Consumer Report Names Audi As Best Brand On The Market

There ya have it: Audi is officially the best car in the world! No need for discussion. If you think otherwise, you're wrong.


Just pullin' your leg ;-) I drive a 2015 Audi Q5 3.0 TDI. I like it a lot (except for the infotainment system). But would I say it's "the best"? Hell no. But I would definitely disagree with folks who believe Audis are crap, or luxury car wannabes. (My opinion applies only to my vehicle; not to all Audis.)

THe question is whether Consumer Reports requirements for a car match yours. Remember that when the current Chevy Impala came out - they ranked it as their best ICE car - yet for some reason people actually buy other cars.

Why - ? Because what they want in a car are not the same things the Consumer reports is looking for in their ratings. So - if you think exactly like Consumer reports - then you have your AUDI. AS I have often posted - the more new gadgets in a vehicle - the more that can go wrong. Luxury cars are inherently less reliable than others - AND cost more to fix. THe Japanese made their reliability argument based on A small car - with a 4 cylinder engine - no power brakes or power steering - crank windows - and an AM/FM MONO radio - and just like the generation of American mass produced cars before the japanese got going - which were similar but had 6 cylinder engines - the cars almost never broke down. Today - even the cheapest cars have all sorts of Computer controlled goodies in them - and they fail more often.

Consumer Reports....what is there to say. Here is a publication that took the Honda Civic off of its "Recommended" list for the following reasons:

"Consumer Reports dinged the Civic for its "infuriating" touch-screen radio, lack of driver lumbar adjustability, the limited selection of cars on dealer lots fitted with Honda's popular Sensing system, and the company's decision to offer LaneWatch instead of a full-tilt blind-spot monitoring system"

You draw your own opinions, but not sure I would trust the opinions of a publication that provides those types of reasons as a way to rank a car.

This list and JD Power recent list agree that Jeep and Fiat are bottom of barrel.

Reason Civic fell off was first year reliability. Good reason to wait for the major redesign glitches are worked out. Otherwise Civic stacks up well in the segment.

This list and JD Power recent list agree that Jeep and Fiat are bottom of barrel.

I love my Audi S6. The craftsmanship, interior best design and materials and the nice power it has. No complaints at all on my Audi.

Audi, Porsche, BMW as 1-2-3, then MB at 20, behind the perennial low achieving Chrysler ??? Maybe that's the price to pay for chasing sales volume.

If Benz was chasing volume, then they would have made the CLA and GLA the size of the C and GLC, at the $30k price point. And I'm sure the "shortcomings" (firm ride, lack of interior space) noted with specialty/niche cars like the CLA dragged CR's points against Benz.

CR is not a scam...they are the most unbiased ratings organization as they do not take money from advertisers. Note that this is not their review/opinions of the car makes, this is results from their surveys which is more telling than some reviewers opinion. Im surprised to see Chysler with such high owner satisfaction, I can understand Tesla because many of the owners are sold on the fact that their cars are "eco-friendly" and "cool"....when you're infatuated with a product you can ignore many flaws.

Yes - Cr is NOT a scam - but it is most certainly not Unbiased. CR judges cars based on criteria they select as what they thing the average buyer would want in their car. The people who frequent this group (yes -even Matt) are simply not the average buyer. Most buyers do not know how many of the things on the car actually work - while here - the people not only do - but can argue about nuances in it. Performance matters more to most of us - where reliability will rank higher for CR. We are not against reliability - but at the same time - we understand that leading edge products also come with a price - and we are often willing to pay it. Often - the average buyer will ignore things that people in this group would automatically know to be flaws and or problems.

So- in the end - CR is a good choice for an opinion for people like my 98 year old mother - although I question whether she would buy a foreign car at all. My mom uses her car to drive to church. the food store, and the beauty parlor. Once a year - I take her to Florida - and she generally drives through Georgia. Total miles - less than 2,000. And all her cars last for 15 years or more. (Rust is more important to her). She CAN drive a stick - but the mobility of her left leg would be called into question if done a lot. In the end - she is the IDEAL Audi driver - a car that will never get enough mileage to reach its breaking point. People here may actually use their car for more than the 3 year lease - and at that Point - Audis and BMWs - and some Mercedes start to fall apart much quicker than a 10 year old Camry. (WHich is too boring of a car for her too)

CR certainly is biased. For a LONG time they took a dim view of any domestic models. They repeatedly complained that the GM 3.5L v6 "sounded harsh" - maybe at 6000 rpms where nobody drove them. From idle to 3500 they were very quite and extremely smooth.

On the other hand they said the G35's engine was "slick" - a real whopper for an engine that has been called a coffee grinder, and worse.

I didn't realize Audi was a toaster.

CR reports on the widest range of vehicle characteristics on the most complete lineup of vehicle models. I suspect most would find at least some information of relevance, though may not like the report on their ride.