Lifestyle Rating
Overall Lifestyle Rating
The overall lifestyle rating is a measure of how a vehicle averages across all 15 benchmarks. Vehicles can be rated Acceptable, Average, Good, or Excellent. Our ultimate goal here at Autotropolis.com is to match car buyers with their ideal car. The lifestyle rating measures how well a specific car would perform for the average buyer. Buyers can focus in on the best car for them by using our lifestyle rating information combined with our unique Autotropolis Vehicle Selector Aid.
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The Excellent category is home to vehicles that only fall short on one or two benchmarks across the 15 selected by the editors of Autotropolis. Vehicles that fall into the Excellent category are likely to be a very good choice as a daily driver for any buyer. The Excellent category is often sub-divided by price, as it is the most important benchmark once all the other benchmarks have been satisfied.
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Good vehicles make up the bulk of today's cars. There truly are very few bad cars on the market today. When it comes down to it, a Ford Focus will serve the average driver just as well as a BMW 3-Series, but there are distinct differences between the two vehicles. It comes down to taste, prestige, price, amenities, and features. Personal preferences often come into play for vehicles ranked in the Good category.
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Average vehicles usually handle every benchmark within decent measure, but fall short in a benchmark or two. Note that an Average vehicle on the overall scale may well be ranked in the top-5 in an individual lifestyle category.
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Acceptable vehicles are usually purpose built to achieve high marks in specific benchmarks, and fall into this category because they excel at only a handful of tasks that are important to the average car buyer. For instance, an extraordinarily fast sports car may be at the top of its class for driveability and performance, but it will likely fall short in the other attributes, which makes it only an acceptable car for the average consumer. Note that an Acceptable vehicle on the overall scale may well be ranked in the top-5 in an individual lifestyle category.
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Benchmarks
There are over 600 different makes, models, and trim lines available in the United States today, not to mention thousands of potential option configurations. Sorting through this sea of information to find the one ideal car that matches your wants and needs can amount to an enormous amount of research and work. Without a doubt, countless reasons for purchasing a particular vehicle exist. However, we all need starting points. Autotropolis vehicle rankings are an excellent place to begin because we use a proprietary formula that matches your wants and needs to a selection of vehicles!
Autotropolis has identified 15 key benchmarks that measures different aspects of vehicle excellence. To that end, we have assigned a unique weight to each benchmark. This proprietary ranking system based on the lifestyle of the car buyer and the mechanical attributes of the vehicle to determine the suitability of a match between the car buyer and the vehicle itself. This leads to one important goal: making you happy with your next car purchase.
These benchmarks include safety, reliability, mileage, style, price, cost-of-ownership, fit and finish, drive system, connectivity, performance, warranty, drivability & comfort, child friendliness, fuel selection, and towing capacity. Below is a detailed overview of each indicator and the method we use to determine how a vehicle may fit into your specific lifestyle.
Safety - The Autotropolis.com safety rating is based on several important factors. The primary factor is National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) crash test data. NHTSA data is based on five tests: front driver, front passenger, front seat side, rear seat side, and rollover. Additional factors that figure into the Autotropolis.com rating for safety are tip-up occurrences in emergency avoidance tests and the safety equipment found on each individual vehicle. A tip-up in any emergency avoidance test results in an automatic demerit rating from Autotropolis.com.
Reliability- Reliability ratings are based on recall information, technical service bulletins, reliability studies, and third-party data to create an overall view of the reliability of a make and model. Vehicles which do not have sufficient reliability data use previous model year data along with projected reliability estimates based on overall manufacturer reliability and major component reliability.
Fuel Mileage - Autotropolis.com fuel mileage ratings are in direct correlation to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) fuel consumption ratings. By averaging the EPA rated city and highway mileage together to create an average mileage rating coupled with third-party mileage data we are able to rate vehicles based on the mileage figures a driver may experience in real-world driving conditions.
Style- The style rating measures curb appeal, the age of the design, badge engineering gone wrong, overall “cool” factor, uniqueness, sophistication, and sexiness of a vehicle. Depending on what you are looking for in a vehicle, the definition of style can be a very individual and subjective benchmark.
