American Car Reliability

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Sun 21 Nov 2004 07:21
American Car Reliability - Honestjohn
This arrived this morning. Someone posted something similar a while back, but this may still be useful.

November 2004

Reliability: What models rate highest
and lowest?
A first look at CR's biggest reliability survey ever

Knowing how troublesome or trouble-free a vehicle has been is
a critical part of choosing a car. However, it is also one of
the most difficult aspects to gauge.

To guide you in making the right choice, every year Consumer
Reports conducts an extensive reliability survey of its
approximately 5 million magazine and online subscribers,
asking them about any recent problems they have had with their
vehicles. The survey underpins the most comprehensive
reliability scores you will find anywhere.

Our 2004 Annual Questionnaire yielded the largest response we
have ever had. We were able to compile reliability portraits
of more than 800,000 vehicles, with ConsumerReports.org
subscribers contributing nearly half the survey responses.

We use this survey data to develop two sets of comparisons.
Most useful for new-car shoppers is our Predicted Reliability
Ratings, which forecast how the models that are now on sale
are likely to hold up. The second is our Reliability History
charts, which show how a model has fared in 14 categories over
eight model years.

Following are some of the more notable survey findings.
a.. Among the 32 models with the highest reliability rating,
29 carry Japanese nameplates, with Toyota (16) and Honda (7)
claiming the most.
b.. Among the 38 models with the lowest rating, more than
half (20) are European.
c.. So far, so good for hybrids. The Toyota Prius and Honda
Civic gas/electric hybrids were among the most reliable
cars.
d.. Subaru was the only brand whose entire model line is now
recommended.
e.. A full half of the sedans and small cars that earned our
highest Reliability Rating are made by Toyota, including
Lexus and Scion models.
f.. Asian models also monopolized the top ratings in the SUV
segment, with the lowest ratings going to a mix of European
and U.S. models.
g.. No minivans earned the highest Reliability Rating.
h.. The only pickup to earn the top rating is the Toyota
Tundra.
CR's most & least reliable cars
Consumer Reports recently published some statistics about
which cars are the least and most reliable. What stands out to
Clark is that the European automakers, that used to stand
above the rest, have fallen down in the ranks quite a bit. The
least reliable small cars are Volkswagen Golf, Volkswagen
Jetta and Volkswagen Beetle. The most reliable small cars are
the Toyota Corolla, Toyota Echo, Toyota Scion XB, Honda Civic,
Mazda 3, Subaru Impreza and Mitsubishi Lancer. That means 100
percent of the most reliable small cars are from Japanese
automakers. For hybrid cars, the most reliable are the Toyota
Prius and Honda Civic. There are no unreliable hybrids listed.
The least reliable sporty cars are the Hyundai Tiburon,
Mercedes Benz CLK, Volkswagen Cabrio, Mazda RX-8 and the
Chrysler Sebring convertible. The most reliable sporty cars
are the Lexus SC430, the Toyota Celica and the Acura RSX. In
the mid-range cars, the least reliable are the Jaguar S-type,
Jaguar X-type, Volvo s60, Saab 9-3, Mercedes Benz S-Class,
E-Class and C-Class, the BMW 5 series and 7 series, the
Volkswagen Passat and the Pontiac Grand Prix. The most
reliable mid-range cars are the Lexus IS300, LS430, GS300 and
GS430, Toyota Camry, Toyota Avalon, Acura RL, Buick Regal,
Hyundai Sonata and Infiniti G35. For SUVs, the least reliable
are the Land Rover Freelander, Lincoln Navigator, Volkswagen
Touareg, Volvo XC-90, Hummer H2, Ford Excursion and Excursion,
Porsche Cayenne, Chevy Trailblazer, GMC Envoy, Nissan Armada,
Mercedes-Benz M-Class and the Saturn View. Most reliable SUVs
are Toyota Land Cruiser, Toyota Highlander, Mitsubishi
Endeavor, Toyota Rav4, Honda Element, Honda CRV, Lexus LX470,
Acura MDX and the Subaru Forrester. So going with the odds,
you can't go wrong with Lexus, Toyota or Honda.








and another survey :

Hot Topics:
Car Quality Survey

The number is based on the number of problems the car had
per 100 vehicles. For example, Lexus, which ranked #1, had
just 85 problems per 100 vehicles. The industry average is
147.


1. Lexus.....85 13. Saturn.....139 26. Ford.....162
2. Jaguar.....108 14. Audi.....140 27. Volkswagen....165
3. Acura.....118 15. Porsche.....140 28. Pontiac.....167
4. BMW.....119 16. Mercury.....143 29. Mitsubishi....169
5. Saab.....121 17. Plymouth.....145 30. Dodge.....170
6. Toyota.....121 18.Chevrolet .....146 31.Daewoo ....176
7. Buick.....123 19. Industry avg....147 32.
Subaru.....183
8. Infiniti.....123 20. Nissan.....148 33. Hyundai....192
9. Cadillac.....126 21. Lincoln.....149 34. Isuzu.....192
10. Mercedes-Benz..129 22. GMC.....153 35. Land
Rover....207
11. Honda.....135 23. Volvo.....154 36. Mazda.....209
12. Chrysler.....137 24. Jeep.....155 37. Suzuki....234
25. Oldsmobile.....159 38. Kia.....267



Source: JD Power and Associates



HJ
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Sun 21 Nov 2004 12:13
American Car Reliability - Cardew
HJ,
The thread a few weeks ago was about a yet another survey.

www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?v=e&t=26...7

Quite a lot of discrepancies between the 2 surveys in your post.

For instance the Consumer Report lists the Jaguar S-Type and Jaguar X-Type at the top of the LEAST reliable listings for mid-range cars; this list also includes the Merc S, E, & C Classes and BMW 5 & 7 Series. (Although how Mercedes S Class & BMW 7 Series are listed as 'mid range' cars beats me.) In the JD Power survey Jaguar are 2nd MOST reliable, BMW 4th and Merc 10th - all with reliability above average.

The one unmistakeable trend in every kind of value, reliability & sales survey in the USA is that Japanese and Korean cars are winning and European cars are losing.

C
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