2004 Mazda Rx 8 Grand Touring on 2040-cars

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BMW tops Consumer Reports 2023 Brand Report Card

Feels like we wrote about Consumer Reports' 2022 Brand Report Car and 10 Top Picks a few weeks ago, but it was last April. So the mag is back with a ranked roster of 32 brands and 10 vehicles in four categories for your debating pleasure. Starting with the brands, last year's top three were Subaru, Mazda and BMW. This year, the Munich crew climbed two spots to win the prize thanks to "Superb road test scores and solid results in CR’s reliability and owner satisfaction surveys." Subaru narrowly fell to second, maintaining its four-year run in the top three. Mini, eighth last year, jumped five spots to get the last step on the podium. The rest of the top 10 were Lexus (up one spot from last year), Honda (down one spot from last year), Toyota (up three), Genesis (up 12), Mazda (down six), Audi (down three) and Kia (up eight). The magazine and testing outfit says its Brand Report Card "[reveals] which automakers are producing the most well-performing, safe, and reliable vehicles based on CRÂ’s independent testing and member surveys," and that "Brands that rise to the top tend to have the most consistent performance across their model lineups." Last year's top 10 had six automakers from Japan, three from Germany (giving Mini credit for England), none from the U.S. or South Korea, and five luxury brands. This year's list counts five makes from Japan, two from Germany because Porsche fell out of the top ten, two from South Korea, still none from the U.S., and four luxury brands. Buick again ranked as the best domestic, dropping to 12th after being 11th last year. The big mover was Lincoln, its 10-place jump up to 16th attributed to better reliability from the Corsair and Nautilus. Tesla's improved overall reliability saw it climb six spots to 17th. Dodge climbed one spot to 15th. Jeep got out of the penalty box in last to come second-to-last. Land Rover fell three places into the penalty spot.  CR's top 10 vehicle models The 10 Top Picks list is practically a new list. Only two holdovers made it to 2023, those being the Subaru Forester and Kia Telluride.

Mazda plans to launch an EV in 2020, plug-in hybrid by 2022

Thanks to an interview Automotive News Europe conducted with Mazda president and CEO Akira Marumoto, we have more insight on Mazda's plans to lower its vehicle emissions in Europe. This will undoubtedly bring changes to the U.S. lineup, too, but The Continent sees the first fruits in part because Mazda is well over the European Union's fleet CO2 emissions target for 2021 of 95 g/km. In response to how Mazda plans to achieve the necessary reduction, Marumoto said the carmaker will launch its first EV in 2020 and have a plug-in hybrid on the road in 2021 or 2022. First, some clarification on the emissions numbers and timeline. The 95g/km figure is based on the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) emissions schedule being phased out next year; the AN piece cites JATO Dynamics findings that Mazda Europe's fleet CO2 average is 135.2 g/km. The new Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP) schedule comes into full effect in 2020, the fleet CO2 target under that methodology translating to 114.9 g/km. The rules dictate that 90 percent of an automaker's range needs to meet the cap number by the end of 2020, the rest of the lineup must come into compliance by the end of 2021. Failure means enormous fines. Industry analyst IHS Markit estimates "average fines for those not complying could reach ˆ624 ($707) per vehicle at the end of 2020, with a further ˆ190 ($215) increase in 2021." The penalties quickly grow so large that Fiat will reportedly pay Tesla hundreds of millions of euros to pool their fleets and avoid an even larger bill. Mazda's most popular vehicle in Europe is the CX-5 with CO2 emissions ranging from 128 g/km to 150 g/km. On top of that, for a small automaker, the size of potential fines has material effect on the R&D budgets necessary to develop the technologies that will lower emissions, and whatever EV Mazda launches in 2020 needs to sway legions of customers into purchases to be of practical use. This will be challenging. A line in the IHS Markit summary about the industry in general states, "Once in 2021 and subject to full WLTP regulatory monitoring, only a seismic shift (over the baseline) in consumer demand for BEV ('Electric-Plug-In') and PHEV ('Hybrid-Full Plug-In) will result in the full mitigation of EU28 fleet level excess emissions premiums." Mazda hooked up with Toyota and Denso in 2017 on a joint venture called EV Common Architecture Spirit Co Ltd to develop EV technology.

More head-up displays are coming to a dashboard near you

With the exception of Apple products — $1,000 for a freakin' smartphone? — one great thing about tech is you typically get more for your money with each passing year. This is particularly true with automotive tech: Features like driver assists and surround-view cameras that were once exclusively available in luxury vehicles now come standard even on some economy cars. The same thing is slowly happening with head-up displays (HUD). For example, the 10-inch HUD in the 2018 Toyota Camry is one of the largest and best HUDs I've seen in any car. And a big improvement on the much smaller HUD in the latest Toyota Prius. Mazda is another mainstream brand that offers HUDs in several of its vehicles. But instead of embedding expensive components in the dash and using a special windshield, the HUDs in the Mazda3 and Mazda6 use a thin plastic lens that folds down when not in use. MINI has a similar solution, but this low-cost approach has limits in terms of size and position of the images compared to traditional HUDs that use the windshield as a screen. We're also starting to see similar lens-based aftermarket options that can be added to any car. Last year I tested a portable HUD called Navdy that taps into a car's OBD-II port to provide info on speed and RPM and uses built-in GPS and Google Maps to show the surrounding area, display speed limits and route you to your destination. Navdy also connects to an Android or iOS smartphone via Bluetooth to display data from phone calls, texts and music playing on a connected device, and it's simple to use and easily visible in almost any lighting condition. While Navdy is still available online, late last year the company ran into financial difficulties, and product support has been halted. I recently tested a new portable HUD called Hudly that's not quite fully baked and falls short of Navdy because it doesn't tap into an OBD-II port. Since a companion smartphone app for Hudly isn't scheduled to launch until next month, for now it only mirrors what's on a smartphone. So it can be used for nav and other apps, and its features are very limited. Between automakers adding HUDs in more reasonably priced cars and the aftermarket filling in the gaps for existing vehicle owners with add-ons, the technology is becoming more prevalent and affordable. And it's also getting better.