“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…”