Bucking the idea that hybrid vehicles are more expensive to repair and thus not a good value, Consumer Reports has named the Toyota Prius Touring model as the new car with the best value. Notice, I didn’t see “best new hybrid car” – the Prius topped the list of over 300 cars that the magazine looked at.

“To determine which cars are the best values, Consumer Reports looks at its overall road-test scores, five-year owner-cost estimates, and predicted reliability ratings for more than 300 recently tested vehicles. CR then divided each vehicle’s five-year owner-cost by its overall road-test score to get the cost of each test-score point — the lower the cost-per-point, the better the value. To ensure the vehicles named as best values were also models that held up well over time, choices were limited to those with above-average predicted reliability ratings. Consumer Reports’ owner-cost estimates are based on six major elements: depreciation, fuel economy, insurance, interest on financing, maintenance and repair, and sales tax.” (Source: PR Newswire)

The fuel efficient MINI Cooper came in 2nd place while the Honda Fit squeaked into the top five in the fifth position. The Smart ForTwo, which is a reasonably priced fuel-efficient vehicle actually scored rather poorly in the Consumer Reports rating and was one of the worst in the small/family car category.

The 2009 Annual Auto Issue will be available on newsstands next week.

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Filed Under: toyota

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