Toyota’s Position on This List of Best Car Brands Is More Impressive Than You’d Think

Toyota may not always be winning awards for style or speed, but their models are consistently reliable. Consumer Reports might think so too, despite placing Toyota in ninth place on their list of best car brands.
Written by Hannah DeWitt
Reviewed by Kathleen Flear
Toyota
often dominates every list it appears on, either coming in first or second place. Yet the
Japanese automaker
appears to have fallen from grace in the eyes of Consumer Reports. Toyota has been beaten out by eight other competitors, dropping down the list of car brands that make the best vehicle. So how did this happen, and is it really a sign that Toyota is fading?

Toyota has fallen down the list

On
Consumer Reports'
latest round of assessing “Which Car Brands Make the Best Vehicles”, Toyota has fallen from seventh place (which they got last year) to ninth out of the total 32 brands. It received an overall score of 74, which actually tied with Porsche, which took seventh place, while Mini took eighth. 
Subaru took the number one slot with an overall score of 81. Six of their models were tested, and five were recommended. Mazda took second place, while BMW slid in at number three. Honda was fourth, Lexus fifth, and Audi was sixth. 
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Is ninth place really so bad?

While ninth place may not look that great, there are some important factors to take into consideration. One is that Toyota had the most models tested. In fact, there were 16 models total to be tested, and out of that number, 12 were recommended, and 11 were considered green choices.
That's extremely impressive, especially when you consider that the Mini only had two models tested, and only one was recommended. Even though Toyota may have fallen back two slots, it still managed to stand out.
Toyota currently has 21 models in its lineup, so Consumer Reports didn't test them all. Even so, the fact that 16 were tested just shows that Toyota is worth considering.
When you compare this to Chevy, which had 15 models tested, and came in twenty-fourth place, it makes it all the more clear how impressive ninth place was. Out of the models tested for Chevy, only four were actually recommended, and three were green choices.
Other automakers like Lincoln, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mitsubishi, Alfa Romeo, GMC, and Jeep didn't have any recommendations at all. 

Toyota is all about consistency 

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Even though Toyota may have slipped in the rankings somewhat, it remains consistent in the fact that it makes high quality vehicles from year to year. If you want an automobile that is going to last, then Toyotas are usually near the top of the list.
Toyota also keeps its vehicles affordable, and the quality is always top-notch. Other automakers may have a good year, but it's not often that they can manage to maintain that consistently over time. Toyota can do that and more.
The Corolla and the Camry usually tend to take first place in any category they're featured in, and the Tacoma is one of the most loved trucks in the off-road community. The Supra also gets a lot of love amongst sports car lovers. Other Toyotas that owners tend to have a lot of praise for, as well as critics, include the Tundra, RAV4, and the 4Runner. 
So is Toyota perfect? No. With that being said, the automaker manufactures vehicles that tend to last for years, which is the true test of value.

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