Driven: 2010 Cadillac CTS Wagon
The Cadillac CTS Wagon offers just as much, if not more, day-to-day utility as most SUVs or crossovers while being a heckuvalot more fun to drive.
It's easy to feel like an old nag when saying this, because nearly all of the High Gear Media editorial staff, and nearly every new-car reviewer and critic in the U.S., has been arguing this about sport wagons for more than a decade.
And yet real car shoppers don't seem to listen.
Wagons—even the really great wagons like the CTS—still sell in very low volumes. It's gotten so bad that BMW, one of the companies from which we've come to expect sport wagons, is thinking about passing on its Touring (wagon) body style for its new 2011 BMW 5-Series this time around, now that the all-new 2011 5-Series GT fastback is available. Why? The 5-Series wagon has been selling at a rate of well under 1,000 a year, before the GT arrived. We don't blame them.
So at the risk of preaching to the choir, we'll try it again: The 2010 Cadillac CTS Wagon has everything we love about the CTS sedan, only in an even better, more useful and, dare we say, more attractive package.
Better looking than the sedan?
Just as in the CTS sedan, we like the sparing use of chrome in the grille, and the contrast between gray plastic and chrome vertical accents with the chrome Cadillac wreath. And the swept-up-and-back headlamps are still almost mesmerizing in their detail. While the sedan looks a little too boxy and high-tailed to some eyes, the angular-ness of the Wagon's taillights and back end—especially the way the back lights come to a tip at the top—seem to better fit the front-end cues. And there's a great contrast in the way the plentiful fine details in front and in back volley with the deliciously neat and uncluttered side profile.
New Jersey Serious About Ticketing Handheld Talking, Texting
When New Jersey tells you not to use a handheld cellphone to talk or text while driving, they mean it.
In the 23 months since New Jersey's ban of talking or texting on handheld cellphones, police have written 224,725 citations, according to the NJ Star-Ledger—adding up to about four percent of the state's total moving violations, not counting drunk driving, during that period, and by far the most any state has written so far.
The tickets include a $100 fine, even for a first offense; and yes, it will go on your record. New Jersey is also among many states that now allow data to be collected about cellphone use or distraction on police accident reports.
A Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind survey, co-sponsored by the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety, last July found that hand-held voice use was down versus two years before, however a higher percentage of nearly all age groups are sending more handheld texts while driving than before.
Just as speeding is tied to other hazardous behaviors, it's tied to unsafe cellphone use: According to the PublicMind poll, drivers who speed regularly are two and a half times more likely than other drivers to have sent a text message while driving—more likely too, to have made "rude gestures at other motorists."
The study also found that using a hands-free phone was just as risky as holding a cellphone while driving.
New Jersey's handheld cellphone use ban covers all drivers, for talking or texting, and it's a primary enforcement offense—meaning that an officer can pull the driver over and issue a citation for that alone. In neighboring New York, talking on a handheld is primary but texting is secondary, meaning that citations will only be issued in combination with another citation.
Although the telecommunications industry has blocked a number of bans through lobbying efforts in the past, some of them are now getting on board in advising drivers not to talk or text at all when behind the wheel. Wireless provider AT&T has just launched a campaign that declares, "txtng & driving it can wait"
Furthermore, a recent report from the IIHS hinted that there are other factors in play—like our attitudes about distraction. Looking solely at the frequency of crashes before and after the enactment of new laws restricting handheld cellphone use in several states, the researchers found no recognizable reduction in accidents. This hints, experts say, that people might actually be communicating more behind the wheel—or in more hazardous situations—with "safer" hands-free options, or having hands free allows them to do other distracting tasks, like eating or drinking.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
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Cadillac Returns To Europe, But With Modest Expectations
The past 18 months or so haven't been easy for General Motors, here or abroad. In Europe, GM endured much tense talk about its Opel brand, and the Kroymans Group fell prey to the global economic meltdown, leaving GM without a European distributor in over the half the markets it serviced. Now, a new company called Cadillac Europe has been created specifically to manage Cadillac distribution across the pond, and this go-round, GM is setting more realistic expectations for its luxury brand than we'd previously expected.
Much to GM's chagrin, Cadillac has never been a strong seller in Europe. In a market dominated by well-known, home-grown luxury brands like Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and BMW, Cadillac's annual sales have remained below the 5,000 mark for decades. GM has often talked the big talk about making inroads on the Continent, but despite some massive ad campaigns and promising new models, the company's predictions have never come true.
