Consumer Reports Wholly Recommends Subaru

Consumer Reports Wholly Recommends Subaru
After rescinding their recommendation for Tesla’s Model 3, Consumer Reports is much obliged to crown Subaru as the magazine’s top automaker. Jumping six spots and knocking Genesis off the throne, the staggering performance was boosted by the Ascent, Crosstrek, and Forester as the best choices in their respective categories.

Consumer Reports Wholly Recommends Subaru

“While BMW and Porsche have higher average road-test scores, Subaru’s strong predicted reliability and owner satisfaction marks drove it to the head of the pack,” explains CR. On the downside, the rally-inspired WRX suffers from below-average predicted reliability.

Care to guess which brands took the biggest hit from Consumer Reports? “Chrysler and Tesla sank the most, each falling 11 spots.” Either automaker’s score was affected by the limited lineup of models, with Chrysler flaunting two in total. More to the point, the 300 sedan (in production since 2004) and Pacifica minivan.

If you were wondering what the Overall Score is, Subaru received 81 points as a composite of four elements. First there’s the road-test score, followed by predicted reliability, owner satisfaction, and safety features.

On second and third, Genesis and Porsche scored 80 and 79 points. The rest of the top ten includes Audi (77 points), Lexus (76), Mazda (76), BMW (76), Lincoln (73), Toyota (73), and Hyundai (73). Care to guess which automakers are dead last in the Consumer Reports ranking?

Fiat is dead last with 44 points, followed by Jaguar (44), Land Rover (48), and Mitsubishi (49). Closer to home, Jeep received 50 points overall, which is worrisome although expected from an automaker owned by Fiat Chrysler.

Consumer Reports recommends the Ford F-150 as the full-size pickup truck to rule them all. For the 2020 model year, the Super Duty lineup has been upgraded with a 7.3-liter V8 engine that promises best-in-class everything. As far as the light-duty workhorse is concerned, CR claims the 2.7-liter EcoBoost V6 delivers “brisk acceleration, effortless towing capability, and impressive fuel economy.”

These can’t be said about the 2019 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 with the 2.7-liter Tripower four-cylinder turbo. Believe it or not, the Tripower is thirstier than the 5.3-liter small-block V8 on the highway.

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