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Mazda leads Consumer Reports' latest Brand Report Card Rankings

The latest automaker brand report cards from Consumer Reports are in, and there are quite a few changes for 2021. At the very top of the charts sits Mazda, up three spots over last year, followed by BMW and Subaru to round out the top three. It's interesting to note that mainstream brands (non-luxury in CR-speak) don't seem to be at a disadvantage in CR's rankings, with five of the top 10 spots. In addition to Mazda in first and Subaru in third, Honda, Toyota, Chrysler, and Buick were the other high-ranking non-luxury marques. The ratings are derived from "a combination of predicted reliability, and owner satisfaction based on member surveys, and CR’s hands-on analysis" and also includes safety features and crash test scores.  At the very bottom of the list sit Mitsubishi, Land Rover and Alfa Romeo. "Our brand rankings don't just look at how models perform on our test track, but the broad picture of vehicle quality," said Jake Fisher, Senior Director of Automotive Testing at Consumer Reports. "Fortunately, consumers will find they have many options that are safe, enjoyable, and reasonably priced." The biggest jumps in the brand report card rankings come from Chrysler, Buick and Honda, which each moved up five spots compared to last year's rankings. The news wasn't nearly as good for Lincoln, which fell an alarming 15 spots this year, Genesis, which fell 13 spots, or Kia, which fell 10 spots. Related Video:

It's the Alfa Romeo Brennero after all

In an "X-Files" television episode called "Teliko," the show changed its usual tagline during the title sequence from "The truth is out there" to "Deceive, Inveigle, Obfuscate." Both taglines would apply to the mystery around the name of Alfa Romeo's coming subcompact SUV. For the longest while, based on information from unnamed sources, the urban runabout twinned with Europe's Jeep Avenger was expected to be named the Alfa Romeo Brennero, honoring Italy's Brennero Pass (Brenner Pass in English). Then automaker design head Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos said something to Autocar over the summer that led Autocar to write, "that name was ruled out by Mesonero-Romanos." Autocar didn't quote the designer's words used to dismiss the expected name, it only quoted what came next, Mesonero-Romanos saying, "The model name is now decided. it will be Italian and it will be beautiful. But more than that, I cannot say for now." Maybe we’ve known it all along.#AlfaRomeo pic.twitter.com/dE10xGYXwO — Alfa Romeo (@alfa_romeo) December 6, 2023 The decided, Italian, beautiful name is Brennero. That's what we get from an automaker post on X bearing the caption, "Maybe we've known it all along," and a 15-second animation flashing four GPS coordinates. One coordinate picks out Alfa RomeoÂ’s history museum, the Museo Storico, another the Balocco Proving Grounds, another the Stelvio Pass, and finally, the Brennero Pass. This post could be considered Alfa answering its own question from June of this year — a month before Mesonero-Romano's supposed denial — with the caption, "A game-changing #SportyUrbanVehicle is on the horizon. What will be the name of our new Alfa Romeo? Take a guess in the comments below." Speculation has gathered around a few hard points. The Brennero sits on the CMP/e-CMP platform utilized by the Avenger, the Fiat 600, the Peugeot 2008, and the DS 3 Crossback. In electric form, it fits the Avenger's 54-kWh battery and front axle e-motor making the same 154 horsepower and 192 pound-feet of torque, and will likely get around the same 248 miles on a charge on the WLTP cycle. As the new entry-level offering beneath the Tonale, if the Brennero adopts Avenger dimensions, the Brennero will be about 16 inches shorter than the Tonale, its roof about three inches lower. More speculative speculation supposes there could be a dual-motor all-wheel-drive Brennero evolved from the drivetrain in the Avenger 4x4 Concept.

Autoblog's Editors' Picks: Our complete list of the best new vehicles

It's not easy to earn an “EditorsÂ’ Picks” at Autoblog as part of the rating and review process that every new vehicle goes through. Our editors have been at it a long time, which means weÂ’ve driven and reviewed virtually every new car you can go buy on the dealer lot. There are disagreements, of course, and all vehicles have their strengths and weaknesses, but this list features what we think are the best new vehicles chosen by Autoblog editors. We started this formal review process back in 2018, so there's quite of few of them now. So what does it mean to be an EditorsÂ’ Pick? In short, it means itÂ’s a car that we can highly recommend purchasing. There may be one, multiple, or even zero vehicles in any given segment that we give the green light to. What really matters is that itÂ’s a vehicle that weÂ’d tell a friend or family member to go buy if theyÂ’re considering it, because itÂ’s a very good car. The best way to use this list is is with the navigation links below. Click on a segment, and you'll quickly arrive at the top rated pickup truck or SUV, for example. Use the back button to return to these links and search in another segment, like sedans. If youÂ’ve been keeping up with our monthly series of the latest vehicles to earn EditorsÂ’ Pick status, youÂ’re likely going to be familiar with this list already. If not, welcome to the complete list that weÂ’ll be keeping updated as vehicles enter (and others perhaps exit) the good graces of our editorial team. We rate a new car — giving it a numerical score out of 10 — every time thereÂ’s a significant refresh or if it happens to be an all-new model. Any given vehicle may be impressive on a first drive, but we wait until itÂ’s in the hands of our editors to put it through the same type of testing as every other vehicle that rolls through our test fleet before giving it the EditorsÂ’ Pick badge. This ensures consistency and allows more voices to be heard on each individual model. And just so you donÂ’t think weÂ’ve skipped trims or variants of a model, we hand out the EditorsÂ’ Pick based on the overarching model to keep things consistent. So, when you read that the 3 Series is an EditorsÂ’ Pick, yes, that includes the 330i to the M3 and all the variants in between. If thereÂ’s a particular version of that car we vehemently disagree with, we make sure to call that out.