The CarGurus Blog

Daily coverage of the world of cars.

United States

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 >>>

Camaro Goes Hardcore With Upcoming Z/28 and ZL1 1LE

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Chevrolet is developing a series of engines that it hopes will challenge the elite BMW and Mercedes-Benz vehicles of the world.

The new naturally aspirated motor will pump out up to 750-hp and feature specs on par with the Ferrari 458 Italia.

Car and Driver says of the motor,

These engines eventually will power the Camaros and Corvettes of your dreams as well as the hottest Cadillacs in GM’s arsenal. We’re estimating the sequence could begin with a Z/28 for the 2019 model year and continue with the C8 Corvette Z06 shortly thereafter. Cadillac will join the fray on its own schedule to run with BMW Ms, Mercedes-AMGs, Porsche Panameras, and the like.

Yup, the Z/28 is likely to return in the next couple of years and it sounds like it’ll live up to its reputation of being the most desirable Camaro in the stable.

And it’s not even the only ultra-fast Camaro on the horizon. Things are definitely looking good for folks who believe the most powerful American cars on the market should wear a bowtie. 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 >>>

The Last of Its Kind: Ferrari 812 Superfast


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We try to keep things attainable on this blog. We don’t spend a lot of time in the world of supercars because so few people ever get the pleasure of driving one home.

Sometimes, though, we just can’t resist. Supercars hold a tempting lure over any car aficionado, because they are the epitome of automotive technology. They are the fastest, most powerful, best-handling, most exotic cars on the market and, quite frankly, sometimes they’re impossible to ignore.

Plus, technology from today’s supercars could very well trickle down to tomorrow’s family sedan.

That may not be the case with the Ferrari 812 Superfast, but it sure is fun to look at, and it gives us an all-new supercar to dream about. Continue reading >>>