Intelligent Choices

With home values tanking, paychecks dwindling and employment tenuous, it's more important than ever to be smart when choosing a new car. Obviously, that means identifying what your needs are, conducting careful research — such as reading the latest reviews and news about the vehicles that meet those needs — and then haggling for the best price. It also means considering what that vehicle will actually cost you in the long run.

Luckily, IntelliChoice.com does most of the cost-of-ownership legwork for you. And it recently announced the winners of its annual Best Overall Value of the Year awards for 2011.

The awards are given to vehicles with the lowest cost of ownership over a 5-year period in 21 classes defined by size, body style and price. Vehicles are judged based on retail price as well as accumulated ownership costs of depreciation, maintenance, repairs, fuel, fees, financing and insurance.

For 2011, Toyota came out the big winner, collecting 11 prestigious BOVYs. Volvo, MINI and General Motors tied for a distant second place with two cars each. Infiniti, Subaru, Audi and Honda each collected one BOVY nod.

The Big Winner: Toyota
Toyota may have had a tough 2010 with a much publicized group of recalls and a sliding market share, but that didn't stop the automaker from topping 11 of the 20 BOVY classes. Toyota-branded vehicles captured wins in seven vehicle categories, while its luxury division Lexus took home four more.

The seven Toyota winners were the Prius in the passenger-car class; the Avalon in the premium passenger-car class; the RAV4 4-cylinder in the compact crossover/wagon class; the Sienna in the minivan class; the 4Runner in the SUV class; and the Tacoma in compact pickup and the Tundra in full-size pickup classes.

source :  http://editorial.autos.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1182244