What's the Most Worry-Free Car You Can Buy?

Car shoppers have a lot to sort through when looking for a new car. Is it big enough for the family? Does it have good fuel economy? Often, one of their biggest concerns is how much a car will cost to repair over time. We took a stab at translating a lot of information to give shoppers more peace of mind. That's why we came up with the Worry-Free Index.

Cars.com's Worry-Free Index gives consumers a list of cars that editors are confident will provide the most worry-free ownership experience, based on proven reliability, low expected maintenance costs and strong warranties. We analyzed reliability scores given by hundreds of Cars.com consumers, and years of reliability data from two leading industry sources, J.D. Power and Associates, and Consumer Reports. We scrutinized five-year estimated maintenance costs and manufacturer warranties. We also made sure that none of these cars performed poorly in crash testing. We looked for both good data and complete data, so strong scores reflect cars that have a solid track record with lots of information to draw on. A vehicle can score up to a maximum 425 points.

Toyota on Top
The inaugural index looks at 2014 models, disqualifying any model that was in its first year or in the first year of a major redesign. Toyota performed well: Including its Lexus luxury division, the automaker had 10 of the WFI's top 15 cars, including the top three. The Lexus RX, now in the twilight years of its third generation, finished first (RX 450h) and third (RX 350) thanks to strong reliability and warranty scores, plus low expected maintenance costs for the RX 450h — second only to the Toyota Sequoia (No. 14).

GM had two SUVs, the Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon, which scored well in the last year of the outgoing generation. Honda and its luxury Acura division, meanwhile, had three top cars, including the popular Civic compact.

America's best-selling sedan, the Toyota Camry, had strong scores, particularly for the No. 5 Camry Hybrid. The Camry's popularity goes to show just how much consumers want worry-free cars. Excluding the Yukon and Tahoe, which have redesigned 2015 models in showrooms right now, sales for this year's top worry-free cars are up 1.8 percent year-to-date through August. That's no easy feat, given most of them have been on the market for three or more model years.

Indeed, an August 2014 survey of new-car shoppers by the National Automobile Dealers Association found more than three-quarters of car and truck shoppers said build quality and reliability were "important" or "very important" in their car-shopping decision. That was a higher ratio than nine other factors, including fuel economy and advanced safety tech. Meanwhile, cost of ownership, which includes maintenance, was important or very important to 68 percent of car shoppers and 70 percent of truck/SUV shoppers, ahead of factors like fuel economy, safety tech, performance and design.

Cars.com photo illustration by Paul Dolan 

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