Ford, Toyota clean up in Best Car For The Money Awards

Jonathon Ramsey — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 15:44:00 EST

Filed under: Etc., Acura, BMW, Buick, Chevrolet, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Subaru, Toyota

The U.S. News Best Cars for the Money Awards picks winners by looking at the average transaction price, five-year total cost of ownership, the regard a car has from the automotive press, reliability figures from J.D. Power and Associates and safety data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The result, according to the magazine, is "the best combination of critical acclaim and long-term value."

Ford nabbed six of the 21 categories that received awards this year, the Focus, Fusion, Fusion Hybrid, Taurus, Escape and Edge getting trophies. Toyota and its Lexus and Scion sub-brands took another five, the Tacoma and Tundra owning the two categories given to pickup trucks. The other ten awards were split between Honda with three, Buick with two, and one each for Subaru, BMW, Hyundai, Chevrolet and Mazda.

Follow the link to see all the winners and read about why they were chosen.

Ford, Toyota clean up in Best Car For The Money Awards originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 22 Feb 2013 15:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toyota, Hyundai refute report of discontinued models

Chris Paukert — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:59:00 EST

Filed under: Car Buying, Hyundai, Toyota

2010 Toyota Matrix - Click above for high-res image gallery

In a U.S. News and World Report story distributed via Yahoo dubbed "The 10 Best Discontinued Cars," author Rick Newman spoke with an unnamed analyst at Kelley Blue Book in an effort to help new car shoppers find exceptionally deep discounts on new cars. Here's where it gets hazy: As part of that process, Newman sought to:

"...identify models likely to be discontinued over the next couple of years. For some of these models, the manufacturers have confirmed that the car is being axed; others made the list because of strong indicators that they're being discontinued, such as manufacturing changes or declining shipments to dealers."

Note the word usage of "likely" and "next couple of years" coupled to that very misleading title. To Newman's credit, he notes "unconfirmed" when discussing vehicles that haven't been officially killed off, but to our eyes, the title is misleading and the execution of the list itself strikes us as disingenuous, particularly as it mixes vehicles that have already been officially nixed (Honda S2000, Mercury Sable, Pontiac G8, Saturn Sky, Volkswagen Jetta GLI) with end-of-life models that are likely to be replaced or die out in due time (Chevrolet Colorado, Lexus SC430), as well as nameplates that have been facing declining or slow sales (Toyota Matrix and FJ Cruiser, Hyundai Veracruz). We spoke with Curt McCallister, Toyota's Midwest Public Relations Manager about the fate of the Matrix and FJ Cruiser, and he offered us the following guidance:

"There are no plans to discontinue either model. The Yahoo story is erroneous in that it was based on conjecture from unnamed analysts from Kelley Blue Book. The reporter (Newman) was informed of the factual errors in his story, multiple times yesterday. He was also questioned on why we weren't allowed to confirm or deny these assumptions. It was poor reporting that unfortunately has an Internet reach."

Click through to the jump for the rest of the story, including a comment from Hyundai.

Gallery: 2009-2010 Toyota Corolla Matrix

[Source: U.S. News and World Report via Yahoo]

Continue reading Toyota, Hyundai refute report of discontinued models

Toyota, Hyundai refute report of discontinued models originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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