2009 Honda Cr-v Lx Sport Utility 4-door 2.4l on 2040-cars

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Honda, Hyundai and Kia get best word-of-mouth recommendations in US

Forget advertising, incentives and, yes, even our excellently crafted vehicle reviews, sometimes the best way for automakers to sell cars is still good ol' fashioned word of mouth. In an attempt to measure this "word of mouth" power, The Boston Consulting Group, a management consulting firm, has created a new study called the Brand Advocacy Index (BAI). The index takes a look at how various industries perform from person to person. Those industries include automotive, smartphones, grocery, mobile telecommunications and banking.
The study polled more than 32,000 individuals across Europe and in the US to come up with the top 55 brands in these various industries. On the automotive side of things, the top brands in the US were Honda, Hyundai and Kia, all tied at 63 percent. On a global scale, Volkswagen and Toyota scored the highest with a 65-percent BAI rating (both in France). The average BAI for auto industry players tallied 50 percent.
As for companies in other industries, Apple's iPhone was the index's top-rated smartphone, Trader Joe's was the highest recommended grocery store, Virgin was sat atop the mobile telecom industry and USAA was the top retail bank. Scroll down for the full press release on the new study.

These are 2014's best-selling cars and trucks

Now that 2014 is no more than a set of numbers on spreadsheets, at last, the grist mill gets its first real load to chew on. The number one selling vehicle in America last year was the Ford F-Series, a fact that should surprise you only if your family name is Van Winkle and your naps tend to last 38 years, which is how long the Ford pickup has ruled our buying landscape. Even though series sales were down 1.3 percent, it still racked up 753,851 units. That's 2,065.3 sales per day, every day, all year. The Chevrolet Silverado, up 10.3 percent for the year, was still a daylight second at 529,755 units. The cab-and-bed love continued into third place with the Ram 1500-3500 trucks, gaining 23.6-percent year-on-year to clock 439,789 units. The robust turnout at The Bighorn and Jeep helped Fiat-Chrysler increase its sales by 16 percent, past the two-million mark. Our number one car? The Toyota Camry, staying in first place with a 4.9-percent sales boost to 428,606 sales, trailed again by the Honda Accord at number five with 388,374 sales. Accord sales rose six percent, and if it's any consolation to Honda for coming in second - not that it needs one - it is the only manufacturer to have three vehicles in the top ten. The rest of the list: the Nissan Altima with 335,644 sales (+4.7%), the Honda CR-V with 355,019 (+10.2%), the Toyota Corolla/Matrix combo with 339,498 (+5.9%), the Honda Civic with 325,981 (-3.1%), and the Ford Fusion with 306,860 sales (+2.9%). Total sales for the year were up six percent to 16.5 million vehicles, a volume not seen since 2006, aided by a strong December that was up by 11 percent year-on-year. Ford was the top selling brand overall but sales didn't really budge from 2013, while Subaru rocketed up 21 percent to finish with 513,693 sales. At the precious end, BMW, Audi, Porsche and Land Rover all had record years, and Kelley Blue Book thinks we could be looking at 17 million sales for the next two or three years. Looks like it's time to start making hay again... Featured Gallery Best-selling vehicles of 2014 View 10 Photos News Source: Detroit News, Associated Press Auto News Chevrolet Ford Honda Nissan RAM Toyota Car Buying Truck Sedan sales

2015 Honda CR-V

Honda sold 335,000 CR-Vs in 2014, meaning the long-running compact CUV accounted for one in every four Honda-badged vehicles sold. And honestly, it's not too difficult to see why. It's efficient, comfortable, reasonably well equipped and reliable, much as it has always been. While it's arguably the least-exciting entry in what is, to be frank, a fairly dull class, the CR-V has always been remarkably competent at being all the vehicle its customers could possibly need. The facelifted 2015 model is all of those things and more, as we found out during a full week at the helm. Honda has been remarkably consistent in the slow evolution of the CR-V's styling over the years. If you were to compare the rear of the third-generation model (released way back in 2007 and updated in 2010) with the back of this fourth-generation version (released in 2012 and freshened for this most recent model year) you'd be hard pressed to tell one from the other. The 2007 model featured tall taillights that got wider at the bottom, while a low rear bumper, large aperture and upright tailgate made access to the rear cargo area a piece of cake... just like the 2015 model shown above. Honda has been more progressive in front for its new CR-V, however, retaining the same wide, canted headlights and three-slat grille that first appeared in 2012, but this time lining them in LED accents (as is the trend nowadays). As for the interior, the material quality is easily among the best in this fiercely competitive segment, with soft, attractive dashboard plastics. We aren't crazy about the faux leather stitching, although that's true on a lot of vehicles in this class. Other accents, like the thin strip of faux wood at the bottom of the dash, look good and have a quality feel. The leather-wrapped steering wheel is a nice item, too, and we couldn't be happier about Honda's decision to replace the old-fashioned ruched leather on the seats with cleaner, tauter hides. Those seats are quite wide and comfortable, as well, although they aren't exploding with side support for cornering (it's a Honda CR-V, after all). Visibility is excellent fore, aft and laterally, regardless of how you set up the seat. In back, leg and headroom are both in abundance, while the bench seat should prove adequate throughout a family's normal use, or on long drives. That isn't to say there aren't problems in the cabin, though.