Chevy Cruze, Impala top Consumer Reports picks for ’17

Washington — Two Chevrolets – the Cruze and Impala – were named tops in their class in the Consumer Reports two thousand seventeen Annual Top Picks list, an influential designation for shoppers looking for fresh cars. And two American brands were ranked in the Top Ten: Tesla (No. 8) and Buick (No. Ten.)

The magazine said the redesigned Chevy Cruze earned top remarks in the very competitive compact car category, hammering out the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla, which historically have predominated the top picks list.

“The best way to describe (the Cruze) is they took the Impala and they shrunk it down and have many of the same virtues in a smaller package,” Jake Fisher, Consumer Reports director of automotive testing, said.

“If you look at the competitors, you look at Corollas or any other compact cars, there’s a lot that they could learn from the Cruze in terms of rail, quietness and just a substantial-feeling vehicle, along with having the latest infotainment, which again you can navigate,” Fisher continued. “It’s not staggering. It’s well-laid out.”

The Chevrolet Impala was named top large sedan for the third year in row.

“I know when we very first said the Chevy Impala was a top pick, there was a lot of confused faces,” Fisher said. “This is not the rental car version. This is the fresh version that they have which drives like a luxury vehicle, resumes to be reliable and it’s just good holder satisfaction. It drives terrific.”

Other vehicles ranked tops in their category were the Subaru Forester, Mazda MX-5 Miata, Toyota Yaris iA, Kia Optima, Toyota Highlander, Audi Q7, Toyota Prius and Honda Ridgeline. Findings from four areas went into the rankings: road-test spectacle, predicted reliability, proprietor satisfaction and safety.

Audi topped the overall brand rankings for the 2nd year in a row. Audi was followed by Porsche (like Audi, it also is possessed by Volkswagen), BMW, Lexus and Subaru in the top five of the group’s brand rankings. Kia and Mazda ranked No. Six and No. 7; Honda was No. 9, inbetween Tesla and Buick.

“What’s nice watching on this list is Subaru and Kia,” Fisher said. “It shows it can be done at a lower price. Again, cars that are very satisfying for the drivers and cars that are reliable as well and clearly suggesting a lot of value.”

Fisher said some GM brands may have been hurt by the reliability scores of their trucks.

“General Motors resumes to be kind of a dark pony of the industry,” Fisher said. “They’re making excellent cars right now. They are a bit held back by their trucks, and not because their trucks don’t drive well, but because the reliability hasn’t been there. So a lot of the brands from General Motors that have the Silverado, Suburban, Tahoe, Escalade, any of those strong trucks, that’s going to wind up hurting those brands. That’s why you see Buick up front.”

Ford Motor Co.’s Lincoln brand was ranked 15th, GM’s Chevrolet brand was ranked 16th and its Cadillac brand was ranked 17th.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ Chrysler brand was ranked 19th in the survey, which was seven places better than last year. “This is indeed attributed to the spectacle of the Pacifica,” Fisher said. “We were utterly amazed when we tested the Pacifica. I think that’s truly significant because that is truly the very first chance that we’ve seen a indeed domestically built car from FCA for awhile. This is not a vehicle that’s based off a Fiat. this is, ‘Let’s see what Chrysler can do when they actually build a vehicle,’ and it kind of blew us away.”

Fiat was ranked last in the brand ranking survey in 31st place.

Fisher said the Consumer Reports group was including for the very first time in its scores the ease and safety of shifting mechanisms that are not located in traditional locations.

“More and more vehicles are suggesting electronic shifters, which operate differently,” he said. “Now we’re watching shifters of all shapes and sizes, buttons, knobs, stalks, a lot of them come back to center now. And some are difficult to use. There have been reports of crashes, there’s been reports of deaths where people think the car is in park and it turns out it’s not. If you listen to our subscribers, they’ve been complaining about these shifters. They’ve been talking about near-misses.

“They’re a little bit all over the place, and some are better than others,” he said of electronic shifters that are being used by many automakers in newer models. “One thing we’re looking for is a shifter that can not be confused with other controls. Consumers have told us that they went to turn down the volume and they ended up in neutral.”

Fisher praised the Ford Fusion, which he said has an alternative shifter that can’t be confused with other controls, is effortless to consistently select gears and has automatic rollaway prevention.

“If you turn off the engine in switch sides, neutral or drive, it’ll automatically go into park,” he said. “If you open up the doors in those gears, it will automatically go into park. We have no problem with a shifter like this.

“We’re not against fresh technology on these shifters. But if it’s done, we want to see it done right,” Fisher added.

Consumer Reports Top Picks

Subcompact car: Toyota Yaris IA

Compact hybrid: Toyota Prius

Sports car: Mazda MX-5 Miata

Puny SUV: Subaru Forester

Midsized SUV: Toyota Forester

Compact pickup: Honda Ridgeline

Compact car: Chevrolet Cruze

Midsized sedan: Kia Optima

Large sedan: Chevrolet Impala

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