Edmunds.com Announces Winners of Family Sedan Comparison Test
19 April 2000
Edmunds.com Announces Winners of Family Sedan Comparison Test; Volkswagen Passat Ranks First; Followed Closely by Honda Accord and Ford Taurus
LOS ANGELES--April 19, 2000--Edmunds.com (http://www.edmunds.com), the Web's leading consumer resource for unbiased automotive information, today announced the results of a nine-car comparison test of the most popular four-door family sedans. The Volkswagen Passat ranked in first place, with the Honda Accord and the Ford Taurus following closely behind in second and third place, respectively. Each of the cars was evaluated on criteria that included several variations of road tests, a 25-point top-to-bottom evaluation, the editorial team's personal preference and a value equation based on the "as tested" Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP). The complete article and testing results are available on the Edmunds.com Web site at www.edmunds.com/roadtests/comparison/2000/familysedan/index.html.The cars were ranked in the following order:
1. Volkswagen Passat 2. Honda Accord 3. Ford Taurus 4. Nissan Maxima 5. Dodge Intrepid 6. Mitsubishi Galant 7. Saturn LS 8. Oldsmobile Intrigue 9. Chevrolet Impala
The nine vehicles selected to participate in this year's comparison all met the following criteria: V6 engines, automatic transmission and an "as tested" MSRP in the range of $20,000-$30,000. Edmunds.com's last family sedan comparison test took place in 1998. Two vehicles from the previous test were invited to participate again this year -- former winner, Honda Accord, and the Oldsmobile Intrigue, due to the installation of a new engine and an available stability control system.
The Edmunds.com test team was comprised of nine Edmunds.com editors. The team spent a total of 10 days with the nine vehicles evaluating interior and exterior features and the real-world livability of the family sedans. The team then took the vehicles to a test track for performance evaluations, determining which would perform the best under strenuous conditions. The team also evaluated the vehicles by running them through a test loop that included highway driving and city streets. Each vehicle was rated, and then ranked accordingly, in the following four areas:
-- Test track performance numbers
-- A 25-point top-to-bottom evaluation
-- An "off-the-cuff" personal preference by the Edmunds.com
editorial team
-- A value equation based on the "as tested" sticker price
"The Edmunds.com editorial team evaluated these vehicles from both the perspective of experts in the automotive field as well as personal car buyers," said Chris Wardlaw, editor-in-chief, Edmunds.com. "Edmunds.com is committed to empowering consumers with valuable knowledge and plans to continue our comparison tests to provide consumers quality feedback on autos in real world testing environments. The Edmunds.com comparison test is one of the few automotive ratings in the industry that comes from a completely unbiased source."
"What we found by the results of the Edmunds.com comparison test is that the Volkswagen Passat not only out performed all other vehicles in the performance, handling and comfort categories but the vehicle was selected by seven of nine editors as their number one personal pick," continued Wardlaw. "The previous family sedan winner, the Honda Accord, ranked a close second, losing to the Passat by mere tenths of a point."
About Edmunds.com
Headquartered in Santa Monica, CA, Edmunds.com is the Internet's pioneer and leader in providing free, unbiased automotive information. Edmunds.com empowers, educates and engages visitors by providing them with straightforward, truthful information on key aspects of buying, selling and owning a vehicle. Users are provided automobile pricing data, extensive automobile reviews, consumer information, safety updates, incentive and rebate news, expert analysis of developments in the automotive world and the Town Hall, an interactive community of more than 500,000 active members. Edmunds.com was ranked No. 1 in the Wall Street Journal's Survey of Car-Shopping Web Sites, was named as one of Yahoo! Internet Life's 50 Most Incredibly Useful Sites and Money's 50 Most Useful Financial Websites.