American magazine U.S. News & World Report has released their 2008 rankings of the best cars and trucks in 11 different classes. Honda alone has five cars that won awards, and three more are Japanese made. There are three German cars, and two American vehicles on the list.
And the winners are...
- Best Economy Car: Honda Fit
- Best Midsize Car: Honda Accord
- Best Upscale Small Car: Volkswagen GTI
- Best Upscale Midsize Car: BMW 3-Series
- Best Luxury Car: BMW 5-Series
- Best Compact SUV: Honda CR-V
- Best Midsize SUV: Honda Pilot
- Best Large SUV: Chevrolet Tahoe
- Best Luxury Midsize SUV: Lexus RX 350
- Best Full Size Pickup: Chevrolet Silverado 1500
- Best Affordable Sports Car: Honda S2000, Mazda MX-5, Mazda Speed3 (three-way tie)
Lists similar to this one are always open for debate; many seem to be created simply to spark arguments. Still, a list like this, assembled by a more respectable news source, seems a tad more reliable than an award from from J.D. Power and Associates. However, as this list is for 2008 it does seema bit romantic that the S2000 should make the grade in what is likely its last production year.
U.S. News & World Report does not use their own editorial board to determine best cars in class, but rather an aggregate model taking into account the opinions of many automotive experts. These experts thoughts on different vehicles, their safety, and reliability are all considered, and used to rank the vehicles.
Economy Cars: Honda Fit
Midsize Cars: Honda Accord
Upscale Small Cars: Volkswagen GTI
Upscale Midsize Cars: BMW 3-Series
Luxury Cars: BMW 5-Series
Compact SUVs: Honda CR-V
Midsize SUVs: Honda Pilot
Large SUVs: Chevrolet Tahoe
Luxury Midsize SUVs: Lexus RX 350
Full Size Pickups: Chevrolet Silverado 1500
Affordable Sports Cars: Mazda MX-5, Honda S2000, Mazda Speed3 (tied)
Press Release
U.S. News & World Report Releases 2008 Car Rankings: Honda Still King, GM Rapidly Improving
Best & Worst New Cars, Best Green Cars, and Overall Winners
WASHINGTON, Dec. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. News & World Report today
announced its 2008 Car Rankings, available online at
RankingsAndReviews.com. The 2008 rankings cover the best and worst cars,
trucks and SUVs based on an analysis of consensus opinions from America's
top automotive experts.
New Car Hits
GM shows the greatest improvement from the 2007 to 2008 car rankings
with several new or redesigned vehicles ranking near the top of their
classes. The redesigned Chevy Malibu, all-new Buick Enclave, and redesigned
Cadillac CTS (winner of Motor Trend Car of the Year) fare well in the
rankings.
Experts laud the Malibu (ranked #6 out of 25 midsize cars) for its
driving dynamics, exterior styling and affordability. The new CTS (ranked
#4 out of 14 upscale cars) is praised as an American car that can finally
compete with the BMW and Lexus nameplates. Finally, experts generally agree
that Buick hit a home-run with its all-new Enclave (ranked #3 out of 23
midsize SUVs) based on classy styling and a superb ride. Joining the highly
ranked Chevy Tahoe, Cadillac Escalade and Chevy Silverado 1500, these new
entrants help GM to achieve a good overall showing in the 2008 rankings.
The all-new Infiniti G37 and Mazda CX-9 also debut high in the
rankings, as do the newly remodeled Honda Accord, BMW 5-Series, and
Chrysler's minivan siblings the Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Grand
Caravan.
New Car Misses
Some new cars miss the mark. In the same class as the Accord, the
all-new Dodge Avenger places last out of 25 cars. The all-new Nissan Rogue
is also a less-than-stellar performer, placing in the bottom half of the
compact SUV rankings. Surprisingly, the newly redesigned Toyota Highlander
is a merely decent performer among midsize SUVs. The 2007 Highlander was
ranked #1 in its class.
The 2008 Winners
A complete listing of all the car, truck and SUV rankings and
meta-reviews are available at: RankingsAndReviews.com. As of December 13,
2007, the #1 ranked automobiles in the most popular categories are:
Economy Cars: Honda Fit
Midsize Cars: Honda Accord
Upscale Small Cars: Volkswagen GTI
Upscale Midsize Cars: BMW 3-Series
Luxury Cars: BMW 5-Series
Compact SUVs: Honda CR-V
Midsize SUVs: Honda Pilot
Large SUVs: Chevrolet Tahoe
Luxury Midsize SUVs: Lexus RX 350
Full Size Pickups: Chevrolet Silverado 1500
Affordable Sports Cars: Mazda MX-5, Honda S2000, Mazda Speed3 (tied)
As with the 2007 rankings, Honda occupies more #1 ranking spots (7 in
total) than any other nameplate. Honda's Fit, Civic, and Civic Hybrid take
the top three spots on the Economy Cars list.
BMW retains the #1 ranking spot in the popular upscale and luxury car
categories. Among the very competitive upscale midsize cars, the BMW
3-Series remains the benchmark, but now has strong competition from the
Lexus ES and all-new Infiniti G37, each tied for the #2 ranking spot.
Japanese Hybrids Outrank New American Hybrids
For 2008 there are several new entries from GM and Ford in the rapidly
expanding Hybrid segment. The challengers (the new Saturn Aura and VUE
hybrids, Chevy Tahoe hybrid, and siblings Ford Escape / Mercury Mariner
hybrids) underperform the more established Toyota and Honda models. Experts
agree that these newcomers do not yet offer the combination of fuel economy
and driving performance exhibited by the likes of Toyota's Prius and Camry
hybrids.
About The 2008 Car Rankings Methodology
The 2008 rankings of cars, trucks, and SUVs were determined through
U.S. News & World Reports' consensus-based rankings methodology. The top
vehicles are those receiving the highest accolades determined by an
analysis of automotive experts' opinions, safety ratings, and reliability
statistics.
A complete listing of 2008 car, truck and SUV rankings and reviews is
available at: http://www.RankingsAndReviews.com.
About RankingsAndReviews.com
RankingsAndReviews.com is a division of PrimeAxis Media, LLC, a company
jointly owned and operated by U.S.News & World Report and Bulletin News.
The website uses proprietary technology and U.S.News editors to analyze
thousands of published vehicle reviews from hundreds of experts and road
testers, government safety ratings, and reliability statistics. The
rankings methodology relies on the highly successful and trusted U.S.News &
World Report system that is currently used to assess the nation's best
hospitals and colleges. Given that the consumers typically spend more than
four hours online researching each automotive purchase,
RankingsAndReviews.com provides consumers with better, more complete
information in a fraction of the time.
About U.S. News & World Report
Founded in 1933, the weekly national news magazine U.S.News & World
Report is devoted to reporting and to analyzing national and international
affairs, politics, business, health, science, technology and social trends.
Through its annual editions of America's Best Colleges, America's Best
Graduate Schools, America's Best Hospitals, America's Best Health Plans and
America's Best Leaders, as well as its News You Can Use(R) brand, U.S. News
has earned a reputation as the leading provider of service news and
information that improves the quality of life of its readers.
SOURCE U.S. News & World Report
