Red-haired girl runs top drive through

Looking for a good drive-through restaurant? Go no farther than Wendy's. For the third year in a row, the restaurant provided the best fast-food service to the car-bound, in a study conducted for QSR magazine. Burger King, Chick-fil-A, McDonald's, and Arby's filled out the top five. Jack in the Box, Whataburger, Captain D's, White Castle, and Steak n Shake made up the bottom five.

The survey, conducted between May 31 and July 20, involved more than 10,000 drive-through visits at 25 different chains. Restaurants were judged in four categories: speed, accuracy, menuboard appearance, and speaker clarity. Some highlights and lowlights:

• The fastest drive-through trip: 32 seconds at a KFC in Wichita, Kan., and a Wendy's in Holland, Ohio. The longest: 34 minutes 10 seconds at an Arby's in Klamath Falls, Ore.

• The average service time was 3 minutes, 8 seconds. Wendy's was quickest, averaging 2 minutes, 14 seconds, while Steak n Shake finished last, averaging 5 minutes 23 seconds.

• About 4 out of every 5 orders were filled correctly. Taco John's was best, with an accuracy rating of 95.1 percent. The worst: Krystal, which got just 66.3 percent of its orders correct.

• Chick-fil-A had the best speaker quality, while A&W had the best menuboard.