While car brand reputation can be a strong influence on purchase decisions, such perceptions can be misleading. The reality is, every brand offers models that perform across a spectrum, with some are clearly better than others.

When shopping for a new car, it is natural to want to get a great value for your automotive dollar. And that's what our latest best new-car values analysis is designed to do.

We recently looked at some of the best deals on car leases, focused on outgoing models about to be redesigned, and found you could still beat the advertised offers by just taking out a traditional loan and/or buying the car outright. Now, we'll take a look at more conventional leases, to see just how much better the end-of-the-model-year deals are.

At the turnover of the model year, car dealers of all stripes roll out ads for cut-rate leases as they try to clear out old inventory. As tempting as these low lease rates may sound, even the best lease deals don't save money, according to a recent analysis of several local ads.

Each year, the Consumer Reports Annual Auto Issue featuring the latest ratings, rankings and expert insights garners significant attention. The focus invariable turns to Top Picks and the automaker report cards. Both special reports given a quick snapshot of how makes and models compare, informing car buyers, as well as auto industry trivia enthusiasts. While everyone loves a winner, what about those brands that just never made the Top Pick cut?

Our Annual Autos Issue presents a dizzying array of facts and figures, all aimed at helping car shoppers choose the right model for their needs and budget. While we rate the automakers and present numerous best and worst lists, we haven’t offered a simple guide to the best and worst models by brand. Until now.

We all want a car to be safe, reliable, and perform well, but since we all spend too much time behind the wheel (and making payments!), it might as well be fun to drive, too. Our automotive engineers have combined their test data and notes to come up with the cars they have found to be the most fun to drive.

We’ve recently showed that most fuel-efficient cars can beat their EPA highway fuel economy estimates in Consumer Reports measured fuel economy testing. But if you want to hit 40 mpg on the highway, our tests show that you have more options than you might think.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and BMW are recalling 89,911 Mini Cooper sedans equipped with a turbocharged engine. The electronic circuit board which controls the electrical water pump to cool the turbocharger may malfunction and smolder, possibly leading to an engine fire.

Federal investigators with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is trying to determine if the Mini Cooper sport coupes are literally hot cars.

Some days are better than others, especially if they are spent at a private test track with dozens of new cars. Several members of the Consumer Reports Cars team went to the Monticello Motor Club last week for the annual International Motor Press Association (IMPA) track days, sampling the latest cars on a 3.6-mile race track. Naturally, the staff found some favorites from among these high-speed first impressions.

BMW has unveiled the new Mini Coupe with pricing starting at $22,000, including destination charges. The S Coupe will start at $25,300 and the John Cooper Works model is priced at $31,900.

The biggest hurdle to electric cars right now may have less to do with limited range and more to do with limited understanding, according to a new study. BMW teamed up with the University of California, Davis, to survey some of the 450 early adopters who paid $850 a month to lease a Mini-E and asked them about their experiences with range anxiety, charging, weather, and other factors. Some of the findings were significant (pdf).

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has announced a deeper probe into the power steering on Mini Coopers. Expanding on an investigation from last fall, the agency now believes that as many as 60,000 Minis from the 2004 and 2005 model years may have steering issues that could lead to fires and collisions.

A bigger Mini might seem something of an oxymoron, like jumbo shrimp. But with modern Mini Coopers being on sale here for nearly a decade, certainly some Mini owners had to move into something bigger as time went on and their lifestyle changed. Not to mention those who wanted to buy a Mini but just couldn't make the car fit their family needs. Enter the Countryman.