Perhaps because of that history, or perhaps because of GM's painful restructuring and sagging public opinion of the brand, the GM that's returning to Europe is more chastened and modest than Angela Merkel pantsuits. According to the Wall Street Journal, the brand will relaunch in Europe with minimal expectations to match Cadillac Europe's minimal, 20-person marketing and distribution staff: GM has set Cadillac's annual sales goal at just 3,000 units.
For now, the brand is pinning its hopes on the 2010 Cadillac CTS, with sedan, coupe, and wagon variants. If all goes well, the midsize crossover SRX will follow in the 2011 model year. Distribution will be focused on areas of Europe where Cadillac sales have done well in the past -- namely, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. And this time, GM and its European dealers understand that the brand will most definitely be a niche player: as Roman dealer Stefano Celon says of the Caddy consumer, "It's a particular customer who wants to be different from the others—they like the new product."
There's a great deal of discussion about GM's strategy, but if Cadillac has to be in Europe at all (a big "if"), this plan sounds pretty solid. A sales goal of 3,000 units is realistic -- it's been achieved in the recent past -- but it's high enough to require some work. The strategy is also significantly more humble that we've seen in previous years, and in some ways, that may play well with European consumers, who can be wary of their brash cousins across the pond. Veteran staffers at GM may chafe at the understatement of it all, but when in Rome....
[WSJ]
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
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Volvo Gets Naughty With The 2011 S60 Sedan
The internet is pretty good at selling naughty things, and Volvo is hoping to prove it with a "naughty" web campaign for the sexy, stylish, all-new 2011 Volvo S60 sedan.
In Volvo's book, "naughty" roughly translates to "stunt driving". That might not be how others on the web would define the word, but given Volvo's established reputation for quality and safety, it's probably about as edgy as we can expect. The campaign currently features two series of videos (sadly, none are embeddable), each featuring the S60 doing increasingly dangerous stunts.
In the "Slalom Test" series, for example, things start off tamely, with the S60 easily maneuvering around a set of slalom posts. At the end of the clip, viewers are invited to click through to the "next level", which leads to another clip of an S60 -- this one in candy apple red -- running the same course. This go-round, however, something delicate and breakable is perched atop each post: a jar of candy, a goldfish bowl, and everyone's favorite arm-waving maneki neko. Bump to the third level, and the car runs the course again, but this time, in reverse. There's a similar dynamic at work in the "Elk Test" series of clips, though that one isn't nearly as clever or interesting as "Slalom Test".
Perhaps the best element of the campaign -- and one that's a great fit for the web -- is that it culminate in "naughty" stunt dreamed up by Volvo fans. After the first three clips in either series play, viewers are asked to submit their ideas for an even bigger, better test for the Volvo S60. The possibilities are nearly endless, although Volvo says that the stunt should be completable in a single day and that they'd rather not damage the car. They also say that stunts can't involve "offensive, illegal, or inappropriate behavior", which would seem to be the very point in a "naughty" campaign, but you know: Swedes.
With this campaign, Volvo is clearly pitching the S60 sedan to luxury car buyers with a sporty edge -- the same sort of consumers who might also look at rides like the Audi A4 or the Mercedes C-Class. It's a fun campaign, just edgy enough to appeal to well-heeled performance enthusiasts, but not so out-there as to turn off traditional Volvo moms. All in all: well played.
That said, we do have some issues with the campaign's format. The web interface isn't wholly intuitive, and as we mentioned above, the videos aren't embeddable -- the only way they can be shared is on Facebook and Twitter. And the day that someone explains to us why every automaker thinks that amorphous Flash blobs make for great websites will be a VERY happy day, indeed. (There's a reason Steve Jobs denigrates the technology.) But otherwise, this may earn the S60 some very naughty looks.
P.S. There is a non-web piece of this campaign: John Maloney, the VP of marketing communications for Volvo, says that a limited series of closed-course events featuring the S60 will take place in key markets later this year, so some of you lucky Volvo fans may get to see these stunts enacted in person.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
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Toyota Offers Zero-Percent And Free Maintenance To Some Buyers
Toyota (NYSE: TM) rolled out an all-new incentive program aimed at jump-starting sales that have slumped due to bruised consumer confidence from the ongoing accelerator-related recalls, the related hearings in Washington D.C., and several other issues and recalls.
