Consumer Reports: This Toyota tops all cars on value

Chris Woodyard | USA TODAY

If you're looking for the car that is considered the best overall value among all models out there, Consumer Reports magazine says look no farther than the Toyota Prius, the popular hybrid car.

And at the other end of the spectrum, if you want to squander all your dollars, you can't do a better job of flushing them away than by buying the Nissan Armada, a giant SUV, says CR as part of its annual Best New-Car Value analysis.

For Prius, it's a second straight win on the CR best-value list, having unseated the Honda Fit from the title it held for four straight years. The magazine lauds it as having the right combination of performance, reliability and low estimated five-year ownership costs at 47 cents per mile.

"Prius' 44 (miles per gallon) overall is the best fuel economy of any non-plug-in car that Consumer Reports has tested," said Consumer Reports Automotive Editor Rik Paul in a statement. "Though it's not particularly cheap to buy, the Prius' depreciation is so low that it costs less to own over the first five years than its initial (price). We call that a bargain."

The consumer magazine says there is not a lot to love about Armada. It only gets 13 mpg overall, scored poorly in Consumer Reports ' annual reliability survey and forces its owners to shell out $1.20 per mile to operate, according to CR's analysis.

As for brands, Toyota and its luxury brand Lexus emerged the big winners. They had the top models in three of the 10 categories. Toyota Avalon Hybrid Limited scored highest among large cars and Lexus ES 300h was top luxury car.

Vehicles from Subaru and Mazda also did well overall.