Auto on Info: Car News and Commentary March 2007: Toyota and Honda Increase Dominance of Consumer Reports' Good Bets List: Toyota's Best Widen Quality Gap

Toyota and Honda Increase Dominance of Consumer Reports' Good Bets List: Toyota's Best Widen Quality Gap

Toyota Motor Corporation's car and truck models are again the most prevalent on Consumer Reports' Good Bets list for used vehicle selection. The auto manufacturer accounts for 39.0% of the models on the 2007 list (vs. 33.9% on the 2006 list and 35.2% on the 2005 list) - 25.4% (vs. 24.2% in 2006 and 25.9% in 2005) are from the Toyota line, 11.9% (vs. 9.7% in 2006 and 9.3% in 2005) are from the Lexus line, and 1.7%, or 1 model, is from Toyota's new Scion line.

The criteria for CR's 2007 Good Bets are (1) better-than-average reliability over several years between 1997 and 2006 and (2) good performance on CR's road tests over the years.

Honda Motor Company's car and truck models are the second most prevalent on CR's 2007 Good Bets list. They account for 25.4% (vs. 22.6% in 2006 and 20.4% in 2005) of the models on the list - 15.3% (vs. 14.5% in 2006 and 11.1% in 2005) are from the Honda line and 10.2% (vs. 8.1% in 2006 and 9.3% in 2005) are from the Acura line.

Together, Toyota and Honda models account for 64.4% of all models on the 2007 Good Bets list, a solid increase from 2006's 56.5% and 2005's 55.6%.

The following table provides each manufacturer's percentage and number of entries on CR's 2007 Good Bets list, save that the two rebadges engineered by Toyota and marketed by another are omitted from the latter's number and from the total used for the computation of the percentages. With the two rebadges eliminated from the count, the percentages below differ a bit from those above.

Ford Motor Company was the big loser in this year's Good Bets list. It saw its number of models on the list decline from 5 to 1. For comparison, last year's table appears below.

Those models by Toyota Motor Corporation that are on CR's 2007 Good Bets list appear in the following table.

Models by Toyota Motor Corporation on CR's 2007 Good Bets List
Lexus Line
	ES
	GS
	GX
	IS
	LS
	RX
	SC
Toyota Line
	4Runner
	Avalon
	Camry
	Camry Solara
	Celica
	Corolla
	Echo
	Highlander
	Land Cruiser
	Matrix
	Prius
	RAV4
	Sequoia
	Sienna
	Tundra
Scion Line
	xB

The next table provides links to reviews of some of the 2005 and 2006 editions of the above models.

Links to On-Site Reviews of Toyota Motor Corporation's 2005 and 2006 Editions of Its Entries on CR's 2007 Good Bets List of Used Cars and Trucks
2005 Lexus ES 330	2006 Lexus ES 330	2006 Lexus GS 300/GS 430

2005 Lexus GX 470	2006 Lexus GX470	2005 Lexus IS 300

2005 Lexus LS 430	2006 Lexus LS 430	2005 Lexus RX 330

2006 Lexus RX400h	2007 Lexus RX350	2005 Toyota 4Runner
	(Icon Unavailable)
2006 Toyota 4Runner	2005 Toyota Camry	2006 Toyota Camry Solara

2005 Toyota Corolla	2006 Toyota Corolla	2005 Toyota Echo

2005 Toyota Highlander	2006 Toyota Highlander	2005 Toyota Land Cruiser

2006 Toyota Land Cruiser	2005 Toyota Matrix	2005 Toyota Prius

2006 Toyota Prius	2005 Toyota RAV4	2006 Toyota RAV4

2005 Toyota Sienna	2006 Toyota Sienna	2005 Toyota Tundra

2006 Toyota Tundra	2006 Scion xB

Those models by Honda Motor Company that are on CR's 2007 Good Bets list appear in the following table.

Models by Honda Motor Company on CR's 2007 Good Bets List
Acura Line
	Integra
	MDX
	RL
	RSX (except 2006)
	TL
	TSX
Honda Line
	Accord
	Civic
	Civic Hybrid
	CR-V
	Element
	Odyssey
	Pilot
	Prelude
	S2000

The next table provides links to reviews of some of the 2005 and 2006 editions of the above models.

