For the third consecutive year, Honda has earned class leader status for building the best all-around vehicles for American drivers, according to the Automaker Report Cards published in Consumer Reports’ Annual Auto Issue. At the opposite end of the annual ranking is Chrysler, which fared
even worse than last year. The company’s poor performing products and sinking reliability results have kept all Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep badged vehicles off CR’s Recommended list.

With an overall score of 78 out of 100 points, Honda was followed closely by Subaru (75), and Toyota (74) in the overall score. Subaru is also the only automaker with 100% of its tested vehicles Recommended, although it has a relatively small model lineup. Mazda (73), came in 4th, followed by Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Volkswagen, and BMW, all tied at 72.

While the top four overall scores belong to Japanese automakers, a Japanese nameplate is no guarantee that every car in a model range will be a reliable and good performer. For example, the Honda Element and Toyota Yaris scored too low in Consumer Reports’ tests to be recommended. Conversely, despite overall scores of 63 and 57 respectively, that placed Ford and GM toward the bottom of the results, new models like the Ford Flex, F-150, Chevrolet Malibu, and Cadillac CTS have done well in CR’s tests and rank near the top of their classes in its ratings.

Full details and rankings are available in the article “Who makes the best cars?”

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