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driving it home

Yesterday I wrote about new ratings reported in the February 2010 issue of Consumer Reports magazine. I noted that in new CR testing, the Cadillac CTS bested some of the best from Acura, Audi, Mercedes-Benz and Lincoln.

That's true. The CTS earned at an "Excellent" overall score of 84 and beat five luxury sedans in a recent CR test. But in previous testing, the M35 scored higher than the CTS in CR testing. In other testing, the Lexus LS 460L and Mercedes-Benz S550 also scored higher than the CTS.

I also noted that the current and outgoing Infiniti M35 beat the CTS in CR testing, but I also incorrectly stated that the M35 is NOT "recommended" by CR due to below average reliability.

The Infiniti M35, on which there are good deals now because the replacement model is imminent, is a "recommended" model from CR and has the second-highest score overall among a list of 19 luxury models rated by CR.

I was wrong to say otherwise. Simple human error was at work here. Mine. I misinterpreted a badly worded CR testing report.

Consumer Reports places a lot of importance on reliability, and only those models with good scores on that front are recommended. Here are the eight luxury models recommended by CR: Lexus LS 460L, M35 AWD, M35 RWD, Mercedes-Benz S550, Acura RL, Lexus GS AWD, Lexus GS Hybrid, Volvo S80 six-cylinder.

I should point out that only the M35, LS 460L and S550 earned higher CR test scores than the CTS, but the Caddy is not recommended due to reliability issues. However, other reliability researchers have found Cadillac quality to be quite good.

Cadillac, as I wrote yesterday, has dramatically improved its products, but in CR testing, the current M35 scored higher and also bested the CTS on the reliability front.

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