U.S. News Announces the 2015 ‘Best Cars for the Money’

Feb. 11, 2015—U.S. News & World Report announced on Wednesday its list of the 2015 Best Cars for the Money award winners.

The awards highlight a single vehicle in 21 automotive categories that provides the best combination of quality and value.

"With new cars selling at record prices, shopping for a car that meets both your budget and lifestyle is an overwhelming process," Jamie Page Deaton, managing editor of U.S. News Best Cars, said in a release. "The 2015 Best Cars for the Money awards help car shoppers quickly identify models that are great values and a pleasure to own."

American Honda Motor Company, with both its Honda and Acura brands winning three awards each, took home the most awards of any automaker.

The Lexus RX 350 SUV won its seventh consecutive Best Car for the Money award, earning the longest winning streak in the history of the awards.  

While award winners have been more evenly split between domestic and import automakers in prior years, domestic brands took home only three awards compared to 18 wins by import brands in 2015.

2015 Best Cars for Your Money

The Best Cars for the Money methodology combines quality and value data into a composite score. Within each of the 21 categories, the vehicle with the highest score is named the Best Car for the Money in that category. Quality is measured by the overall score a vehicle achieved in the U.S. News car rankings at the time the awards are published. The rankings, updated regularly, compare cars on the basis of safety, reliability and a consensus of industry experts' opinions. Value is measured by a combination of a vehicle's five-year total cost of ownership provided by Vincentric LLC and the average price paid for the vehicle at the time the awards are published, as calculated by TrueCar Inc.