One of the most influential and trusted sources for car rankings and reviews, U.S. News & World Report, has announced the 2012 Best Cars for the Money Awards.  These awards help car buyers navigate a confusing automotive market by identifying vehicles that offer the best value for the money and that best incorporate the features today’s car buyers are looking for.

The Best Cars for the Money Awards cover 23 categories, including cars, trucks, SUVs, and minivans.  Each category has a single winner. The awards combine U.S. news Best Cars rankings with the average price paid and five-year total cost of ownership.  The award-winning vehicles have the best combination of praise from car reviewers, lower upfront costs, and lower long-term ownership costs than their competition.

The 23 winners come from 12 different brands, showing that no single car company has a lock on value.  Fourteen of the 22 winners are cars that have been introduced or significantly redesigned in the last three years. 

Ford took home the most awards, with five of their vehicles earning awards. Chevrolet and Mazda each took home three awards. This year’s awards also saw some new brands emerge as winners with the 2012 Subaru Outback, Audi Q5, and Jeep Wrangler all being first-time winners.

“You don’t have to choose between a great car and a great value,” said Jamie Page Deaton, Managing Editor of U.S. News Best Cars. “The award-winning vehicles are both easy to live with and easy to afford.”

We’ve put together a list of the winners below and you can find them all in your area here on CarLocate.com.

For a complete list of winners visit U.S. News Best Cars.

Other U.S. News Best Cars Awards

The CarLocate Crew has really enjoyed some of Hyundai’s new holiday commercials and we want you to be entertained as well.  In fact, maybe one of Hyundai’s videos will inspire you to create your own holiday video about Hyundai, one of its models or Hyundai Assurance – like Jessica Frech was.  Check out her video then create your own and upload it to Hyundai’s YouTube page.

And once you’ve checked out the music, be sure to check out the cars that are on sale during Hyundai Holidays:

- Lease starting at $169/month for 36 months – 2012 Hyundai Accent

- $1,000 valued owner coupon offer – 2012 Hyundai Equus

- $1,500 Competitive owner coupe offer – 2012 Hyundai Genesis

- $1,500 valued owner coupon offer – 2011 Hyundai Azera

Holiday Car Deals | Lexus “December to Remember”

Week 10

Worst Car to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse – Smart fortwo

While the Smart fortwo is a great car for that city commute and gets great gas mileage, you still can’t shake the feeling that this car was expelled from the exhaust pipe of some H2. Not to mention having trim names like Pure and Passion makes you think more of a fruit juice mix than a vehicle in which one would battle zombies in.

With its appearance resembling a golf cart, the fortwo’s 1.0-L, three cylinder engine only puts out 70-hp reminding you of a golf cart as well. You’d be lucky to escape any zombie, much less run one over, with a pedestrian 0-60 mph time of 14.6 seconds. Weighing only 1808-lbs makes it an easy target for zombie hordes to push around. Combine that with its already grim 22% rollover rate, one can easily picture zombies knocking this car over and cracking it open like a peanut shell, with you being the tasty treat inside. Smart fortwo’s 7.8 cubic feet of storage space is barely large enough to hold your trophy for bravest man in the world which, “coincidentally”, you won for driving this thing in a zombie apocalypse.

On the plus side, if a miracle happens and you survive in this car, you can rest easy knowing that with 33/41mpg you can roll around in a very fuel efficient manner. When you wake up from that dream and face reality, driving the fortwo is pretty much the equivalent of covering yourself in melted butter and running down the streets yelling, “Eat me!”