Toyota Prius Named Best New Car Value

Toyota Prius has been named by Consumer Reports as the best overall value for the automotive dollar in its annual Best New-Car Value analysis.

The Prius has the right combination of performance, reliability and low estimated ownership costs of $.49 cents per mile — less than half that of the average car, to unseat the perennial pack leader Honda Fit. The Fit as has held the best new-car value title for the past four years.

In creating its annual Best and Worst New-Car-Value list, Consumer Reports mines its performance, reliability, and owner-cost data to calculate a value score for some 200 different vehicles ranging from small cars like the Prius to luxury sedans such as the BMW 750Li.

Toyota and Lexus models placed at the top of six of the 10 categories that Consumer Reports analyzed. The automaker’s hybrid cars, in particular, represent excellent values overall, with great fuel economy and reliability along with low depreciation working in their favor. Toyota hybrid models topped three of the categories and placed second, behind the non-hybrid version of the same model, in an additional category.

The scores were calculated based on the five-year owner cost for each vehicle, along with Consumer Reports road-test score and the organization’s own predicted-reliability. In short, the better a car performs in Consumer Reports road tests and reliability ratings, and the less it costs to own over time, the better its value. The five-year owner cost estimates factor in depreciation, fuel, insurance premiums, interest on financing, maintenance and repairs, and sales tax. Depreciation is by far the largest owner-cost factor.

Courtesy of CBS Detroit