Video: Cars.com Vehicle Comparisons: How We Test

(upbeat instrumental music) While an overall finishing order can be helpful to see at a glance how a vehicle fares versus the competition, we also publish its subjective and objective category scores so you can see how it fares in the areas that are most important to you. Here's a quick breakdown of the categories and how we score them. (upbeat instrumental music) Our comparison tests have a range of subjective categories that our expert judges score after driving the vehicles back to back on the same drive route, and they include things like powertrain responsiveness and refinement, brake pedal feel, ride quality, and cabin quietness. (upbeat instrumental music) Our judges also score seating comfort, interior quality, how easy it is to see outta the vehicle, and the ease of use of the screens and controls. We often give extra weighting to our judges' scores to reflect their experience with the vehicle over its specs and features, which are scored in our objective categories. (upbeat instrumental music) Our objective categories are scored using a mix of real-world testing and an assessment of features. Our testing regimen includes installing child safety seats in each vehicle to see how well they fit, measuring how much cargo space there is, and taking the vehicles on a day-long drive to record their gas mileage in everyday driving. The vehicle that performs the best in each of these tests gets the most points, with the others awarded points on a sliding scale. We also score each vehicle's safety, driver assist, and comfort and convenience features. What's in each of these categories can vary based on what type of vehicles are being tested, but they typically include active safety technology along with creature comforts like smartphone connectivity, wireless charging, and heated and ventilated seats, to name just a few. The scored comfort and convenience features also make up a larger value score that factors in the vehicle's as-tested price. (upbeat instrumental music) There are a lot of factors that go into how we choose the winner of a cars.com comparison test, and it's all designed to help you choose the vehicle that's best for you. To see our full scoring and some of our recent comparison tests, head over to cars.com/news. (upbeat instrumental music)