Lexus LS tops value and ownership satisfaction rankings

The Lexus LS sedan, the flagship of Toyota's luxury line, was the overall winner in the 2007 Motorist Choice Awards.

These awards recognize the vehicles that are judged to have a combination of the highest customer satisfaction and the lowest cost of ownership.

Winning choices are based on rankings of owner satisfaction from consulting firm AutoPacific (autopacific.com), and ownership cost and value analyses from IntelliChoice (intellichoice.com), the online car information and rating service.

Among overall winners in the four main categories, the LS was named the best car.

But Chevrolet took the top honor for trucks, with the 2007 Chevrolet Silverado 1500, and GMC led the SUV/crossover winners with the Yukon XL, a version of the Chevrolet Suburban.

Honda's Odyssey was ranked the best among all minivans, the fourth major segment.

Toyota led all manufacturers with top winners in eight of the 25 individual market segments. Toyota's winners included Toyota, Lexus, and Scion vehicles.

General Motors Corp. came in second with five segment leaders, followed by Honda, with four, and Nissan, with three. The winning GM models came from the Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC divisions.

Honda's winners included one from the Acura division, but none of Nissan's award winners came from the company's Infiniti luxury brand.

"This year's roster of winners earned their place by challenging vehicles often recognized for their quality and value," James Bell, publisher of IntelliChoice, said in disclosing the awards.

"While Japanese manufacturers garnered a majority of the 25 vehicle segments, the 2007 Cadillac DTS checked in as the top overall large luxury car," he said.

"GM also showed well by scoring top honors in both the large light-duty and heavy-duty truck segments with the Chevrolet Silverado."

The Chevy won over the redesigned Toyota Tundra, which is built at a new San Antonio plant.

The Silverado also has won several other awards, including North American Truck of the Year at the Detroit auto show.

"Those who monitor the industry closely are probably not surprised by the performance of the Cadillac DTS," AutoPacific President George Peterson said in a statement.

"Across all segments, the DTS came in a close second to the overall winner Lexus LS, and it was the top-ranked vehicle overall in AutoPacific's recently revealed Vehicle Satisfaction Awards. It's a car that can definitely challenge the other elite brands."

The industry weekly Automotive News reported this week that Cadillac plans to drop the DTS from its lineup, probably by the end of 2010.

The magazine said the front-wheel-drive DTS probably will be replaced by a large rear-drive sedan intended to compete better against the large European luxury sedans from Mercedes-Benz and BMW. However, no Mercedes or BMW vehicles won top spots in the Motorist Choice Awards.

The only European manufacturers to make the list were Volkswagen, for the Jetta and GTI, and Porsche, for the Boxster.

The Jetta was named best midsize car, and the GTI best "image compact car." The Jetta is marketed by VW as a compact, though, as the company offers the Passat as its midsize car. The Jetta's roomy interior qualifies it as midsize, although it's not as big as the Passat.

The Boxster was the top winner among sports cars, but it isn't the most expensive Porsche. It's the entry-level model, with a starting price in the mid-$40,000s.

Besides being chosen as the best car overall, the Lexus LS was named best premium luxury car. The LS was restyled and given more power for 2007, and a gasoline-electric hybrid version now has been added. Prices begin at just under $62,000 for the gasoline-only versions; the hybrid starts at about $110,000.

Toyota's other top winners included the Lexus IS among "aspirational luxury" cars. The IS is the lowest-priced Lexus line and comes in two versions: the IS 250, which begins at just more than $30,000, and the IS 350, starting at $36,420. Toyota created the IS to compete against sporty premium cars such as the BMW 3-series.

The Lexus SC 430, a $66,000-plus convertible sports car with retractable hardtop, was chosen best premium sports car.

Vehicles carrying the Toyota brand that topped their segments were the Tacoma, among compact pickups; the FJ Cruiser, compact sport utility/off-road vehicles; the Avalon, large cars; and the 4Runner, midsize sport utilities.

The other Toyota vehicle to win a top spot was the Scion tC, as best sporty car. Scion is the youth-oriented brand Toyota introduced in 2003. The tC is one of three vehicles the brand offers; the other two are small wagons.

Besides the DTS as top luxury car, other GM segment winners were the Silverado 1500 as best large light-duty pickup, the Silverado HD as best large heavy-duty pickup, the Yukon XL as top large sport utility and the Chevrolet HHR as the best compact crossover utility vehicle.

The HHR, introduced last year, is Chevy's version of the Chrysler PT Cruiser, with similar retro styling taken from the early models of the Chevrolet Suburban. Prices begin in the midteens, and the car has notable fuel economy for a five-passenger compact SUV -- up to 30 miles per gallon on the highway.

Among Honda products, the top choices were the Acura MDX, among luxury midsize crossovers; the Honda Fit, compact cars; the Honda CR-V, midsize crossovers; and the Honda Odyssey, minivans. On the market, however, the CR-V is considered a compact crossover; Honda's midsize crossover is the Pilot, which is a less expensive version of the Acura MDX.

Nissan's winners were the Altima, among premium midsize cars; the Murano, premium midsize crossovers; and the Maxima, midsize luxury cars.

The Altima was redesigned for 2007 and received a boost in power as well.

Its prices begin at $18,565, however, which puts it in the same class with non-premium midsize cars such as the Hyundai Sonata, Honda Accord, and Toyota Camry.

The Murano competes in the same class with the Honda Pilot and Toyota Highlander, which are not considered premium crossovers. Nissan's Infiniti division has the similarly sized FX that competes in the premium midsize crossover segment.

The Maxima, which begins at $28,665, is generally considered to be a premium midsize sedan. But with the Motorist Choice award putting it at the top of the luxury midsize sedan class, it beat the more expensive Infiniti G35, as well as the Lexus ES 350, BMW 3-series, and Mercedes C-class sedans.

Among compact cars, the Mazda3 was the winner. Prices begin at $14,390, and the car offers fuel economy of up to 35 mpg.

In the luxury sport utility category, the Land Rover Range Rover Sport won first place. The Sport is the next-to-the-top model in the Land Rover lineup.

The base model, which has a naturally aspirated V-8 engine, begins just under $58,000, while the supercharged model starts at $71,250.