Links to On-Site Reviews of Honda Motor Company's 2005 and 2006 Editions of Its Entries on CR's 2007 Good Bets List of Used Cars and Trucks
2005 Acura MDX	2006 Acura RL	2005 Acura RSX

2005 Acura TL	2006 Acura TL	2006 Acura TSX

2005 Honda Accord EX	2006 Honda Accord	2005 Honda Civic coupe and sedan

2006 Honda Civic coupe and sedan	2005 Honda Civic Si 2-door hatchback	2006 Honda Civic Si

2005 Honda Civic hybrid	2006 Honda Civic Hybrid	2005 Honda CR-V

2006 Honda CR-V	2006 Honda Odyssey	2005 Honda Pilot

2006 Honda Pilot	2006 Honda S2000

The following table provides each manufacturer's share of those models that are listed on CR's 2007 Good Bets list and that satisfy the several Reliability Percentrank average criteria.

Shares of Consumer Reports' 2007 Good Bets for Model Years 1997-2006 with Selected 1998-2002 Reliability Percentrank Averages, by Auto Manufacturer and Motor Vehicle Line
Manufacturer		Share of CR 2007 Good Bets with a 1998-2002 Reliability Percentrank Average¹ Greater Than or Equal to .80	Share of CR 2007 Good Bets with a 1998-2002 Reliability Percentrank Average¹ Greater Than or Equal to .85	Share of CR 2007 Good Bets with a 1998-2002 Reliability Percentrank Average¹ Greater Than or Equal to .90	Share of CR 2007 Good Bets with a 1998-2002 Reliability Percentrank Average¹ Greater Than or Equal to .95
	Vehicle Line
Toyota		.54	.55	.72	.83
	Lexus	.16	.19	.28	.50
	Toyota	.38	.35	.44	.33
Honda		.27	.32	.22	.17
	Acura	.11	.13	.06	0.00
	Honda	.16	.19	.17	.17
Subaru		.03	0.00	0.00	0.00
Nissan		.14	.10	.06	0.00
	Infiniti	.08	.10	.06	0.00
	Nissan	.05	0.00	0.00	0.00
Mazda		.03	.03	0.00	0.00
Ford, Chrysler, General Motors, and all others		0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
¹ If the vehicle model is too new for a 1998-2002 Reliability Percentrank average to exist, the early 2003 Reliability Percentrank is used when such exists.
All shares are rounded to two significant digits.
CR Good Bets are models that have several model years between 1997 and 2006 of better-than-average reliability and have performed well on Consumer Reports' road tests. An auto Reliability Percentrank is a measure of relative overall reliability used by Auto on Info.
Note: Two rebadges of products engineered by Toyota, but sold by another auto manufacturer, are omitted from the latter's share.
Source for Consumer Reports' Good Bets: "CR Good Bet: The Best of Both World's," Consumer Reports Cars: Used Car Buying Guide 2006, p. 25
Source for Reliability Percentrank averages: Table I-MVRP

For comparison, last year's and the preceding year's tables appear below.

Shares of Consumer Reports' 2006 Good Bets for Model Years 1998-2005 with Selected 1997-2001 Reliability Percentrank Averages, by Auto Manufacturer and Motor Vehicle Line
Manufacturer		Share of CR 2006 Good Bets with a 1997-2001 Reliability Percentrank Average¹ Greater Than or Equal to .80	Share of CR 2006 Good Bets with a 1997-2001 Reliability Percentrank Average¹ Greater Than or Equal to .85	Share of CR 2006 Good Bets with a 1997-2001 Reliability Percentrank Average¹ Greater Than or Equal to .90	Share of CR 2006 Good Bets with a 1997-2001 Reliability Percentrank Average¹ Greater Than or Equal to .95
	Vehicle Line
Toyota		.48	.52	.57	.83
	Lexus	.13	.16	.22	.33
	Toyota	.35	.35	.35	.50
Honda		.28	.29	.26	.17
	Acura	.10	.13	.09	0.00
	Honda	.18	.16	.17	.17
Subaru		.10	0.00	0.00	0.00
Nissan		.12	.16	.13	0.00
	Infiniti	.07	.10	.13	0.00
	Nissan	.05	.06	0.00	0.00
Mazda		.02	.03	.04	0.00
Ford, Chrysler, General Motors, and all others		0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
¹ If the vehicle model is too new for a 1997-2001 Reliability Percentrank average to exist, the early 2002 Reliability Percentrank is used when such exists.
All shares are rounded to two significant digits.
CR Good Bets are models that have three or more model years between 1998 and 2005 of better-than-average reliability and have performed well on Consumer Reports' road tests. An auto Reliability Percentrank is a measure of relative overall reliability used by Auto on Info.
Note: Two rebadges of products engineered by Toyota, but sold by another auto manufacturer, are omitted from the latter's share.
Source for Consumer Reports' Good Bets: "CR Good Bet: The Best of Both World's," Consumer Reports Cars: Used Car Buying Guide 2006, p. 25