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Toyota, Ford and Honda again top Consumer Reports Car-Brand Perception Survey

Consumer Reports has released its annual Car-Brand Perception Survey, and the list looks awfully familiar. The top six brands are identical to last year's results, with Toyota, Ford and Honda continuing to occupy the podium. All told, Toyota walked away with 133 points, putting it 15 ahead of second-place Ford. Honda jumped 26 points this year, narrowing Ford's lead to just four points in total.
Consumer Reports polls buyers from across the country on how they see multiple brands in seven categories, including quality, safety, value, performance, design/style, technology/innovation and environmentally friendly/green. Researchers then combine the findings to come up with the total brand score.
While value and performance remain important to buyers, CR found quality and safety are still on top when it comes to significance. Scion and Mitsubishi found themselves at the bottom of the pack with the worst score of all, tied at just six points. Ram, Fiat and Mini filled out the lowest five with scores of seven, eight and 10 points, respectively. You can read the full press release below for more information, or head over to the Consumer Reports site.

Meet Floyd Pullin, 102-year-old honorary president of Ford trucks [w/video]

When we talk about trucks we often talk about how loyal truck owners are; it's men like Floyd Pullin who provide the proof. The 102-year-old man from Confluence, Pennsylvania has only owned Ford products since the 1920s, and he's done so well by Ford Trucks that the division named him honorary president for a day, not long after he took delivery of his latest ride, a 2013 F-150 STX.
That's the 16th Ford he's owned. If he bought his first when he was 16, he'd have flipped into a new car or truck about every five years. For 86 years. Not a bad run of business for either side.
Ford Trucks made a video to wish Pullin a happy birthday, which was celebrated at his local Ford dealership and was visited by a Pennsylvania state senator. You can watch it below.

2015 Ford Focus gets more Aston-y [w/video]

With more and more members of the Ford brand adopting a new familial face, the Focus has been left looking like an odd man out. At the Geneva Auto Show, though, it properly rejoined the family, adopting the now familiar Aston Martin-ish grille that's proliferated throughout the range.
Overall, we're liking the refreshed Focus' look. Aside from the new grille, the headlights have been restyled and now look like elongated versions of the lamps on the Focus ST. Functionally, those headlamps are bi-xenon units, complete with an adaptive front lighting system. Out back, the rear retains the same overall look, which has been smoothed out for 2015.
In the cabin, the second-generation of Ford's much-maligned Sync system makes its debut. Sync 2, as it's called, is supposedly more intuitive than the first-gen system. Ford is promising "one-shot" navigation functions for the system. Saying "I'm hungry," should bring up a list of nearby restaurants. Of course, we'll be reserving final judgment until we can test the new system in person.