Best American Cars for 2024
The best used and new American cars, trucks, SUVs and more based on a data-driven analysis of each vehicle's reliability, resale value and safety.
Best American Cars by Vehicle Type
The success of American cars has ebbed and flowed over the past 100 years, with historic automakers such as Duesenberg and Packard representing the peak of America’s automotive golden era before brands like Chevy, Dodge, and Ford took over in the post-depression, post-war era.
Today, traditional U.S. brands face ever-increasing competition from European, Japanese, and Korean automakers, not to mention a new domestic rival called Tesla. This has forced a shift away from old-school V8 engines and toward smaller, four-cylinder turbo powertrains to keep pace with rising fuel efficiency standards and lower CO2 regulations.
While traditionally the domain of Japanese brands like Honda, Nissan, and Toyota, American brands have stepped up their efforts to develop smaller, turbocharged engines that balance performance and fuel economy. You can now buy mainstream American vehicles, including pickup trucks and muscle cars, with advanced engine technology rivaling premium brands like BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Lexus.
And while Tesla kicked off the electric vehicle revolution over a decade ago, an ever-growing list of battery-powered, zero-emission new cars is now available. While import brands like Hyundai and Volkswagen offer some of the most impressive EVs on the market, U.S. automakers have aggressively introduced new electric vehicles in recent model years.
You can see all the Best American Cars below, ranked by their iSeeCars quality score across a number of categories. We’re classifying these models as “American” based on where their brand headquarters are located (in the U.S.), though we recognize many “foreign” cars like the Acura MDX or Kia Sorento are fully manufactured in U.S. plants.
Best American Cars
Best American SUVs
Best American Trucks
Best American Hybrids
Best American Electrics
How We Rank These Cars
iSeeCars Best American Cars are calculated based on the latest research by our data science team and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
We analyze data from over 12 million new and used vehicles in our Longest-Lasting Cars and 5-Year Depreciation Studies, combined with the NHTSA's Safety Ratings to give you an unbiased guide to the best vehicles in each segment.
After being evaluated, vehicles with the highest average scores earn a spot in the iSeeCars Best American Cars. (No final score is given to vehicles missing a score in any of the categories, but scores for other categories are still shown.)
Vehicles are scored in three categories:
Reliability
The reliability score represents an analysis of iSeeCars' proprietary research on the longest-lasting vehicles.
Value Retention
The value retention score is based on our data science team's statistical analysis and prediction of 5-year depreciation from MSRP to determine which cars hold their value best, using US Bureau of Labor Statistics data to adjust for inflation.
Safety
The safety score is calculated based on the last five years of crash test ratings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and incorporates the latest Top Safety Pick information from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