The automaker calls the new program "the company's most far-reaching sales program in its history." Customers long loyal to the Toyota brand will be hard-pressed to recall any other time when such offerings were applicable to Toyotas on anything other than model-end clearance programs.
The so-called March Sales Event runs through April 5 and includes financing and leasing deals, plus customer loyalty offers.
Here's what the program includes:
- Zero-percent financing for up to 60 months. This applies for "qualifying buyers" of the 2010 Toyota Avalon, Camry, Corolla, Highlander, Matrix, RAV4, Tundra, and Yaris.
- Low (reduced) lease rates. Also offered through Toyota's captive finance arm, Toyota Financial Services, the company is offering special deals on the 2010 Toyota Venza, Tundra, RAV4, Prius, Matrix, Highlander, Corolla, Camry, and Avalon.
- Complimentary two-year "premium maintenance" program. With proof that someone in the buyer's household already owns or leases a Toyota, Lexus, or Scion vehicle, Toyota will include all scheduled maintenance,
Toyota has a challenge ahead: to boost its public perception and increase sales in a way that doesn't further affect resale value. Last month we reported that the Toyota recall was already affecting leasing residuals and predicted resale values for most Toyota models, with Automotive Leasing Guide and Kelley Blue Book among the companies adjusting values downward.
Toyota Motor Sales has estimated that its recall issues—including the negative tone of the recent hearings in Washington, D.C.— have cost about 18,000 sales just in February.
[Toyota]
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
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Toyota Recall: Feds Might Require Brake Overrides
It's already looking like the Toyota recall hearings will bring us at least one new safety feature to all new vehicles: brake overrides.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood might recommend that every U.S. new vehicle be equipped with so-called smart throttle systems—meaning, most importantly, that the signal brake pedal will always override the accelerator pedal.
Such a device would allow the driver to safely come to a stop even if the throttle is stuck open. In such a situation, as long as the driver is pressing on the brake, the throttle would return to an idle position. As part of a requirement, there might also be some sort of mechanical check.
In some older, rear-wheel-drive vehicles, so-called brake-torquing could help aid traction in some very specialized winter-driving situations (like getting out of a snow-packed spot, for instance). And of course brake-torquing has long been used by racers and vehicle testers to achieve the fastest possible launch from a standing start. But that's not good for transmissions anyway, and electronic stability control systems, traction control, and more sophisticated braking systems have rendered those techniques unnecessary.
Many—though not all—of Toyota's U.S. models will have a smart-throttle system or brake override by 2011, the automaker has said. 2010 Toyota Camry and Avalon models already have the systems, according to the New York Times, and the Tacoma, Venza, and Sequoia will soon get the system.
In a line of questioning in Tuesday's hearings related to how Toyota has handled its accelerator-related issues, Senator Jay Rockefeller, of West Virginia (Toyota manufactures engines and transmissions in WV), said that he thought the system should be installed on current and older Toyota models as well. Such a retrofit could prove very costly.
Rockefeller criticized the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's approach in accepting Toyota's explanation that floor mats were the cause of unintended acceleration, and not launching a deeper investigation into the possibility that it might be an electronics issue.
Brake overrides are already included in many vehicles sold worldwide and in the U.S.
For more information on the difference a brake override system could make, and what exactly we're referring to, in December Consumer Reports test engineer Jake Fisher demonstrated the difference in video with a Toyota Venza, which doesn't have a smart-throttle system, and a Volkswagen Jetta, which does.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
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Frugal Shopper: For Happiness, Don’t Sweat The Numbers
Consumer Reports, as part of this week's torrent of announcements from its Annual Auto Issue, named the 2010 Honda Fit and 2010 Toyota Prius the best new-car values of the year.
While it so happens we like both of those models very much (and appreciate the Prius' 51-mpg rating), they definitely wouldn't fit every shopper—not even every shopper who's strongly value-minded.
Of course, we each hold a different formula for value, and what matters in a vehicle.
Initial price certainly is just a small part of the story. The 2010 Chevrolet Aveo, with the 1LT package, one of CR's designated worst values this year, has a bottom-line sticker price of just $14,970. Likewise, CR chose one of the more expensive Prius models, the well-equipped 2010 Toyota Prius IV model, which includes leather seats (heated in front), an upgraded water-repellent windshield, a Plasmacluster ionizer, Bluetooth connectivity, the upgraded JBL premium audio system with satellite radio.
