YONKERS, N.Y. -

Consumer Reports’ Best New-Car value list covered a bevy of vehicles, ranging from luxury sedans to family-friendly minivans, but one smaller unit made it back on the list and also re-emerged as the best overall value among the vehicles analyzed.

Taking home the top honors, the Honda Fit impressed Consumer Reports’ staff once again. And the Fit wasn’t the only small car to make it onto the list.
In fact, the report found that small cars and family sedans provide the best value out there.

And overall, Japanese automakers provide the best bang for your buck, sweeping 34 of the top models in the Best New-Car Value List. 

Moreover, six models come from European brands, five from domestic and three are from South Korean automakers.

How did these units and others make it onto the list?

Consumer Reports mined its performance, reliability and ownership cost data to calculate value scores for some 200 different vehicles ranging from small cars like the Honda Fit to luxury sedans such as the Jaguar XJL, officials explained.

Commenting further on the recent news, Rik Paul, automotive editor at Consumer Reports, explained, "A low price doesn’t necessarily make a car a good value.

"A cheap vehicle can wind up costing you more money over time or can be disappointing down the road.  We think real value is what you get for your money,” he added.

Scores were calculated based on the five-year owner cost for each vehicle along with Consumer Reports’ road-test score and the organization’s own predicted-reliability. 

Moreover, five-year owner cost estimates factor in depreciation, fuel costs, insurance premiums, interest on financing, maintenance and repairs and sales tax.

“Depreciation is by far the largest owner-cost factor. In short, the better a car performs in Consumer Reports road tests and reliability ratings, and the less it costs to own over time, the better its value,” officials explained.

Here is a selection from the Best New-Car Value list:

Best Value Small Car:  Honda Fit
Worst Value Small Car: Chevrolet Cruze 1LT

Best Value Upscale & Luxury Sedan: Lexus ES 350
Worst Value Upscale & Luxury Sedan: Jaguar XJL

Best Value Small SUV : Toyota RAV4 (base, 4-cyl.)
Worst Value Small SUV : Jeep Liberty Sport

Which Vehicle Segment Offers the Most Bang for the Buck? 

Overall, the family sedan category seemed to provide superior value for consumers, according to the report.

In fact, Consumer Reports noted that even the lowest-rated family sedan have value scores that are slightly better than average.

This category was led by the Nissan Altima, which scored 75 percent higher than average. That’s followed by the four-cylinder Kia Optima, the Subaru Legacy, the Ford Fusion Hybrid and the four-cylinder Honda Accord.

On the other hand, larger and luxury vehicles seem to be among the worst values overall, according to the report.

Illustrating this point, officials noted that the best-scored large and mid-sized SUVs tended to earn about the same value as the lowest-ranked family sedans, and large or luxury sedans and SUVs also usually score at only about 70 percent of the average.

But Consumer Reports stressed there are exceptions. The top-scoring upscale sedan, the Lexus ES 350, earned a value score that’s almost one and a half times the average.

The report also showed that wagons and small SUVs tend to provide better value than larger SUVs or minivans.

Among wagons, the diesel-powered Volkswagen Jetta TDI with manual transmission is the top scorer, offering almost 70 percent more value than the average car.

“Other good choices are the Mazda5 microvan and Subaru Outback, with almost one and a half times that of the average value,” officials noted.

That said, the top small SUVs are even better values than wagons, according to the report.

Leading that class are the four-cylinder Toyota RAV4 and the Subaru Forester, with scores that are 84- and 70-percent better than average.

Though family sedans seem to garner considerable value for shoppers, another family-friendly vehicle’s reliability issues dragged them down, according to the report.

Though minivans generally get better fuel economy than most midsized or larger SUVs, have more space than all but the largest SUVs, and usually cost less, Consumer Reports’ staff noted that “as a class, subpar reliability drags them down.”

“Even the most reliable minivan, the front-wheel drive versions of the Toyota Sienna, have only average reliability, which allows us to recommend them. As a result, they are also the only minivans that earned a better-than-average value score,” staff explained.

Lastly, the report revealed that hybrids can hold good value because of a combination of good fuel economy, low depreciation and above-average reliability.

As a class, hybrids have an overall value that’s at least one and a half times that of the average model, and on average they cost about 65 cents per mile to drive over the first five years, the report concluded.

The complete best and worst lists for all 11 best car values categories are available in the February issue of Consumer Reports and online at www.ConsumerReports.org.