1990 Jeep Cherokee Only 65k Actual Miles on 2040-cars

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Consumer Reports no longer recommends Honda Civic

Consumer Reports annual Car Reliability Survey is out, and yes, there are some big surprises. First and foremost? The venerable publication no longer recommends the Honda Civic. In fact, aside from the walking-dead CR-Z and limited-release Clarity fuel-cell car, the Civic is the only Honda to miss out on CR's prestigious nod. At the opposite end there's a surprise as well – Toyota and Lexus remain the most reliable brands on the market, but Buick cracked the top three. That's up from seventh last year, and the first time for an American brand to stand on the Consumer Reports podium. Mazda's entire lineup earned Recommended checks as well. Consumer Reports dinged the Civic for its "infuriating" touch-screen radio, lack of driver lumbar adjustability, the limited selection of cars on dealer lots fitted with Honda's popular Sensing system, and the company's decision to offer LaneWatch instead of a full-tilt blind-spot monitoring system. Its score? A lowly 58. The Civic isn't the only surprise drop from CR's Recommended ranks. The Audi A3, Ford F-150, Subaru WRX/STI, and Volkswagen Jetta, GTI, and Passat all lost the Consumer Reports' checkmark. On the flipside, a number of popular vehicles graduated to the Recommended ranks, including the BMW X5, Chevrolet Camaro, Corvette, and Cruze, Hyundai Santa Fe, Porsche Macan, and Tesla Model S. Perhaps the biggest surprise is the hilariously recall-prone Ford Escape getting a Recommended check – considering the popularity of Ford's small crossover, this is likely a coup for the brand, as it puts the Escape on a level playing field with the Recommended Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, and Nissan Rogue. While Ford is probably happy to see CR promote the Escape, the list wasn't as kind for every brand. For example, of the entire Fiat Chrysler Automobiles catalog, the ancient Chrysler 300 was the only car to score a check – there wasn't a single Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati, or Ram on the list. That hurts. FCA isn't alone at the low end, either. GMC, Jaguar Land Rover, Mini, and Mitsubishi don't have a vehicle on CR's list between them, while brands like Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Nissan, Lincoln, Infiniti, and Cadillac only have a few models each. You can check out Consumer Reports entire reliability roundup, even without a subscription, here.

Government Ending Jeep Investigation

The government is closing its investigation into older-model Jeeps with fuel tanks that could rupture and cause fires. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Friday it has "no reservations" with Chrysler Group's plans to recall the vehicles. The agency is expected to release a report on its investigation in a few weeks. The decision ends an unusually public struggle between Chrysler and NHTSA. The agency asked Chrysler to recall 2.7 million Jeeps last June, contending that their gas tanks - which are positioned behind the rear axle - were at risk of rupturing and catching fire in rear-end crashes. Involved were Grand Cherokee SUVs from the 1993 to 2004 model years and Liberty SUVs from 2002 to 2007. Chrysler initially refused to recall the vehicles. The company said the rate of fuel leaks and fires after crashes was similar to comparable vehicles that were sold during the time in question. It was the first time in two years that an automaker had refused NHTSA's request for a recall. Chrysler later agreed to recall 1.56 million of the Jeeps and install trailer hitches on them to help protect the gas tanks. The company sent notices to the remaining customers saying their vehicles were fine if they have factory-installed or Chrysler-made trailer hitches. NHTSA said late Friday that it has been in close contact with Chrysler and will monitor the recall as it continues. Chrysler has told customers that it will start installing the hitches soon. "Consumers should have their vehicles serviced promptly once they receive final notification from Chrysler,"NHTSA said in a statement. In its own statement Friday, Chrysler said, "We share NHTSA's commitment to safety." NHTSA's outgoing chief, David Strickland, told The Associated Press in an interview last month that Chrysler had convinced NHTSA that the Jeeps were no more dangerous than similar vehicles sold at that time. "Those vehicles performed at a rate similar to their peers. That is the keystone analysis as to whether something poses an unreasonable risk to safety," Strickland said. Friday was Strickland's last day at NHTSA. He is joining Venable, a law firm. NHTSA began investigating the Jeeps at the request of the Center for Auto Safety, a Washington-based advocacy group. "It is tragic that NHTSA approved Chrysler's sham trailer hitch recall for Jeeps that explode in rear impacts," the Center for Auto Safety's director, Clarence Ditlow, said Friday.

Final Toledo Jeep decision may have nothing to do with city's efforts

Toledo, OH is doing all that it can to keep production of the Jeep Wrangler in its boundaries, but the biggest issue facing the plant may be insurmountable, no matter how desperately the city wants to keep the Wrangler local. The Wrangler is built in a rather interesting manner at the Toledo Supplier Park: Fiat Chrysler only handles the very final assembly of each vehicle, while two other companies, Kuka, a German firm, and Hyundai-Mobis, a member of the sprawling Hyundai empire, produce the body and chassis, respectively. The vehicles are then transferred over to the FCA part of the park, where they're painted and completed. This was, as The Detroit News explains, a convenient arrangement back in 2006 when the supplier park opened. Chrysler, which was still owned by Daimler at the time, arranged for Kuka and Mobis to handle production, saving it a huge sum of money. Both suppliers own their own machinery and buildings and employ their own workers. Now that FCA is a relatively healthy entity, though, there's not a lot of need to be sharing profits with two other companies. "What [FCA boss Sergio Marchionne] would like is to have the advantages of high-capacity utilization, owning that capacity and taking advantage of that for himself versus having a supplier doing some of the things his competitors do internally," David Cole, chairman emeritus at the Ann Arbor, MI-based Center for Automotive Research, told The News. "It really adds another level of complexity to the situation." While Sergio Marchionne is a man that generally gets what he wants, it seems unlikely that either Mobis or Kuka would give up their role quietly. According to Jon Zapf, Mobis North America's chairperson for UAW Local 12, the company "definitely wants to maintain their part of this production process." According to The News, Jeep is likely to announce the location of next-generation Wrangler production in June. Expect to hear much more on this one in the coming months.