Consumer Reports' Best New Car Brands

Which brand makes the best new cars? It's a debate that has raged on endlessly for years, and we doubt it'll be coming to any mutually agreed-upon conclusions any time soon.

To help make the argument a little bit easier, at least for some, Consumer Reports has rolled out its list of Automotive Report Cards for 2015. There's a familiar face at the top of the rankings, but there are also a few surprises. Fore information on how Consumer Reports comes up with these rankings, click here.

Click on the image above to see the scores for the top ten automotive brands.

Lexus has a habit of showing up at the top of lists such as this. For 2015, Consumer Reports gives Lexus a rating of 78, which puts it in first place.

Click above to find out which brand comes in second.

You probably weren't surprised to see Lexus in first place. But did you expect Mazda to make the list of the best automakers at second? With a score of 75, Mazda impresses Consumer Reports' editors and earns a solid number two rating.

Click above to see which automaker lands in the number three spot.

Again, it's not surprising to see Toyota score well in a ranking of the best automotive brands. For 2015, Toyota's overall score of 74 lands the Japanese giant in third place.

Click to the next slide to find out which company occupies the fourth spot.

Audi is the top German brand on Consumer Reports' list of the best automakers of 2015. With a score of 73, Audi lands in a solid number four.

Which brand rounds out the top five? Click to the next slide to find out.

Subaru has a solid reputation of creating good, reliable and, with standard all-wheel drive, safe cars that are especially popular on the coasts and in areas that regularly experience bad weather. For 2015, Subaru's score of 73 places the brand in fifth place on Consumer Reports' list of the top automakers.

Click to the next slide to see what company lands in sixth.

Surprised to see Porsche score so highly on a list of the best automakers according to Consumer Reports? The magazine projects only average reliability for the German automaker, but it's score of 84 in the driving category, the highest of all, pushed it up to sixth in the rankings.

See which automaker is in seventh place in the next slide.

Buick is the highest-ranked American automaker, according to Consumer Reports. In fact, the magazine says that Buick is "the first domestic brand to earn a place among the top 10 in Consumer Reports Annual Car Brand Report Cards." The brand's overall sore of 69 lands it in seventh position.

Click over to the next slide to see number eight.

It's a little bit surprising to see Honda ranked as low as eighth in a list of the top automotive brands from Consumer Reports, especially considering that Buick is ranked higher. Still, Honda's overall score of 69 earns it a solid number eight.

Click above to see which automaker is ranked number nine.

Kia is the only Korean automaker to land in the top ten, beating out its corporate cousin at Hyundai by a significant margin. In fact, Kia's overall rating of 68 makes it the ninth best automaker of all, according to Consumer Reports.

Click over to the next slide to see which car company rounds out the top ten.