First time ever- Every consumer reports best pick for 2006 is a Japanese nameplate

Not even one is from a U.S. manufacturer...this does not bode well for the big three.

They also mentioned an eight year old Toyota is as reliable as a three year GM or Ford vehicle.

Consumer Reports Top Picks for 2006

The best models in 10 categories

Four new models made our Top Picks list this year. The redesigned Honda Civic is our choice among sedans priced below $20,000. The outstanding Infiniti M35 dethroned the Lexus LS430 in the luxury-sedan class ($40,000 or more). The Toyota Highlander Hybrid scored highest among SUVs priced above $30,000. Among pickup trucks, our choice is the new Honda Ridgeline.

The addition of the Highlander Hybrid means that our Top Picks now include two hybrid models, but for very different reasons. The Toyota Prius is our Top Pick in the “green”-car category because of its excellent 44-mpg overall fuel economy, the best we’ve measured in any five-passenger vehicle. The high rating of the Highlander Hybrid is based on its excellent overall package, which includes all the inviting attributes of the conventional Highlander as well as better acceleration and moderately better fuel economy. For an in-depth look at the ownership costs of hybrids, see our April 2006 report on the high cost of hybrid vehicles, available to subscribers.

Of the more than 200 vehicles that Consumer Reports has recently tested, our Top Picks are worth special consideration. All are recommended models and all-around high performers that:

• Scored at or near the top among competing vehicles in our testing.


• We predict will have average or better reliability, based on our latest Annual Car Reliability Survey.

• Performed adequately in overall crash protection if tested by the government or insurance industry.

Each vehicle’s “report card” shows how it fared in testing, reliability, and crash protection, if available. “NA” means that we can’t provide an overall crash-protection rating because information wasn’t available. Multiple ratings refer to different versions. Prices are rounded to the nearest thousand dollars.

These Top Picks are the result of the most comprehensive auto-test program of any U.S. publication or Web site. Here are some of the ways in which CR’s testing differs from that of other auto reviewers:

• We anonymously buy all the cars we test from dealerships, rather than borrowing them from automakers, so we get the same quality as you would.

• We use a dedicated, 327-acre auto-test center, staffed by a team of experienced auto engineers.

• Every vehicle that CR tests is evaluated for months and driven for 6,000 miles or more.

• More than 50 individual tests are performed on every vehicle, including some tests that were developed exclusively by CR’s auto engineers and adopted by the auto industry.

Top picks 2006:

Sedan, less than $20,000- Honda Civic
Sedan, 20-$30,000- Honda Accord
Sedan, 30-$40,000- Acura TL
Luxury Sedan- Infiniti M35
Pickup truck- Honda Ridgeline
Fun ot drive- Subaru Impreza WRX/ST
Green Car- Toyota Prius
SUV, more than $30,000- Toyota Highlander
SUV, less than $30,000- Subaru Forester
Minivan- Honda Odyssey

cjxx - 3/3/2006 9:52:21 AM

+1 Boost

Heres my view. I'm a Toyota dealer but was a Chev.,Cadillac, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Isuzu, Mitsubishi and Hyundai dealer over the 30 years I've been in the business. I still learn something every day and I love the talk at this site. Toyota is probably not known to be an inovator to most people. They inovate in small ways that seldom make blogs or headlines. Components design and engineering etc. Many are in fact as someone just said, refinements. What they do best is to build cars and trucks that continue to uphold their reputation for Quality. Of the thousands of Toyotas I deliver, very little customer relation issues are due to quality problems. Most C.R. cases are generated from availabilty of models and or equipment pkgs. etc. Toyota is not perfect, who is, but when it comes to quality of components, assemblies and drive trains they are consistantly top notch. I heard someone say that what makes Toyota great is that EVERY model they make is way above average in quality. Thats why I agree from my experience buying and selling used vehicles, an 8 year old Toyota is of higher quality than a relatively (3 yr old) new Gm Ford DCX! Customer don't often resent buying a Toyota they feel they made a good decision. They get terrific re-sale and they almost always will concider buying another Toyota.

Osprey1 - 3/3/2006 10:28:19 AM

+1 Boost

We live in a small town near the Utah, Colorado, Wyoming border. A close friend and I both bought new cars last July. My friend a 05 Mercedes E430, and I bought a 2006 Infiniti M45. My friend has had to have his E430 TOWED to Salt Lake City not once but twice since for electrical problems. In that same time period my Infiniti has not had even one tiny problem of any kind what so ever. It is just as perfect to day as it was the day I picked it up. My Infiniti has even more equipment than his E430. My friend has quit making superior sounding comments about my Infiniti since I let him borrow it last week for three days while his Mercedes was being worked on. He also acknowledged that the Infiniti would blow his doors off in a drag race. A convert in the works.

cjxx - 3/3/2006 11:44:30 AM

+1 Boost

The biggest problem with American and European Mfgs. is the culture they manage within. Short term goals to satisfy stock holders are dominant over long term goals. Some of their problems are so intrenched that it is questionable whether they can get enough capital to do the R&D necessary to go the long term route. They have the talent, the plant workers are as good as any, sadly they are in a self consructed trap and I don't think anyone knows how to get them out of it. BY THE WAY, Mitsubishi and Mazda have problems too, it's just that the problems are a lot more apt to be solvable.

dotuno - 3/3/2006 2:26:14 PM

+1 Boost

EVERYONE has at some time innovated and tweaked; everyone! Everyone has had something new to offer, and everyone has improved on what existed. That's the beauty of the human race. It's called evolution and progress. There's no point in bringing newness everytime when there's something nice you can work with and improve upon; I say make something new not for the sake of new but for something better.

