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Originally Posted by Evia
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Subaru or Toyota.
Honda and Hyundai not far behind though with Nissan rounding out for 5th spot.
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Hyundai seems like it's on an upswing. Its Genesis brand has received practically none but rave reviews since launching as its own marque a few years ago.
Nissan has been really bad for awhile now to the point where they're in some financial trouble. Don't assume it's good simply because it comes from Japan; they're perfectly capable of building junk, too. Honda's kind of coasting on its laurels the past 15 years or so. It's kind of where GM was circa 1970, already past its peak but not yet having really launched a disaster. Hopefully for their sake they never have their version of the Citation.
Nothing with a CVT is very good. The Japanese automakers have gone for those in a big way lately, but that's because it saves THEM money, not because it gives the customer a better product (it doesn't). Those things always have a shortened lifespan relative to a conventional transmission, kind of inherent to 'em. They use 'em because it can make the difference between selling a car at a profit vs. break-even or for a loss in an incredibly competitive segment. I don't necessarily blame 'em; too many unfunded mandates these days makes it hard to build stuff that can sell profitably in the lower segments.
From among the Europeans I rate Mercedes a bit higher than BMW and either higher than Audi. Volvo went from being owned by Ford (bad) to being owned by the Chinese (worse) so suffice it to say they aren't what they used to be.
Of the domestics, it's turning into a joke even calling them "automakers" anymore. They're gradually abandoning the auto segment entirely in favor of going all-in on trucks. That'll no doubt work real well for 'em if fuel prices stay high for awhile. Clearly the current truck fad could never end, no way we'd have a repeat of what happened in 2000-2008.
Danth