notions while turning others on their head. Continue reading >>>

Why GM Might Not Want to Sell You a Malibu


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Maybe the people at General Motors aren’t used to selling a lot Malibus.

For as long as I can remember, cars like the Malibu and Impala existed just to provide an option for the very few people who wanted a sedan but simply had to have a Chevy.

GM’s bread-and-butter vehicles have always been its full-size trucks, SUVs, and, more recently, crossovers. The profit margins on those rigs are much higher than on sedans and small cars, so the company doesn’t like to push its smaller vehicles too hard.

Some recent redesigns have turned Chevy’s cars, the Malibu and Cruze specifically, into genuinely competitive vehicles. Much to GM’s dismay, consumers are noticing. Continue reading >>>

Will a New Corvette Appeal to Younger Buyers?


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Chevrolet has a problem with the Corvette. Despite efforts to appeal to a younger audience with the sleek C7 Stingray, the Corvette remains an old man’s car.

The average ‘Vette buyer is a 59-year-old male, but Chevrolet would love to start sending Corvettes home with guys and gals a decade or two younger. Certainly the C7 appeals to a younger crowd, but the Corvette brand has become associated with being a mid-life crisis purchase. When was the last time you saw someone driving a Corvette who didn’t have white hair?

Younger folks tend to buy the Camaro or Mustang.

Part of the reason is because older buyers are usually better-equipped to buy such an expensive car than their younger counterparts. In fact, more than 40 percent of Corvettes are purchased with cash.

There’s a new Corvette on the horizon, though, that might be enough to persuade younger folks with extra cash to jump on the Corvette train. Continue reading >>>