@ LJ: At the risk of bringing another argument in, how do you mean Americans make the best gaming system? For if you mean durability and reliability, Nintendo has that down pat with the GCN, if popularity it's Sony Playstation (though I believe it is a highly hyped, overrated and thoroughly flimsy system). If you mean the power of the Xbox and 360, it (the power) is heavily scarificed with the bulkiness and nagging engineering defects, and it doesn't translate much ultimately in the graphics.

Hyundai - 3/4/2006 10:53:24 AM

+1 Boost

"The first hybrid was actually designed in 1905 when an American engineer named H. Piper filed a patent for a petrol-electric hybrid vehicle. His idea was to use an electric motor to assist an internal-combustion engine, enabling it to achieve 25 mph. Sound familiar? They did not invent the hybrid, they simply took a technology that was introduced in a time when society was not ready for it and revived it in a period when the technology was available to make it a viable alternative."

Anybody could have thought of connecting an electric motor to a petrol motor. Toyota didn't just stumble across the technology ("took a technology"... "when the technology was 'available'"), they pioneered it and really paved the ways for others; they were the first.

On another note, I agree, adding another gear is NOT inventing. That is almost like saying making a V20 is inventing. If there is some sort of proprietary technology implemented in the new 8-speed that has never been seen before and is in some way an innovation, then I think it would deserve some praise.

"Cruise control was invented in 1945, by an American and adaptive cruise control was first used by MB idiot."

Cruise control was invented when an American (correct me if I may be wrong) made a simple contraption that hooked up to the throttle, I guess, and locked the engine in one place so that the engine speed does not increase. As far as your logic goes then, MB should not even be mentioned because they were not worthy of being the first 'inventor' when all they did is improve upon a technology. In my opinion, MB is the real inventor of cruise control because they actually made the real deal, not some hack job, crude, implementation of CC.

Toyota deserves the same respect.

Hyundai - 3/4/2006 3:07:58 PM

+1 Boost

Yea that is true.

On to the Avalon, clearly MercedesBoy has not driven it.

Anyone who has driven the Avalon Touring realizes how well the suspension was tuned. It has been said to be stiffer than a Porsche suspension, according to a Car and Driver review of the Avalon Touring. For such a big car, it is a thrill to drive.

The Avalon Touring is a better driving car than the Maxima, which brings up an interesting point: The same critics who say the Avalon drives like an old mans' car will love the Maxima for its sportiness!

cjxx - 3/4/2006 3:16:35 PM

+1 Boost

German cars certainly are more exciting than Japanese cars in most cases. Thats why Toyota and Honda and Nissan are so smart. They capitalized on the lack of quality in American and European "appliance" type vehicles. They stayed away from large production performance vehicles and mainsteam (half ton etc.) pick-ups. That market was being handled pretty well and would be tough and expensive to compete in. They established themselves as superior manufacturers of cars, compact pick-ups and SUV's. Having captured a fat portion of that market they can now invest in factories to build larger trucks in the U.S. Will they ever be truly competitive to BMW, MB, AUDI and PORSCHE? I'm not sure they even know the answer to that question, because that is not the arena they want to be in at this time and they have plenty of opportunities and chalenges on their plates. The auto industry is not just about performance, it's that performance is the part of the business that is the most enjoyable to any inthusiast.

cjxx - 3/4/2006 3:28:45 PM

+1 Boost

I forgot to mention that Lexus Infiniti and Acura will erode a bit of the German hold on performance platforms. How much they take away from the Germans may depend on what the Germans do wrong as much as what the Japanese do right!

Hyundai - 3/4/2006 4:11:33 PM

+1 Boost

Did MercedesBoy just say,"Japanese make... boring versions of American cars"?

Boring versions of American cars?... Boring versions of AMERICAN CARS?.... Sorry, WHAT? The only mainstream American cars I can think of that aren't boring would be the DCX vehicles with the HEMIs in them, cus without them they are just that; boring.

Somehow I don't think some people are keeping up with the times.

CJ: Nice post. It is nice to see a level head on these blogs once in a while. It seems like everytime I stop by AutoSpies and read some blogs I feel like I need to take a shower!

cjxx - 3/6/2006 10:08:26 AM

+1 Boost

I was driving a BMW M3 6 speed and enjoying myself when I down shifted in a beautiful sweeping curve...accelerating through the curve a threw a pretty strong upshift when...the shifter came off in my hand! My buddy and I were laughing our asses off and I stuffed the shifter back on the shaft and continued to shift a bit more gently. Now let me say that I loved the car and I didn't have any feelings other than amusement. The car was great. BMW uses a male female design to extend the shifter from the stub coming up from the console. The two pieces are held together with a horshoe shaped spring steel type pin, or snap ring. Anyway it was funny, with all the overheated postings at this site I thought a little levity {hope I spelled that right) was in order.