Volvo, Land Rover and Ford Win Best Car Awards From Kiplinger's
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The editors of Kiplinger's Personal Finance know a thing or two about getting the most value for the money and according the magazine's 2006 Best Cars awards several Ford Motor Company vehicles offer customers the best value in the auto industry.
The magazine divided 2006 model year vehicles into four categories: Best in Class, Best New Cars, First for Safety and Most Fuel Efficient. Within each category, the vehicles were sub divided into five different price ranges plus sports cars, SUVs, minivans and wagons.
Best in Class honors in the wagon category went to the Volvo V70R. The magazine's editors picked the Volvo based on its, "safety, generous cargo room and a 300-hp turbo-charged engine that earn the V70 R the Best in Class nod for the second year in a row."
The Best New Car in the truck-based SUV category was Land Rover's Range Rover Sport AWD. "Think of it as a rugged sport sedan, equally at home on city streets or on the savannah," Kiplinger's noted.
Not surprisingly, a Volvo vehicle took the For the First in Safety award for a crossover vehicle. The Volvo XC90 2.5T won for, "Safety features including rollover and whiplash protection systems, standard front and side airbags, a steel-reinforced passenger compartment and traction control," according to the magazine's editors.
Finally in the Most Fuel Efficient crossover category, Ford's Escape Hybrid took the honors, probably to the surprise of no one. "This gas-electric hybrid gets 36 mpg in the city, where the nearly silent electric motor takes over in stop-and-go traffic," the magazine noted.
Kiplinger's based the awards on several criteria.
"About half of the score is awarded for performance and value," according to Kiplinger's. "That includes resale value, power (based on horsepower and torque), fuel efficiency, front and rear legroom, headroom and cargo space. Cars are ranked within defined price ranges. Sports cars, sport utility vehicles, minivans and wagons have their own categories, so in rating them we also score price on a scale that rewards lower prices."
Safety counted for about 35 percent of the total score. Along with the specific safety features of each vehicle, Kiplinger's also took into account injury-claims data collected by the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI).
Another 15 percent of the score comes from subjective opinions of the magazine's writers after test drives.
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