Other top-scoring vehicles on the CR value scale include the 2010 Hyundai Elantra Touring, the Subaru Forester 2.5x, and the Acura TSX (four-cylinder).
It's also revealed, unabashedly, a list of "worst value" vehicles. Six of the eight "worst value" vehicles—including the Dodge Avenger R/T, Charger R/T, Grand Caravan SXT, and Nitro SLT; the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sahara; and the Chrysler Sebring Convertible Limited—are from Chrysler. The Mercedes-Benz S550 was called the worst value among luxury sedans.
IBM Is Working To Make Your Drive Faster & More Personalized
Traffic congestion isn't just annoying, it's wasteful. Every year, American drivers fritter away nearly a week of their lives and 26 gallons of gas while stuck on crowded roads. All told, that's enough fuel to fill 58 supertankers. Thankfully, IBM's industrious team of scientists are working on a system that will soon provide highly personalized transportation suggestions, allowing those who use it to travel more quickly and efficiently.
"But wait," you say, "doesn't my satnav already do that?" Well, it does and it doesn't. Most satellite navigation systems -- including advanced models like the one in the 2011 Jaguar XJ and even some found on the iPhone -- rely on a traffic data service like INRIX to generate driving suggestions or to give a rough idea of how long a commute might take.
The IBM system does that, too, but it relies on significantly more sources of data. In essence, it aggregates up-to-the-minute information on traffic, weather, police activity, and so on, then combines that data with factors like the time of day, the day of the week, and local traffic patterns to get drivers where they need to be as quickly as possible. If the system expects a commute to take too long, it can suggest alternate methods of transport, like buses and ferries. And if users opt for public transportation, it can even tell them whether the trains are running on time. In short, IBM has combined predictive modeling with real-time information to create something more than a just a driving tool: it's a travel tool.
IBM is planning a handful of pilot programs to test the system in markets around the U.S. The data will be available to program participants online (useful before commuters leave their homes) and on a range of mobile devices.
In conjunction with all this, IBM is launching something called the Travel and Transportation Center of Competency. (Sounds a little Stalin-esque, no?) The Center of Competency will use data from IBM's travel system to provide transport solutions for businesses. For example, folks from IBM used data modeling to help COSCO reduce shipping and logistics expenses by 23% and cut CO2 emissions by 15%. Properly deployed, IBM may have just found itself a very nice new profit center.
For full details, check the press release below or visit IBM's Smarter Planet site.
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IBM Scientists Use Analytics to Break Traffic Gridlock With Personalized Trip Information Opens New Center for Smarter Transportation Systems
WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- At a smarter transportation-focused event today in Washington, D.C., IBM ( IBM) announced a new research initiative to build personalized travel routes for commuters to avoid traffic gridlock. IBM researchers are using advanced analytics to develop adaptive traffic systems that will intuitively learn traveler patterns and behavior to provide more dynamic travel safety and route information to travelers than is available today.
IBM researchers are developing new models that will predict the outcomes of varying transportation routes to provide a personalized recommendation that get commuters where they need to go in the fastest time. This project intends to provide information that goes well beyond traditional traffic reports, after-the fact devices that only indicate where you are already located in a traffic jam, and web-based applications that give estimated travel time in traffic.
Using new mathematical models and IBM's predictive analytics technologies, the researchers will analyze and combine multiple possible scenarios that can affect commuters to deliver the best routes for daily travel, including many factors, such as traffic accidents, commuter's location, current and planned road construction, most traveled days of the week, expected work start times, local events that may impact traffic, alternate options of transportation such as rail or ferries, parking availability and weather.
Working with state and local transportation agencies, IBM plans to launch pilot projects for select sets of commuters to analyze, test and refine the new systems. IBM plans to provide program participants with the personalized commuting information via the web, through mobile voice interaction, combined with advanced mapping applications on mobile devices.
For example, combining predictive analytics with real-time information about current travel congestion from sensors and other data, the system could recommend better ways to get to a destination, such as how to get to a nearby mass transit hub, whether the train is predicted to be on time, and whether parking is predicted to be available at the train station. New systems can learn from regular travel patterns where you are likely to go and then integrate all available data and prediction models to pinpoint the best route.
