Toyota Prius Touring Tops Consumer Reports Best New-Car Value List
March 1, 2009 by editor
Filed under Electric Cars, Featured
Consumer Reports names the Toyota Prius Touring as the best overall value among 300 cars according to the 2009 Annual Auto Issue.
The Prius Touring provides the best overall value because of its comparatively low owner-cost estimate of $26,250 over five years — and a relatively high road-test score of 80 points out of 100. The Prius doesn’t have the least expensive sticker price in its class, but its excellent fuel economy of 42 mpg overall and solid resale value help give it a low owner-cost.
“A low price doesn’t necessarily make a car a good value,” said Rik Paul, automotive editor at Consumer Reports. “At a time when people need to make every dollar count, our best value list will help consumers understand the difference.”
The full report on best car values as well as value lists, reliability data, and owner-cost estimates is in the Consumer Reports Annual Auto Issue on newsstands March 3 to May 4 or online at Consumer Reports.
To determine which cars are the best values, Consumer Reports looks at its overall road-test scores, five-year owner-cost estimates, and predicted reliability ratings for more than 300 recently tested vehicles. CR then divided each vehicle’s five-year owner-cost by its overall road-test score to get the cost of each test-score point — the lower the cost-per-point, the better the value. To ensure the vehicles named as best values were also models that held up well over time, choices were limited to those with above-average predicted reliability ratings. Consumer Reports’ owner-cost estimates are based on six major elements: depreciation, fuel economy, insurance, interest on financing, maintenance and repair, and sales tax.
The Prius Touring received a cost-per-point of $325. Rounding out the top five models with the best overall value were the Mini Cooper ($330), Volkswagen Rabbit ($330), Honda Civic EX ($340), and Honda Fit ($350). Five small cars, the Mazda Miata, and the Toyota Camry Hybrid follow with results ranging from $340 to $365 cost-per-test score point. One of those cars, the redesigned Honda Fit had the best owner-cost estimate on CR’s best value list, only $24,000 over five years.
The Toyota Prius base model, Mazda3 hatchback, and four-cylinder versions of the Toyota RAV4, Hyundai Sonata, and Honda Accord also had low cost-per-point estimates of under $400.
Five hybrids made the list, including the top three in the family car category. Of the 41 vehicles on the best values list, all but the Mini, VW, and Volvo C30 are from Asian manufacturers, with 17 built by Toyota, 10 built by Honda, four by Nissan, and three by Hyundai.
