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
Gabrielle Zucker Acevedo of Kwittken & Company, for U.S. News & World Report,
+1-646-747-7143, gzucker@kwitco.com
