Despite its ongoing recall troubles, Toyota has placed 3rd in the new Consumer Report Survey. Honda and Subaru tied for 1st place, while Hyundai took 5th, followed by Nissan and Volkswagen in a tie for 5th.

No big surprise that no American-built cars appeared high on the list, although Ford and GM both earned some praise. Ford models like the Flex and Fusion scored highly, but most models from Ford, Mercury and Lincoln only scored mid-range. GM models including the Buick Enclave, Cadillac CTS and Chevrolet Corvette also scored high, but their overall reliability still lags behind the competition.

Source: insideline.com

According to Jalopnik, 5 doors are better than 4.  They believe that in any given platform, the wagon variant is almost always the most attractive and fun to drive. And, they argue that the wagon is youthful while the sedan mades them feel like they're "late for a tee time or unable to urinate properly without medication." Personally, I don't see anything youthful about a wagon. Anytime I think station wagon, this is what comes to my mind:

And what looks youthful about that? I'll give you this-- wagons look a lot better than they used to, but that's no argument because most cars do as well. I think station wagons serve just one purpose, and everytime I see one, I can't help but be reminded of what that purpose is:

 RIP, station wagons, RIP

Take a look at the Mini Beachcomber concept. It’s formal introduction to the world will be at the Detroit auto show in January, but you get the sneak peek now.

Looking similar to the 60’s Buggy, the Beachcomber is an interesting design. There are no doors, which makes access to the front and rear seats exceptionally convenient, but, just how practical is that? It features ALL4, the company’s all-wheel drive system, and a turbocharged Mini powertrain.

According to the NY Times, if this little guy actually makes it to production, they have it scheduled to go on sale in 2011.