Sometimes. For middle-of-the road needs and reliability, it's hard to go wrong with Honda or Toyota, and at the lowest level of vehicle that only leaves you a couple choices. If I was in that position and didn't know a lot about cars, I might just go to whichever dealership was closest that had one, test drive what they had, and if nothing really negative jumped out, buy it.

The more money you're willing to spend the more good choices there are at that level though, so this becomes harder to do when not operating at the lowest cost tier of cars.

This does change a did if people are willing to consider less traditional choices, like smart cars.