2012's Best Value Car? Hint: It's Green and Japanese

The Prius isn't exactly the cheapest car on the market, but it's the best value for your money, Consumer Reports has concluded. "Like penny stocks, a low purchase price doesn't make a car a good value," the magazine cautions. Toyota's increasingly popular hybrid bumped off the Honda Fit to claim the top spot in the magazine's rankings this year, making it the first time in four years the Fit hasn't won, the Christian Science Monitor reports.

Every year Consumer Reports ranks 200 cars based on five-year owner cost, reliability, and road test scores. The Prius won, automotive editor Rik Paul wrote, because "it's extremely reliable, roomy, rides well, gets good fuel economy, and is inexpensive to operate." Toyota hybrids in general had excellent value, as did Lexus hybrids. Chrysler, on the other hand, emerges looking pretty bad, taking worst value in both the Family Sedan and Minivan/Wagon categories. (More Toyota Prius stories.)