Consumer Reports' 2014 brand report cards show who makes the best car

Lexus again tops the Consumer Reports' car brand report cards, with a 79-point overall score that combines road-test and predicted reliability scores. Following close behind are Acura (75) and Audi (74). The top 10 also include: Subaru (72), Toyota (72), Mazda (71), Honda (70), Infiniti (69), Mercedes-Benz (68), and BMW (66).

Our brand report cards are intended to show which brands are making the best all-around vehicles, based on how their models perform in our comprehensive road tests and how they rate in reliability based on subscribers telling us their experiences with 1.1 million vehicles.

We calculate each brand's overall score using an equally weighted composite of our road-test and reliability scores for each of its models that we've tested and for which our subscribers have provided reliability data in our Annual Auto Survey. To be included, each brand needs at least three models for which we have test and reliability data. This year we don't have report cards for Fiat, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln, Mini, Mitsubishi, Porsche, Ram, Scion, Smart, and Tesla because we have too few currently tested models from those makes or we lack sufficient reliability data to make a valid comparison.

Highlights:

• Japanese brands dominated, taking seven of the top eight spots. Domestic brands claimed all five of the bottom five spots.
• European brands improved somewhat this year, spearheaded mainly by Audi, with its impressive A6 and diesel-powered A7 TDI.
• Jeep and Ford tied for the lowest score: 50. Jeep has a mix of spotty reliability and mediocre road-test results. Ford has fairly high test scores, but it continues to have reliability problems, especially with its MyFord Touch system. (Read "Car Reliability vs. Frustration.")
• In general, luxury brands outperformed their mainstream stablemates. In other words, Lexus outscored Toyota, Acura was higher than Honda, Audi outpaced Volkswagen, and Infiniti fared far better than Nissan. The only exception was Cadillac, which scored the lowest of any of General Motors' brands.
• Nissan dropped five places following reliability problems with redesigns of the Pathfinder and the midsized Altima. The Sentra and Versa marked backward steps in our testing. The older Armada and Titan were extremely unreliable, as well.
• Hyundai, Kia, and Volkswagen rank in the lower third, between the best American brands and the stragglers.

Read "Who Makes the Best Cars?" for all the details and complete automaker report cards.