Ford tops U.S. News' value rankings

Ford is the biggest winner in the annual Best Cars for the Money rankings by U.S. News, awarded Wednesday in conjunction with the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Ford has winners in five of the 23 categories of 2012 cars, SUVs, pickups and minivans.

Overall, 12 different brands have category winners. First-time winners this year include Subaru for its Outback, Audi for its Q5 and Jeep for its Wrangler. Ford's winning models are Taurus, Fusion and Fusion Hybrid, Fiesta and Edge.

On its Best Cars website, U.S. News ranks cars against their peers by compiling reviews of each vehicle. For today's awards, the editors combined that overall ranking with the average purchase price and five-year cost of ownership as calculated by TrueCar.com.

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"You don't have to choose between a great car and a great price," said Jamie Page Deaton, managing editor of the Best Cars site. "The award-winning vehicles are both easy to live with and easy to afford."

Here is the list of U.S. News winners:

CATEGORY & WINNER

Affordable Compact SUVs - 2 row
2012 Chevrolet Equinox

Affordable Compact SUVs - 3 row
2012 Toyota RAV4

Affordable Large Cars
2012 Ford Taurus

Affordable Large SUVs
2012 Chevrolet Suburban

Affordable Midsize Cars
2012 Ford Fusion

Affordable Midsize SUVs - 2 row
2012 Ford Edge

Affordable Midsize SUVs - 3 row
2012 Mazda CX-9

Affordable Small Cars - Compact
2012 Chevrolet Cruze

Affordable Small Cars - Subcompact
2012 Ford Fiesta

Affordable Sports Cars
2012 Mazda MX-5 Miata

Compact Pickup Trucks
2012 Toyota Tacoma

Full Size Pickup Trucks
2012 Ram 1500

Hatchbacks
2012 Ford Fiesta

Hybrid Cars
2012 Ford Fusion Hybrid

Hybrid SUVs
2012 Lexus RX Hybrid

Luxury Compact SUVs
2012 Audi Q5

Luxury Large SUVs
2012 Cadillac Escalade

Luxury Midsize SUVs
2012 Lexus RX 350

Minivans
2012 Mazda Mazda5

Off-Road SUVs
2012 Jeep Wrangler

Upscale Midsize Cars
2012 Buick Regal

Upscale Small Cars
2012 Volkswagen GTI

Wagons
2012 Subaru Outback