Consumer Reports April 2021

Member Support You can call us about your membership or donations at 800-333-0663. Or go to CR.org/magazine to • Renew or pay for your current magazine • Give a gift • Change your address • Report a delivery problem • Cancel your magazine Or write to us: Consumer Reports Member Support P.O. Box 2109, Harlan, IA 51593¢0298 Please include or copy address label from issue. (Allow four to six weeks for processing.) Price In U.S., $6.99 per issue, special issues $7.99. In Canada, $7.99 CAN per issue, special issues $8.99 CAN (Goods and Services Tax included, GST #127047702). All other countries add $10 per year to the U.S. price for shipping and handling. Back Issues Single copies of previous 24 issues, $7.95 each; previous two Buying Guides, $14.49 each (includes shipping and handling). Please…

DECIDING ON THE right car for you can prove to be a difficult decision with a seemingly never-ending expanse of options. Our goal is to do much of the heavy lifting for you to make that decision more manageable. Our team at the Auto Test Center drives over 500,000 miles a year, putting vehicles through rigorous testing to give you unbiased insights into the safety, efficiency, and performance of cars on the market today. With this year’s Annual Auto Issue, we are introducing an additional way to assist consumers in choosing the best possible vehicle: our Green Choice designation, which you’ll see denoted by a green leaf in our ratings pages throughout this issue. In collaboration with the Environmental Protection Agency, we will now incorporate data to identify how vehicles stack…

WITH SO MANY product reviews and ratings online these days, it’s increasingly dicult to know which are unbiased and truly independent. Indeed, Consumer Reports found in our nationally representative survey of 2,223 U.S. adults last spring that about 4 in 10 Americans who buy a product based on an online review later find that the performance and quality did not live up to the review. Enter CR Recommended (CRR), our new program that gives you easy access to our expert-based recommendations when and where you shop. We’ve already launched CRR for many household products—refrigerators and mattresses, to name a few—and soon you’ll see CRR for cars, SUVs, and trucks. When consumers see the CRR logo online, they can click to see the Overall Score for that particular vehicle and learn about…

CONSUMER REPORTS anonymously buys about 50 models each year. We put them through more than 50 tests and evaluations at our 327-acre Auto Test Center in Colchester, Conn., providing you with key information to make an informed car selection. We also test tires for performance and child car seats for fit and ease of use. RATED FROM INSIDE TO OUT RIDE COMFORT: We drive every vehicle on surrounding public roads to experience the same types of bumps and ruts most drivers encounter in daily life. IN-CAR ELECTRONICS: Testers assess the user-friendliness of infotainment systems and interior controls. SPACE AND ACCESS: We rate interior roominess and how difficult it is to get in and out of each vehicle. FIT AND FINISH: We examine each cabin to determine build and material quality. CHILD SEATS: We rate each vehicle on…

EACH YEAR MORE than 250_models compete for the hearts, minds, and driveways of American car shoppers. At Consumer Reports, we rank the new models we buy and evaluate based on regimented performance tests and survey results from our members. Here, we highlight the best of the best in our annual Top Picks, standouts in popular price categories and types. These 10 models have earned their way onto our list through outstanding performance in more than 50 tests at CR’s Auto Test Center, as well as having solid marks for reliability and owner satisfaction in our member surveys. All have also scored well in dynamic safety tests, such as our challenging accident maneuver, and, if tested, earned passing grades in crash assessments conducted by the federal government and the insurance industry. “We put…

…TALL AND SHORT DRIVERS IN SOME CARS, shorter drivers may struggle to reach the pedals and steering wheel while maintaining good visibility. In others, taller drivers may feel cramped. That’s why CR puts testers of several heights—from just about 5 feet tall to over 6 feet—behind the wheel to evaluate access, driving position, front-seat comfort, and visibility. We even found some models that both tall and short drivers can share comfortably. TALL SHORT …BARGAIN HUNTERS THE AVERAGE NEW car costs upward of $38,000, but the vehicles below are available for much less. They boast solid reliability and a high CR road-test score, plus standard forward collision warning (FCW) and automatic emergency braking (AEB). Blind spot warning (BSW) either comes standard on these models or as an option that doesn’t push the overall price above $30,000. SMALL…