Price- Autotropolis.com rates price based on the MSRP of a particular make and model. The MSRP is compared to the most recent Comerica average selling price index and the difference between the Comerica average and the MSRP determines the overall Autotropolis.com rating. Because the price comfort threshold can only be determined by you, the car buyer, we recommend setting this slider to the highest price you are comfortable paying and then begin exploring your car buying options by utilizing the other benchmarks to find the car that is right for you based on your target price. The Autotropolis.com True Internet Price (TIP®) is what you can expect to pay to a dealer in the Autotropolis.com dealer network for the make, model, trim, and options you have selected when requesting quote. The TIP® may differ from the MSRP or the Autotropolis.com rating because of trim and options selected.
Cost-of-Ownership - The Autotropolis.com fixed cost-of-ownership rating is based on the ongoing maintenance needs of a make and model by including the cost of routine maintenance, consumables such as tires and fluids, and resale value of the vehicle. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) average mileage figure also contributes to the cost-of-ownership.
Fit and Finish - Fit and finish can be described as the quality of the details; all of the little things that add up to give an impression of quality or shoddiness. The overall fit and finish of the vehicle can include paint consistency, panel gaps, and the quality of trim, knobs, handles, and body cladding. In a vehicle with poor fit and finish, the interior details could be flimsy, the panel gaps may be misaligned, or generally “cheap” feeling materials may have been used. In a vehicle with an excellent fit and finish, the materials will be of high quality, the panel gaps and other tolerances will be precise and even, and the overall details will possess a noticeable and appreciable level of quality.
Drive System - The drive system rating indicates which drive layout the vehicle features. For this benchmark, a higher rating may not necessarily be better for your particular needs. For example, the six common drive configurations are rear-wheel-drive (RWD), front-wheel-drive (FWD), RWD or FWD with traction control, all-wheel-drive (AWD), four-wheel-drive (4x4), and four-wheel-drive with center locking differential.
Electronics - Our vehicles are now catching up with the connectivity we enjoy at home and work. The Autotropolis.com electronics rating is a measurement of a vehicles level of technology, including global positioning systems, entertainment systems, GPS systems, navigation systems, DVD players, MP3 players, Bluetooth compatibility, OnStar by GM, BMW Assist™, and other services and devices of this nature.
Performance - Performance is based primarily on zero-to-sixty elapsed times. This benchmark is used as vehicles quicker in the zero-to-sixty tend to feature greater overall performance characteristics. Other factors that may influence the Autotropolis.com performance rating include engine options, braking distance, top speed, torque, handling, cornering, and option packages.
Warranty - Vehicle warranties can differ greatly between manufacturers. The Autotropolis.com warranty rating is based on the warranty term and the number of miles covered by the warranty. Very few vehicle manufacturers employ a warranty lower than three-years and 36,000 miles.
Drivability & Comfort - The drivability of a car is determined by factors such as visibility, turning radius, ease-of-parking, routine handling characteristics, suspension quality, easy-to-use controls, and other related factors. The comfort of a vehicle is determined by seat configuration, wind noise, ride quality, control placement, sound quality, and other similar factors. This can be a subjective measurement as when one driver states a car “rides like a cloud,” another driver may describe the ride as “vague and floating.”
Child Friendly- The child friendly aspects of a vehicle include seating capacity, overall passenger space, storage features, on-board entertainment options, the number and type of doors, safety, and ease-of-use. Autotropolis.com ranks child friendliness based on these factors. Design features can also influence the child friendliness rankings. For example, the current placement of exterior rear door handles on some vehicles is too high for smaller children to reach.
Fuel Selection- Autotropolis.com makes a distinction between gas, diesel, flex-fuel, hybrids, and vehicles powered by fully electric or hydrogen power. The more advanced the fuel system, the higher the vehicle rates on our scale. You can focus in a particular fuel system by using the Autotropolis.com Vehicle Selector Aid and moving the fuel selection slider to the desired fuel selection. For more information on this, please visit our Autotropolis.com Vehicle Selector Aid feature.
Towing - This rating is based on the towing specifications per manufacturer data. Specific towing, trailering, axle, and engine options can greatly impact towing capacities.
We try our best to have the most up-to-date and accurate information possible. As information about available vehicle makes, models and trim lines is constantly changing and the lifestyle and review process is partially subjective, Autotropolis.com reserves the right to change, update, correct and alter information and methodology at any time for the purpose of improving our service to you, the car buyer.
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