Which Brands Make the Best Cars?

Every year, Consumer Reports publishes a car brand report card. We rank automakers based on their vehicles’ average Overall Score—a combination of our road-test scores, safety ratings, and predicted reliability and owner satisfaction data. This provides a definitive number to help consumers see which brands shine and which might be best avoided. 

We also present separate ratings specifically for each brand’s average road-test, reliability, and owner satisfaction scores for new models. And we rank brands based on their used-car reliability.

Among the 32 brands featured in the 2025 report card, the top five remain unchanged from last year’s results, aside from one significant shift: Subaru claims the top spot from BMW, edging out last year’s highest-ranked brand by a single point in its average Overall Score. 

Lexus moves from fifth to third place, not through its own improvements but because Porsche and Honda slid slightly. 

Audi was a big mover this year, climbing six spots to be ranked sixth. Mini and Acura lost positions due to lower predicted reliability scores. 

Other brands that saw significant movement included Buick, which slid four places to 17th because of lower road-test scores. The score for the new Envista was only adequate. Cadillac tumbled seven spots to land at 21st due partly to the well-below-average reliability of its Lyriq EV. 

There’s a certain amount of shuffling every year, particularly among brands where we’ve tested only some of its models. Because the rankings are based on averages, small product lines mean that each model has an outsized impact on its brand’s score. 

Car buyers should look for consistent performance, as we’ve seen with the top five brands. The same attention should be given to avoiding the lowest-rated brands. That section of our list tends to include GMC, Land Rover, Rivian, and Stellantis brands Alfa Romeo, Dodge, and Jeep. 

Keep in mind that even high-scoring brands can have low-scoring models. Be sure to check the ratings of the specific models you’re interested in. This is especially true for bigger brands like Toyota. Some models achieve high scores (Camry), while others get poor scores (Tacoma) for road tests and predicted reliability. 

Of the 32 brands Consumer Reports rated this year, only four manufacturers managed to earn recommendations for every model we tested: Porsche, Infiniti, Mini, and Buick. But don’t read too deeply into that. These are brands with small product lines and few tested models. For example, Chrysler is the highest-ranked domestic brand, in 16th place. But that score is based on its small product line: the Pacifica, Pacifica Hybrid, and the new-for-2025 Voyager. 

There are seven brands that don’t have a single model recommended by Consumer Reports: Lincoln, Alfa Romeo, Dodge, GMC, Land Rover, Rivian, and Jeep. They are also among the bottom-ranked brands. Consider carefully before buying from those manufacturers.

To be included in the brand ranking, CR has to have tested at least two current models from a company. For that reason, we didn’t include Fiat, Jaguar, Lucid, Maserati, Polestar, and Ram.

In the interactive chart below, you can see the full brand ranking, or you can see how the brands look when split into mainstream and luxury groups, which may better reflect how you shop. These distinctions are made at the brand level, reflecting car prices and market position, rather than the attributes of individual cars. For both mainstream and luxury vehicles, the Overall Scores are calculated in the same manner and can be compared directly against each other.