Best new car deals on American cars for Memorial Day 2013

While many families are hitting the road for the Memorial Day weekend, car shoppers can take advantage of the attractive sales being offered on new cars. This long weekend we're spotlighting the best deals on Recommended, American-made models.

Discount prices and cut-rate financing are being heavily advertised in print and on air, competing for your attention and dollars. But not all deals are as good as they may appear. A smart shopper needs to go beyond the hype and hyperbole to look at the pricing, discounts, and the quality of the car itself.

The vehicles listed below are considered Best New Car Deals, meaning there are notable discounts on these models that meet Consumer Reports criteria to be Recommended. Other trims on the vehicles listed below may also present good deals and may be worth considering. For this list, we included only those models that promise at least a 10-percent discount off the sticker price.

In conducting this analysis, we found that about half the featured models offer further discounts to qualified buyers, such as military veterans and college students, and there are also periodic regional discounts available. For the chart below, we focused on national offers, although our detailed online pricing products spell out all the specifics, including typical purchase prices in your area.

Calling a vehicle "American" is becoming increasingly difficult, with the Chevrolet Impala built in Canada, the Ford Focus sourced from Mexico, or the Ram pickup truck assembled in Michigan with an engine from Mexico and transmission from Germany. Meanwhile, BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Subaru, Toyota, Volkswagen, and other brands are now manufacturing stateside. Making a patriotic car purchase may mean targeting models made in the United States, those offered by domestic brands, or potentially both. If buying "Made in the USA" is a goal, be sure to check the window sticker.

See all current Best New Car Deals, or use our New Car Selector to create your own list of vehicles by sorting and filtering by the factors that matter most to you.

The models listed are just a few of our Best New Car Deals, featuring notable discounts on models recommended by Consumer Reports. These vehicles scored well in our testing, have average or better predicted reliability, and performed well in government or insurance-industry safety tests, if evaluated.

To research these vehicles further, or to find the latest trim-level pricing on any model, visit the Consumer Reports car model pages (available to online subscribers).

To ease the buying process, consider using the Consumer Reports Build & Buy Program. For Build & Buy, participating dealers have agreed to pass along discounts provided by any applicable manufacturer incentives for the vehicle you're buying. This includes unadvertised manufacturer-to-dealer incentives, for which it's typically up to the dealer whether to keep the savings or pass them on to the customer. Available to Consumer Reports subscribers, last month the average estimated savings off MSRP was $2,741.

—Jeff Bartlett

More from Consumer Reports:
2013 New Car Preview
Best and worst used cars
Complete Ratings for 200 cars and trucks

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers or sponsors on this website. Copyright © 2007-2013 Consumers Union of U.S., Inc. No reproduction, in whole or in part, without written permission.