Most think of Subaru
as a solid company that makes solid cars. It has a loyal fan base, and it regularly does well in comparison to other brands. While that doesn't immediately mean that you want a Subaru as your next car, you might consider it after hearing that Consumer Reports’ review found the brand better than even BMW.
Ultimately, you need to dig into the details of the rankings to decide what this means for you.
Subaru beats Mazda and BMW according to Consumer Reports
Consumer Reports
ranks brands every year according to stringent standards. They take at least two models of a brand, and they test all the models for safety, reliability, and customer satisfaction. Then they average scores between the models to rate the brand in those categories and give an overall score.Subaru rocketed to the top this year with an overall score of 81. There were six models that Consumer Reports tested, and they recommended five of them, including two green choices.
A big part of Subaru's win seems to come from the 89 it got in the road tests. Its predicted reliability bumped up too.
Interestingly, this hasn't changed owner satisfaction from last year. You would think that going up two places in the rankings would have impressed consumers.
Subaru is coming out with an EV compact SUV, so its reliability is good news after the Ascent recalls.
Who were the runners-up?
Mazda was last year's winner, and it is still high in Consumer Reports’ esteem. It got second place with an overall score of 78. The weak spot seemed to be the 75 on the road test.
This doesn't say anything too bad about Mazda when Consumer Reports recommends all five models that they tested. Its predicted reliability went up, and owner satisfaction remained the same from last year too.
Overall, Mazda's new cars are reliable, and so Consumer Reports
can expect their upcoming hybrid CX-5 and all-electric MX-30 to compete in next year's rankings. BMW dropped one place from last year, coming in third overall. It got an overall score of 78 and a stunning 87 on its road test.
These scores came from testing ten BMW models, and Consumer Reports recommended eight of them. The brand only lost points in predicted reliability.
MORE: What Happened to the Infamous Subaru BRAT?
Picking between Consumer Reports’ reviews of Subaru, BMW, and Mazda
Since the brand scores are averages of different models, it helps to know how the top models of each brand did. Fortunately, Consumer Reports
has a comparison feature. The top Subaru this year was the Legacy, and it won an overall score of 87. Once again, some of this seems to come from the road test, where it scored 89 out of 100.
Reliability was a decent four out of five, but the headlights got a mere two out of five. The acceleration was middling.
It got bumped up again by excellent marks from the IIHS. It named the Subaru Legacy a top safety pick plus.
The BMW 5 Series got an overall score of 85, and this absolutely has something to do with its road test score of 94. Otherwise, its reliability got a three out of five, the headlights did abysmally, and the acceleration was rated a four out of five.
It didn't get top marks from the IIHS, either. It ranked good in different crash tests, but it lacks an overall safety rating.
The Mazda CX-9 did get named top safety pick by the IIHS, but its road score was a measly 79. It had fractionally faster acceleration than the Subaru Legacy, and the headlights were average.
The Mazda's reliability score was great, however, getting a solid five out of five.
MORE: A Forgotten Icon: The Subaru SVX
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