There are individual car models that stand out, but Consumer Reports magazine has gone a step further, looking at how vehicle brands as a whole stack up.
In doing so, Consumer Reports addresses the question of what are the worst brands in the auto world -- not just the best -- when it comes to predicted reliability, owner satisfaction, road performance and safety taken as a whole. The answer, it turns out, is Fiat.
Just like last year, Fiat was in the cellar among 34 brands rated. With a score of 39, it was a long way behind second-worse Jeep with 48. By comparison, the best brand of all was Hyundai's new Genesis luxury division, with a score of 81.
Besides Fiat and Jeep, other Fiat Chrysler divisions rating in the top 10 worst, from the bottom, included fourth-place Alfa Romeo, eighth-place Dodge and ninth-place Ram. Only the Chrysler division, which consists these days of the Pacifica minivan and the 300 sedan, placed above average. It came in 11th on the list of the best.
Fiat just didn't do anything well, said Jake Fisher, head of Consumer Reports' auto testing. It didn't drive well, isn't that fun to drive, isn't reliable and is cramped. Many Fiat Chrysler vehicles are on older platforms that aren't as modern as some other models, he said.
The results are in the magazine's April issue. Consumer Reports is closely watched because it is notoriously independent when it comes to car evaluations, including buying models that its tests from dealers rather than borrowing them from automakers.
Fiat Chrysler spokesman Berj Alexanian said there's a disconnect between what customers want and how Consumer Reports rates its vehicles. He said that in the case of the outgoing Jeep Wrangler, Consumer Reports gave it a low score even as customers clamored for it. "At the end of the day, we serve our customers," he said.
As for Fiats and Alfa Romeos, both tout their Italian flair. The brands have models with European characteristics, such as how they ride and handle -- and some American customers haven't caught on that they were designed that way, he said. For instance, the Alfa Romeo Guilia has a seat that automatically slides to when drivers open the door to make egress easier. But it's not a feature that some American drivers yet fully appreciate, Alexanian said.
Not all Fiat Chrysler models came in for the magazine's wrath. Fisher praised the Pacifica minivan, which impressed testers and has good initial reliability to boot.
As for other brands in the Top 10 worst, Land Rover and Jaguar continued to be dogged by reliability issues, Fisher said, and GMC is dragged under by problems on some of General Motors' large truck platforms.
Here is how brands stack up with its comes to top 10 worst:
1. Fiat
2. Jeep
3. Land Rover
4. Alfa Romeo
5. Mitsubishi
6. Jaguar
7. GMC
8. Dodge
9. Ram
10. Mini
As for the 10 best brands, they are:
1. Genesis
2. Audi
3. BMW
4. Lexus
5. Porsche
6. Kia
7. Subaru
8. Tesla
9. Honda
10.Toyota
