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Honda Fit and Toyota Prius named Consumer Reports Best Values for 2010Consumer Reports is set to ship its annual automotive issue out to subscribers, but before the dyed and bound dead trees make their way to subscribers, CR shot off a few press releases to let us know what to expect. While we already covered the six new members of their Top Picks charts this morning, we found their New-Car Best and Worst Values List equally newsworthy.CR chose the Honda Fit and Toyota Prius as its top picks for best overall value in the marketplace, despite Honda recalling more than 650,000 Fits and the issue plaguing the Toyota Prius, among the myriad of things that have kept ToMoCo busy lately. So before the complaints come in, perhaps a look at CR’s methodology is in order. According to the presser after the jump: “To determine which cars are the best values, Consumer Reports looked at a combination of performance, utility, and reliability for the money, considering total owner costs over the first five-years. The better a car performs in Consumer Reports’ road tests and reliability Ratings and the less it costs to own, the greater its value.” Consumer Reports says the Honda Fit and the Toyota Prius bested 280 other cars in eight different categories to grab their top spots. Each recorded a score of 2.08 on their tally sheets, representing values that are more than twice as good as the overall average for the group. It could be argued that the recalls affecting the vehicles might have come too late in the game and/or may have not impacted their rankings significantly enough to erase the inherent value of each vehicle. And lest we forget, CR isn’t alone in recognizing the Prius, with MotorWeek and Intellichoice both naming the Japanese hybrid to their awards this year.

Even after the recall, the prius is still a great quality car. Your safety fears have been replaced with happy cheers, and you can now go and enjoy a proper eco car. If by some sad reason you do have an accident Irwin Mitchell RTA has your back.