10 Top Picks of 2016: Best Cars of the Year
Car shoppers always seek the best car. How they define it may differ, an d the buying decision certainly factors in price and pure emotional appeal. For Consumer Reports, we define the "best" car as the one that excels in our extensive tests, as well as shines for reliability, safety, and owner satisfaction. Certainly, there are many good cars on the market today to choose from. But when a reader asks us to definitively name the best, the 10 Top Picks are our answers across popular categories. And we have the data to back it up. What It Takes to Be Tops Performance: To qualify, each model must rank at or near the top of its class in our road-test score. Reliability: Models must have an average or better predicted reliability rating based on problems reported by subscribers for the 740,000 vehicles in our 2015 auto survey. Owner satisfaction: We surveyed our subscribers about their happiness level regarding the 230,000 veh...