Automobiles|Lexus Ranked No. 1 on Consumer Reports' Annual Brand Report ...

For the second year, Lexus, Toyota's luxury brand, earned the top overall score in the Consumer Reports' Car Brand Report Cards, the publication announced Tuesday. Honda's Acura luxury division took second place, and Audi was third.

Japanese automakers dominated the list, taking seven of the top 10 spots, with the remainder going to the German marques Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Luxury brands, with the exception of Cadillac, did better than their nonluxury siblings. Lexus was the only brand to achieve an excellent average overall reliability score. The lowest-scoring brands in the survey were Ford and Jeep, which tied for last place.

According to Consumer Reports, the intent of the Brand Report Cards is to show which brands are producing the best all-around vehicles. Overall scores are calculated using road-test scores and scores for predicted reliability. Reliability scores come from information provided by the magazine's 1.1 million subscribers about problems with their vehicles during its Annual Auto Survey.

Scores ranged from the 79 points earned by Lexus to Jeep's 50. Following Lexus were Acura, with a score of 75, and Audi, Volkswagen's upscale division, with a score of 74. The magazine's editors noted that Audi moved up from eighth place last year to third this year because its cars have 'beautifully finished interiors,' 'responsive handling' and a 'range of fuel-sipping engines.' Audi's new models earned the automaker the highest average road-test score.

'We've seen Audi making really great cars for a while, and we've seen the reliability improve,' Jake Fisher, director of Consumer Reports automotive testing, said in a telephone interview. 'You put that together and they come in third.'

Rounding out the top 10 were Subaru (72), Toyota (72), Mazda (71), Honda (70), Infiniti (69), Mercedes-Benz (68) and BMW (60). Lexus was the only brand to achieve an excellent average overall reliability score.

This year, 260 vehicles from 23 brands were included in the report. For a brand to qualify for inclusion, Consumer Reports requires road-test and reliability data from at least three of its nameplates. Fiat, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln, Mini, Mitsubishi, Porsche, Ram, Scion, Smart and Tesla were not included in the 2014 rankings.

Consumer Reports said performance by domestic brands was a 'mixed bag.' The top-performing American brands were Buick (63), GMC (63) and Chrysler (62). They occupied the middle of the pack, and Ford and Jeep were tied for the lowest score: 50. Rounding out the bottom five slots were Dodge (53), Cadillac (54) and Chevrolet (56).

Consumer Reports said that Jeep's problems stemmed from 'spotty reliability and mediocre road-test' scores. Last year, Cadillac was the leading American brand; this year it was G.M.'s lowest-scoring brand, dropping six places, mainly because of problems with its Cadillac User Experience infotainment system.

'The ATS and CTS are brilliant driving vehicles and competitive with the best Europe has to offer, and then they put in this system that makes you want to gouge your eyes out just trying to find a radio station,' Mr. Fisher said. 'Lexus is a brand that has plenty of features, plenty of electronics and plenty of technology. Lexus proves you can put that technology in a car and make it so it's reliable, make sure it works and continues to work,' he said.

Mr. Fisher called Ford 'a sad story' because its road-test scores were good, but scored below average in reliability. In 2011, Ford was fifth, but by 2013 had fallen to the bottom five because of problems with three of its technologies: the MyFord Touch infotainment system, automatic transmissions in the Focus and Fiesta models and its 1.6- and 2-liter EcoBoost turbocharged 4-cylinder engines.

Even though Ford made changes to MyFord Touch, the problems 'haven't gone away,' Mr. Fisher said. 'And now they are putting these systems into different product lines, and we are seeing the whole product line being affected. The story with Ford is just a proliferation of those problems. The disease is spreading.'

In the Annual Auto Issue, to be released in March, Consumer Reports also issues Top Picks in each of 10 categories chosen from among the more than 260 vehicles the magazine road-tested. This year, the all-electric Tesla Model S was chosen as Best Overall based on what the magazine called its 'exceptional performance' and its many 'impressive technological innovations.'

The Ram 1500 took first place in the pickup-truck category of Top Picks and was the first Chrysler vehicle in 16 years to be a Top Pick. The redesigned Subaru Forester replaced the Honda CR-V as the top pick in the small S.U.V. category, and the Hyundai Santa Fe replaced the Toyota Highlander in the midsize S.U.V. category.

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