Who Makes the Most Reliable Vehicles?

This survey has been filled out by thousands of consumers, allowing us to present you with data supported by a large sample of ownership experiences.  These are actual results, and there are some surprises! Rankings are based on an overall reliability score (Poor=0, Fair=1, Good=2, Very Good=3, Excellent=4). Each make also shows the percentage of respondents assigning an "excellent" overall rating with no problem areas and the percentage assigning a "poor" rating. An excellent rating is an extremely high standard--basically a car that rarely needs anything other than scheduled service. A poor rating reflects an ownership experience that Is full of constant service and repair issues. Ranking Change is simply the change in position from the last survey. The last column indicates the percentage of owners that would buy the same make again. Data covers all models and model years back to 2008.  Note: makes that did not receive enough responses to be statistically significant are not included in the survey.

Once again, Lexus came out top as the most reliable brand.  In fact, they've come out on top on everyone of our surveys but one.  This is a remarkable achievement in such a competitive industry.  Likely an anomaly, we'd be remiss if we didn't point out that this was the first time Lexus had more than 1% (1.8%) of it's owners rate the brand poor on reliability. Of the top 10 brands in the survey, 7 were Japanese, 2 American, and 1 Korean.  Clearly, the Japanese auto industry sets the standard when it comes to vehicle reliability.

There were surprises.  The biggest being the free fall of Mercedes-Benz, dropping a whopping 13 positions since the last survey.  German brands in general fared poorly, with the top marque, BMW, only managing to score the 15th position.  Although Audi and VW have never scored particularly well in our surveys, we're not sure what is going on with Mercedes and BMW, both of whom have generally scored slightly above average in the past.  One indicator is the high preponderance of electrical and software issues with these brands.  Many of their vehicles are laden with the latest cutting edge electronics and functionality, so it's likely that glitches in this area are the culprit.  They all had a low number of complaints in the Engine/Transmission categories.

On the flip side, Volvo rose a remarkable 9 positions from the last survey, improving it's showing in all areas. Kia and Dodge were next, both rising 5 positions.  Both, however, are still below the average for all brands.

Overall,median and average scores dipped slightly since our last compilation in 2022.  The two areas mentioned as being most troublesome were Electrical/Software and Body Hardware/Integrity. 

Owner Reliability Rankings

Rank	Make	Score	% Excellent Rating	% Poor Rating	Ranking Change	% Buy Again
1	Lexus	3.67	78%	1.8%	NC	96%
2	Honda	3.48	62%	1.9%	NC	94%
3	Toyota	3.47	62%	2.7%	+4	96%
4	Lincoln	3.42	54%	<1%	-1	84%
5	Mazda	3.40	56%	4.0%	+4	87%
6	Buick	3.38	62%	<1%	+4	80%
7	Acura	3.33	64%	6.3%	-3	87%
8	Subaru	3.30	50%	3.6%	-3	92%
9	Infiniti	3.29	53%	2.0%	-6	94%
10	Kia	3.17	50%	3.7%	+5	74%
11	Cadillac	3.14	47%	6.1%	NC	84%
12	Ford	3.04	43%	3.7%	+2	85%
13	GMC	3.02	33%	2.9%	NC	81%
14	Mitsubishi	3.00	43%	7.2%	+4	85%
15	BMW	2.96	44%	4.9%	+2	87%
16	Chevrolet	2.95	37%	6.0%	+4	80%
17	Volvo	2.93	44%	<1%	+9	81%
18	Nissan	2.90	36%	7.9%	+1	80%
19	Dodge	2.84	34%	9.1%	+5	80%
20	Hyundai	2.75	34%	6.9%	-4	73%
21	Mercedes	2.74	45%	11.9%	-13	69%
22	Jeep	2.74	36%	7.7%	-1	75%
23	Audi	2.73	43%	9.2%	NC	66%
24	Chrysler	2.68	36%	5.3%	NC	78%
25	Volkswagen	2.67	36%	9.5%	+2	73%

Note: change in ranking (column 6) affected by the loss of Pontiac, Saab, and Suzuki in results.

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