Toyota Prius Tops Consumer Reports' Best Value List For Second Straight Year

Toyota Prius took the top spot once again in Consumer Reports' list of best overall value for the automotive dollar.

Toyota Prius

This is the second year in a row that Toyota Prius landed first on the list, which highlights "the cars that give you the most bang for your buck".

The best-selling hybrid car "has the right combination of performance, reliability and low estimated five-year ownership costs of 47 cents per mile," the non-profit magazine said.

"The Prius' 44 mpg overall is the best fuel economy of any non-plug-in car that Consumer Reports has tested," said Consumer Reports Automotive Editor Rik Paul. "Though it's not particularly cheap to buy, the Prius' depreciation is so low that it costs less to own over the first five years than its initial MSRP. We call that a bargain."

Toyota Prius replaced the Honda Fit in the number spot last year. The Fit had held the best new-car value title for four consecutive years prior to that.

In coming up with the annual list, Consumer Reports took into consideration the performance, reliability, and owner-cost data to calculate a value score for more than 200 different vehicles ranging from small cars to luxury sedans. The scores were calculated based on the five-year owner cost for each vehicle, along with Consumer Reports' road-test score and the organization's own predicted-reliability score from the latest Annual Auto Survey.

Check out below Consumer Reports' 2013 Best and Worst New-Car Values list by category:

---Compact/Subcompact Cars: Best, Toyota Prius Four; Worst, Volkswagen Beetle 2.5L
---Midsized Cars: Best, Subaru Legacy 2.5i Premium; Worst, Nissan Altima 3.5 SL
---Large Cars: Best, Toyota Avalon Hybrid Limited; Worst, Ford Taurus Limited
---Luxury Cars: Best, Lexus ES 300h; Worst, BMW 750Li
---Sports Cars/Convertibles: Best: Mazda MX-5 Miata Grand Touring; Worst, Chevrolet Camaro convertible 2SS (V8)
---Wagons/Minivans: Best, Mazda5 Grand Touring; Worst, Chrysler Town & Country Touring-L
---Small SUVs: Best, Subaru Forester 2.5i Premium; Worst, Ford Escape SE (1.6T)
---Midsized SUVs: Best, Nissan Murano SL; Worst, Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sahara
---Luxury/Large SUVs: Best, BMW X1 xDrive28i; Worst, Nissan Armada Platinum
---Pickups: Best, Honda Ridgeline RTS; Worst, Ford F-250 Lariat (6.7L V8)

Consumer Reports has more than 8 million subscribers and its rankings are widely used by prospective car and truck buyers.