Vincentric's Best Value in America™ Awards

TACh Total Operating Cost Guide

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Michigan – Vincentric’s Best Value in America™ awards were announced, with hybrid vehicles leading the way.

The Toyota Prius, along with the hybrid versions of the Ford Escape, the Honda Civic, and the Toyota Highlander each won the Best Value in America™ award in their segment. Other hybrids receiving Excellent Value ratings are the Mercury Mariner hybrid, the Lexus RX400h, and the Honda Insight.

To determine Vincentric’s Best Value in America™, Vincentric analyzed over 1,800 different vehicle configurations and computed the cost to own and operate each vehicle.

Eight different cost factors were calculated to determine overall Cost of Ownership: depreciation, fuel, insurance, opportunity cost, financing, maintenance, taxes and state fees, and repairs.

Using a statistical model, the company identified the Best Value in America™ by measuring which vehicles have a lower than expected ownership cost given their market segment and price.

The strong value of hybrids was clear when both a hybrid and non-hybrid version of the same vehicle were compared to other vehicles in the same segments.

In those instances, the hybrid version had ownership costs that averaged 16.2% lower than a similarly priced competitor, while the non-hybrid version had ownership costs 7.9% lower.

"Hybrids benefited from three main factors", stated David Wurster, President of Vincentric. "First was their strong fuel economy ratings, resulting in lower fuel costs for these vehicles. Second was their strong residual values due to high demand, resulting in lower depreciation costs. And third was the federal tax credit that went into effect this year. This combination of factors creates extremely strong value for consumers."

Including the Prius and Highlander hybrid, Toyota had eleven Best Value in America™ awards, with Honda also faring well with six winners.

In addition to the annual Best Value in America™ awards, Vincentric compiles updated results each month to incorporate current fuel prices, manufacturer rebates and incentives, interest rates and residual values.

The categories and the winners of Vincentric’s Best Value in America™ for the 2006 model year are listed below. In addition, a synopsis of each winner is available at vincentric.com

Winners of Vincentric's Best Value in America™

Vincentric Best Value in America™ - Passenger Cars and Crossovers

Compact, over $17,000: Honda Civic Hybrid

Compact, under $17,000: Honda Civic(non-hybrid)

Convertible, over $39,000: Chevrolet Corvette

Convertible, under $39,000: Toyota Camry Solara

Large: Toyota Avalon

Luxury: Lexus LS-430

Mid-Size, over $23,000: Honda Accord

Mid-Size, under $23,000: Toyota Prius

Near Luxury: Acura TL

Crossover, over $28,000: Nissan Murano

Crossover, under $28,000: Nissan Murano

Sports Car, over $37,500: Chevrolet Corvette

Sports Car, under $37,500: Acura RSX

Subcompact: Scion xB

Wagon, over $24,500: Volvo V70

Wagon, under $24,500: Toyota Matrix

Vincentric Best Value in America™ - SUVs

Compact SUV, over $22,500: Ford Escape Hybrid

Compact SUV, under $22,500: Honda CR-V

Large SUV, over $40,500: Lexus GX-470

Large SUV, under $40,500: Toyota Sequoia SR5

Mid-Size SUV, over $30,000: Toyota Highlander Hybrid

Mid-Size SUV, under $30,000: Toyota Highlander

Vincentric Best Value in America™ - Pick-Ups

Compact Pickup, 2WD: Toyota Tacoma

Compact Pickup, 4WD: Toyota Tacoma

Full Size Pickup, 2WD: Toyota Tundra

Full Size Pickup, 4WD: Toyota Tundra

Heavy Duty ¾ Ton Pickup, 2WD: Dodge Ram 2500

Heavy Duty ¾ Ton Pickup, 4WD: Dodge Ram 2500

Heavy Duty 1 Ton Pickup, 2WD: Ford F-350

Heavy Duty 1 Ton Pickup, 4WD: Ford F-350

Vincentric Best Value in America™ - Vans

Full Size Passenger Van: Dodge Sprinter Wagon

Minivan, over $27,000: Honda Odyssey

Minivan, under $27,000: Honda Odyssey

ABOUT VINCENTRIC

Vincentric provides data, knowledge, and insight to the automotive industry by identifying and applying the many aspects of automotive value. Using Vinbase™, its comprehensive, proprietary cost-of-ownership database, the company measures and analyzes the overall cost of owning and operating vehicles and its effect on the value provided to buyers.

Vincentric data is used by organizations such as Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, The Auto Channel, Business Fleet Magazine and Fleet-Central.com as a means of providing automotive insight to their clientele.

Vincentric, LLC, is a privately held automotive data compilation and analysis firm headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.