Insight from IBM's analytics and pilot programs will help transportation agencies better understand and manage traffic, increasing safety on our roads and encouraging the use of efficient public transportation which will help reduce a commuter's overall carbon output.
"The data exists to give commuters and transportation agencies a better way to manage traffic but today it's not connected," said Gerry Mooney, General Manager, Public Sector, IBM. "IBM has the ability correlate all of this information to better predict demand, optimize capacity help improve traveler and highway safety as well as reduce our impact on the environment."
According to the Texas Transportation Institute, U.S. traffic congestion burns enough fuel every year to fill 58 supertankers and wastes enough time to consume 105 million weeks of vacation. Each one of us wastes nearly a week's worth of time and 26 gallons of ever-more-costly fuel.
Additionally, IBM is launching a new global virtual Travel and Transportation Center of Competency which will provide new solutions and deep industry expertise for air, rail, truck, and sea transportation.
IBM is assembling top consultants, software, and technology specialists on a new team who will work with clients and share the best solutions worldwide. The Center of Competency will work closely with IBM Research, one of the world's most recognized research organizations, with IBM's software labs and Business Analytics centers. The center's team will work directly with clients on ground-breaking projects to help them align capacity with demand, improve customer service, increase efficiency, reduce environmental impact, and assure safe transportation.
For example, IBM consultants helped shipping giant COSCO lower logistics cost by 23 percent and reduce CO2 emissions by 15 percent. The Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation uses IBM software to help achieve 99.15 percent on-time performance, and Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport used IBM's RFID-based baggage handling system to reduce mishandled baggage by 60 percent, cut the time required to transfer bags between flights, and save operating cost. Air Canada's new smart phone application, developed by IBM, recently won the Canadian New Media Award for Best Mobile App of 2009. The application makes check-in, electronic boarding-passes, flight information, itinerary changes and other flight information available instantly for travelers on the go.
About IBM
For more information visit http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/traffic
Watch IBM's transportation forum this morning in Washington, D.C. in real time at www.livestream.com/newintelligence.
Follow the Twitter conversation at @smarterplanet using the #ibmtransport hashtag
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This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
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HUMMER Sale Nixed By China; GM Gets New Offers?
UPDATE: GM has just confirmed the sale to Tengzhong will not take place and that it will begin wind-down operations for the HUMMER brand. More to come -- the entire release follows at the end of this post.
UPDATE 2: The Wall Street Journal says that General Motors is evaluating two late offers for the HUMMER brand. We're in the process of checking out the WSJ piece, and we'll post our take on the possibilities shortly.
General Motors is having a win-some/lose-some kind of week: a day after the company wrapped up its drawn-out sale of Saab, GM has confirmed that its attempts to sell another brand -- HUMMER -- have been foiled by the Chinese government.
Not to toot our own horn, but we've been suspicious of GM's arrangement with Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co. for a while. Discussions between the two companies have dragged on for a very long time, even though the HUMMER sale was approved by GM and U.S. regulators months ago. The only hurdle left to clear has been winning the elusive approval of the Chinese government -- though curiously, China's Ministry of Commerce has consistently said that it never received an application from Sichuan Tengzhong to approve the sale. We became even more skeptical of the deal when no agreement had been reached by GM's self-imposed deadline of January 31, which GM opted to extend to the end of February. This morning, we envisioned three possible outcomes of the situation:
1) China's Ministry of Commerce could be telling the truth, in which case Sichuan Tengzhong could file the necessary paperwork and earn approval.
2) Sichuan Tengzhong could wash its hands of the whole deal and walk away from the bargaining table, in an effort to save face before China 86es the deal.
3) China's Ministry of Commerce could have quietly killed the sale some time ago, leaving Sichuan Tengzhong to give up the sale entirely or to pursue alternate means of acquiring HUMMER.
Outcomes #1 and #2 were pretty unlikely. If the lag were the result of a simple bureaucratic slip-up, Sichuan Tengzhong would've resolved the situation ages ago. And given the energy and resources that Sichuan Tengzhong has put into the deal, it's unlikely that the company would've back out without a fight.
Outcome #3 seems to have the final result. The Chinese government isn't known for its transparency, so Beijing likely nixed the deal some time ago without going public. Why would China do such a thing? Well, for starters, China is already home to an abundance of automakers -- around 100 at last count -- and with car sales projected to decline from their unsustainable highs of 2009, the government would understandably like to see the number of manufacturers shrink. Adding another automaker to the mix -- especially one with zero experience in the auto industry -- would run counter to China's goals for the sector.
