Consumer Reports has released its top picks for 2014 cars and trucks. To come up with its list testers drove more than 260 cars, hundreds of thousands of kilometres and put them through over 50 tests.
Acceleration, braking and handling are just a fraction of the tests each car much ace to be named a top pick. It must also perform well in government and industry crash tests and it has to be reliable.
This year’s top pickup truck is the Ram 1500. The new redesign makes this powerful truck feel like a luxury vehicle.
The Subaru Forester is top pick for small SUV. It has the best fuel economy in its class, easy to use controls and a very roomy back seat.
If you need more room the Hyundai Santa Fe is the top pick for midsized SUV. The redesign brought even more room and comfort to an already competitive vehicle.
The reasonably-priced Honda Accord four-cylinder is the top pick for mid-sized sedan. Testers say it’s really nice to drive and gets 13 kilometres per litre overall.
Here’s a look at some of the other winners:
• The Top Pick Compact Car is the Subaru Impreza
• The Top Pick Luxury Car is the Audi A6
• The Top Pick Green Car is the Toyota Prius
• The Top Pick Minivan is the Honda Odyssey
Finally, this year’s top pick of the top picks, or the best car overall, is the electric Tesla Model S. It handles beautifully, is loaded with the latest electronic innovations and it gets the equivalent of 36 kilometres per litre.
