Consumer Reports Car Buying Guide 【HIGH-QUALITY – 2026】

While CR does not perform its own crash tests, it incorporates data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and the NHTSA. Bonus points are awarded for standard safety features like city-speed automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection. Methodology and Testing Rigor

The guide is equally essential for used car buyers. CR maintains reliability histories for several hundred makes and models, often going back 10 to 20 years. Consumer Reports' Car Reliability FAQ consumer reports car buying guide

This is arguably CR’s most influential metric. It is based on annual surveys of hundreds of thousands of CR members who report real-world problems they encountered in the previous 12 months across 20 potential trouble spots, ranging from engine and transmission to in-car electronics. While CR does not perform its own crash