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Ford, Toyota clean up in Best Car For The Money Awards

The U.S. News Best Cars for the Money Awards picks winners by looking at the average transaction price, five-year total cost of ownership, the regard a car has from the automotive press, reliability figures from J.D. Power and Associates and safety data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The result, according to the magazine, is "the best combination of critical acclaim and long-term value."
Ford nabbed six of the 21 categories that received awards this year, the Focus, Fusion, Fusion Hybrid, Taurus, Escape and Edge getting trophies. Toyota and its Lexus and Scion sub-brands took another five, the Tacoma and Tundra owning the two categories given to pickup trucks. The other ten awards were split between Honda with three, Buick with two, and one each for Subaru, BMW, Hyundai, Chevrolet and Mazda.
Follow the link to see all the winners and read about why they were chosen.

Scion xB death sentence uncertain, minor updates announced

The last time we discussed the Scion xB and xD, in April of this year, it was to announce a report that both models were being killed. The vice president of the brand had said, "We don't have plans for a direct xB or xD replacement," but no date was given for the termination. Turns out rumors of their deaths have been greatly exaggerated: as part of a Toyota press release that summarized feature and pricing changes for 2013, the Scion xB was included.
The 2013 hatchback (above) gets a new front bumper and lower fascia with LED lighting, and the rear end gets a black diffuser. Stingray Metallic and Elusive Blue Metallic exterior hues will disappear, Absolutely Red and Nautical Blue Metallic will take their places. Inside will be light bronze metallic and chrome accents, as well as new seat fabric and the availability of the BeSpoke Premium Audio. It increases in price by $500, the manual costing $16,800, the automatic $17,750.
The xD (inset) has been left off the list and the Scion website it still hawking the 2012 car. But 2013 xD pricing and new features were announced earlier this year, the MSRP rising by $125 to $16,500. New equipment and options includes smoked headlight covers, more airbags and a two-tone paint job.

Toyota gives dealers permission to drop Scion, shows them FR-S droptop, Juke rival first

We recently heard that Toyota could be looking to shrink its network of Scion dealerships, and now Automotive News is reporting that the automaker has officially given its dealers the green light to dump Scion without any penalties. Currently, Scion has about 1,000 dealers, yet our report from August 8 quotes an industry analyst as suggesting a healthier figure would be between 350 and 500 outlets. But before its current dealers make a decision on whether or not to get rid of the youth-oriented brand, Toyota also showed off a couple potential future products in the pipeline.
The FT-86 Open Concept shown above was revealed back in March at the Geneva Motor Show, and AN says that an FR-S convertible was driven on stage at a recent national Toyota dealer meeting in Atlanta. There has still been no definitive word one way or another as to whether the droptop model will be built, but it could be a good way to follow up to the popular FR-S coupe. Another possible future product is a subcompact crossover, which was shown in drawing form at the meeting, presumably aimed at small CUVs like the Nissan Juke and the upcoming Honda CUV based on the Fit, a model recently previewed by the automaker's Urban SUV concept.