Japanese cars sweep magazine picks

Detroit's automakers were shut out Wednesday as Consumer Reports awarded all top 10 new car picks to Japanese brands in its annual auto issue.

It marked the first time since the magazine began its "top picks" nine years ago that no American vehicle made the list.

This year's rankings emphasized safety more than in the past, and Honda, which offers more standard safety features than most automakers, was the big winner with five models among the 10 highest-rated new passenger vehicles.

The 2006 Honda Civic won for top small sedan, the Accord for best family sedan, the luxury Acura TL in the upscale sedan category, the Honda Odyssey for best minivan and the new Honda Ridgeline was the top pickup.

Toyota and Subaru each had two models in the top 10 — Toyota's were both gas-electric hybrids — while Nissan's Infiniti luxury brand captured one slot.

Consumer Reports rates new cars and trucks based on federal and insurance industry crash tests, reader reliability surveys and the results of more than 50 road and lab tests performed by the magazine's test staff. The April auto issue is the magazine's most popular and its rankings are considered influential with buyers.

Japanese brands also dominated the magazine's vehicle-reliability survey, based on responses from subscribers on more than a million vehicles from the 1998 through 2005 model years. Toyota's Lexus luxury brand ranked tops, with the Honda, Toyota, Mitsubishi and Subaru brands rounding out the top five.

Only one U.S. brand, Ford's Mercury, made the reliability list, placing eighth.

In a conference call, Consumer Reports automotive test director David Champion said most problems in cars these days are traced to electronics. He suggested that Japan's leadership in the electronics industry is a principal reason Japanese cars are so reliable.

The magazine has found that Toyota and Honda models consistently have fewer problems as they age than vehicles from other manufacturers, he said. An eight-year-old Toyota "is about as reliable as a three-year-old Ford," Champion said.

Among U.S. brands, Ford "consistently" has lower problem rates for older vehicles than do General Motors and DaimlerChrysler's Chrysler Group, he said.

Of the 36 major brands surveyed, German automaker Porsche was the least reliable, with Hummer, Land Rover, Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz filling out the bottom five.

U.S. carmakers have narrowed the dependability gap with the Japanese, Champion said. But cash-strapped American companies aren't redesigning their vehicles frequently enough to keep pace with Japanese automakers in terms of comfort, performance, handling and safety, he said.

Last year, the Ford Focus was the only American car on the top 10 list for new models. But the Focus was bumped as the best small car because its five-year-old design doesn't have side-curtain air bags to provide extra head protection in crash tests developed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

The Focus was replaced by the redesigned Honda Civic, which has the side-curtain air bags as standard equipment. The Focus won't offer the extra air bags until its next redesign, expected in 2008.

While many of the magazine's top picks for new models are repeats from prior years, Consumer Reports picked the Honda Ridgeline as the best pickup although it has less towing capacity than other big pickups and doesn't offer a V-8 engine. The magazine's testers liked the Ridgeline's carlike ride and handling.

"We evaluate for how they drive ... not in terms of work or heavy-duty off-road capability," said Consumer Reports' auto editor Rik Paul.

The magazine also picked Toyota's Highlander hybrid sport utility and Prius hybrid sedan as top picks although they cost more to own and operate than comparable gas-powered models.

"We don't factor in price," Paul said.