Also, China has said very publicly that it is moving toward greener environmental policies. In fact, the government is urging consumers to purchase smaller vehicles, and it's offering sales tax reductions to get them to do so. Unfortunately for HUMMER, China views the company and its vehicles as environmentally unfriendly.
So, what's left for HUMMER? An orderly wind-down, as GM puts it, along the lines of those planned for Pontiac and Saturn. True, Saab was saved at the last minute -- but it was saved by a government keenly interested in preserving thousands of jobs. Only the state of Louisiana or Indiana, where some HUMMERs are built, could leverage what's left of the brand in a last-ditch effort to rescue it, and neither seems likely to do that. Even if Louisiana's small-government-minded governor were keen on the idea, the state probably lacks the capital and other resources to jump in. Indiana isn't under much pressure to save the automaker, since it already has Honda, Subaru, and Toyota plants humming within its borders.
Of course, the bigger story in all this may be that China seems VERY serious about going green. That should please environmentalists, given China's abysmal record on pollution. It should also please eco-car enthusiasts: with China's robust economy and auto market, this could speed the deployment of hybrids and EVs. Ironically, the conservative country that may lose Google over censorship concerns may also become the world leader in a new, green economy.
[TheCarConnection, with information from BusinessWeek, Automotive News]
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DETROIT General Motors today announced that Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machines Co., Ltd. (Tengzhong) was unable to complete the acquisition of HUMMER. As a result, GM will begin the orderly wind-down of the HUMMER operations.
"One year ago, General Motors announced that we were going to divest HUMMER, as part of focusing our efforts on Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac going forward. We have since considered a number of possibilities for HUMMER along the way, and we are disappointed that the deal with Tengzhong could not be completed," said John Smith GM vice president of corporate planning and alliances. "GM will now work closely with HUMMER employees, dealers and suppliers to wind down the business in an orderly and responsible manner."
GM will continue to honor HUMMER warranties, while providing service support and spare parts to current HUMMER owners around the world.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
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Honda And Subaru Lead Consumer Reports’ Honor Roll For 2010
Subaru (TSE: 7270) and Honda (NYSE: HMC) are tied for the number one spot from Consumer Reports this year, based on the average of its vehicles' overall road-test scores and predicted reliability ratings.
Subaru's overall score was aided by the excellent evaluations given to the new 2010 Subaru Legacy and 2010 Subaru Outback, even though the non-profit testing organization no longer recommends the 2010 Subaru Impreza WRX. Honda and Acura models are altogether the most reliable vehicles, CR says, but its most recent models, including the new Honda Insight, were disappointing in the areas of emergency handling and backseat space.
Hyundai and Kia were most improved, thanks to the new Genesis sedan, plus the Elantra sedan and Santa Fe crossover. The Kia Optima sedan was another high-scoring model, while CR said that the Sedona minivan is the only Kia model that's shown below-average reliability.
Consumer Reports notes that Ford (NYSE: F) vehicles now rival some Honda and Ford models for reliability, and the organization now recommends 75 percent of the new Ford models it's tested, up from 70 percent last year—punctuated by CR's high ratings for the 2010 Ford Fusion and 2010 Ford Flex. GM's overall reliability still lags, but the organization notes that a number of the automaker's newer models—like the Cadillac CTS, Buick LaCrosse, Chevrolet Equinox, and GMC Acadia—score well.
Chrysler has hit rock bottom, according to CR, with even lower scores than last year and the organization saying, "Most models from the manufacturer have noisy, inefficient, unrefined powertrains; subpar interiors; and poor visibility." However Chrysler did have one Recommended vehicle this year: the new 2010 Dodge Ram—now known only by Ram—pickup.
CR has also suspended its recommendations for eight Toyota models currently affected by recall dealing with sticky accelerator pedals, though Toyota vehicles do continue to do well.
Consumer Reports points out that if performance, comfort, and safety were all that mattered, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen would have the top grades. However the Mercedes-Benz GLK320, Volkswagen Golf/Rabbit, and Volkswagen CC buck the trend and have earned excellent reliability ratings.
The results are part of Consumer Reports' Annual Auto Issue, which arrives in print March 2 or is now available on ConsumerReports.org.
This story originally appeared at The Car Connection
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