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Best and worst car brands of 2022 according to Consumer Reports

It's that time again, Consumer Reports this morning lifting the curtain on its 2022 Annual Car Brand rankings and its 10 Top Picks in the car, crossover, and truck category. Drumroll, please: This year, Subaru climbs two spots to claim the winner's circle, having come third the last two years. Last year, Mazda climbed three spots from 2020 to take the crown. This year, Mazda slipped to second, BMW taking the last spot on the podium, also a one-spot drop from 2021. Six automakers in the top 10 hailed from Japan, which is one more than last year, and five luxury makers occupied the top 10, which is two more than last year. And South Korean representation didn't crack the top this year, after Hyundai managed tenth last year. The seven makes after BMW are: Honda, Lexus, Audi, Porsche, Mini, Toyota, and Infiniti.  The magazine and testing concern says its Brand Report Card "[reveals] which automakers are producing the most well-performing, safe, and reliable vehicles based on CR’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." The domestics also took steps back among the 32 OEMs ranked on the 2022 card. Chrysler and Buick were the domestic carmakers who made last year's top 10 in eighth and ninth, respectively. This year, Buick dropped to eleventh, Chrysler to thirteenth. Dodge went from fourteenth to sixteenth. CR continues to ding Tesla's yoke steerer, the not-exactly-natural handhold responsible for the electric carmaker going from sixteenth last year to twenty-third this year.

Kia Trail'ster Concept brings traction for the Soul in Chicago

Kia teased its hybrid all-wheel drive Trail'ster concept prior to the 2015 Chicago Auto Show debut, but the company kept some of this off-road Soul's biggest features a secret. Designed both to go off the beaten path and drive efficiently in the city, the company's designers in California added 2.5-inches of extra ground clearance and aluminum skid plates to give the hatchback a more rugged appearance. Drivers can also let the weather into the cabin thanks to a retractable canvas roof. However, the Trail'ster's most intriguing feature is its drivetrain. With a platform still based on the production Soul, up front there's a 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder with stop/start churning out 185 horsepower and 185 pound-feet of torque through a six-speed automatic gearbox. The gas engine exclusively runs the front axle; at the rear there's an electric motor with 35 hp and 100 lb-ft with a 1.2-kWh lithium-ion polymer battery under the cargo floor providing assistance. The whole system produces a total output of 220 hp and 285 lb-ft of twist, and the Kia claims, the concept could even run two or three miles purely on electric power. There's no physical connection between the internal combustion engine at the front and electric in the rear. Under low-throttle situations, the electric motor runs exclusively, but under most driving conditions, the all-wheel drive system provides extra traction and a bit more acceleration. Kia claims that if it put this layout into production it would offer 25-30 percent better city fuel economy and a 5-10 percent improvement on the highway compared to the current 2.0-liter powertrain in the Soul. That works about to about 30 miles per gallon city and 34 mpg highway, based on the maximum figures. The automaker isn't saying anything official yet, but it's at least hinting that a system like this could end up in the Soul one day. "The Trail'ster concept is a near-future look at how the production Kia Soul would logically evolve into an AWD-capable version that's built to escape the city streets and roam into the mountain wilderness," Tom Kearns, chief designer at the Kia Design Center of America, said in the model's announcement.

2018 Kia Niro bests Prius and Ioniq with IIHS Top Safety Pick Plus rating

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has recently tested the 2018 Kia Niro, and the car came out well. The organization gave it the Top Safety Pick+ award, which goes to cars that meet the organization's most stringent safety requirements. While good on its own, the Niro's new commendation also stands out because its corporate cousin, the Hyundai Ioniq, and its close competitor the Toyota Prius only received the plain Top Safety Pick award. The Niro earned this score by getting a "Good" rating, the highest IIHS bestows, in every single crash test, including the difficult small overlap test for both passenger and driver. It also received a "Good" rating for its optional HID headlights, and the optional forward collision prevention system managed to prevent a collision at speeds up to 25 mph. This brings us to a caveat to the Niro's scores, though. The highly rated headlights and forward collision prevention system are options that don't come standard on base models of the Niro. The headlights only become available on the second-highest EX trim, and are standard on the top Touring trim. The forward collision prevention system is not available on the base FE trim, but it is an option starting with the second-lowest LX trim, and is standard on Touring. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2017 Kia Niro Hybrid: First Drive View 20 Photos Image Credit: Kia Green Kia Safety Crossover Hatchback Hybrid kia niro