U.S. News Announces the 2014 Best Cars for the Money

WASHINGTON, Feb. 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. News & World Report, a nationally recognized publisher of consumer advice and information, today announced the 2014 Best Cars for the Money on its popular Best Cars website, www.usnews.com/cars. The awards highlight cars in 21 automotive categories – from subcompact cars to full size pickup trucks – that offer great value and receive critical acclaim.

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On the whole, foreign automakers outshined domestic car companies, winning 13 of this year's Best Cars for the Money awards. Import automaker Toyota, with its Scion and Lexus brands, took home the most awards of any automaker with wins in five categories: Sports Cars, Hybrid SUVs, Midsize Sedans, Luxury 2-Row Midsize SUVs and Compact Pickup Trucks. The Lexus RX-350 has won a Best Car for the Money award six years in a row.

Ford took home the most awards of any domestic automaker and any single brand, winning four awards in these categories: Subcompact Cars, Hatchbacks, Hybrid Cars and 2-Row Midsize SUVs. For three consecutive years, the Ford Edge and Ford Fusion Hybrid have won Best Car for the Money awards.

The 2014 BEST CARS FOR THE MONEY

"Finding a great car that's also a great deal is a challenge," said Jamie Page Deaton, managing editor of U.S. News Best Cars. "Our awards are designed to help consumers identify great value cars that have also received critical acclaim and high safety and reliability scores. A good value car doesn't have to be boring – cars with the latest features, great performance and comfortable interiors can also be smart financial choices."

U.S. News considered 225 cars for the Best Cars for the Money awards. The award methodology factors quality and value data into a composite score. Within each of the 21 categories, the vehicle with the highest composite score is named the Best Car for the Money in that category. Quality is measured by the overall score a vehicle achieved in the U.S. News car rankings at the time the awards are published. Value is measured by a combination of a vehicle's five-year total cost of ownership provided by Vincentric, LLC and the average price paid for the vehicle at the time the awards are published, as calculated by TrueCar.com.

The U.S. News Best Cars website also provides rankings for each vehicle class along with in-depth reviews and profiles on each car. This includes information on pricing, performance, interiors, safety, and reliability. The site received over 40 million unique visitors in 2013, with over 65 percent of visitors actively shopping for a car and 80 percent of those shoppers reporting that the site influenced their car purchasing decision. 

About U.S. News Best Cars
U.S. News Best Cars, the automotive channel of U.S. News & World Report at www.usnews.com/cars, has published rankings for new vehicles sold in America since 2007 and rankings for used vehicles since 2012. U.S. News also publishes the annual Best Cars for the Money and Best Cars for Families awards. U.S. News Best Cars has grown in popularity and influence each year; in 2013, the site received over 40 million unique visitors. Over 65 percent of visitors were actively shopping for a car, while 80 percent of those active shoppers reported that the U.S. News Best Cars site influenced their car purchasing decision. 

U.S. News & World Report is a multi-platform publisher of news and analysis, which includes the digital-only U.S. News Weekly magazine, www.usnews.com and www.rankingsandreviews.com. Focusing on Health, Personal Finance, Education, Travel, Cars and Public Service/Opinion, U.S. News has earned a reputation as the leading provider of service news and information that improves the quality of life of its readers. U.S. News & World Report's signature franchise includes its News You Can Use® brand of journalism and its annual "Best" series of consumer Web guides and publications that include rankings of colleges, graduate schools, hospitals, mutual funds, health plans and more.

SOURCE U.S. News & World Report