Former Minnesota Vikings head coach Bud Grant once said, "The greatest ability is durability." This statement can also be applied to automobiles.
Sometimes the most important thing about a car isn’t how fast it is or how well it handles, but how well it starts on mornings when it is 10 below zero or how often it has its owner digging out their AAA card.
With this in mind, Consumer Reports recently issued its annual list of Most and Least Reliable New Cars by using 10 years of data and over 1.3 million surveys from consumers.
Although there have been some ripples in the water this year, the Asian automakers continue to dominate the arena of reliability. Nine out of the 10 top models for reliability are from the Japanese automakers.
All Honda, Subaru and Mitsubishi models that Consumer Reports has adequate data for ranked at least average.
Toyota, traditionally a top performer in the reliability scores, slipped a bit this year, but still ranks third overall with 17 models on the best list. Five out of the eight listed categories had a Toyota as the top-rated auto.
On the flip side, the American automakers continue to lag in reliability. Only four American models (Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan, Pontiac Vibe, and the two-wheel drive Ford F-150 with the V6 engine) made the Most Reliable list, while American models accounted for 20 out of the 44 models on the Least Reliable list.
However, Ford’s reliability improved significantly this year, as 41 out of 44 Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models scored average or better, with only the Ford Explorer, Mercury Mountaineer and the Lincoln Mark LT scoring below average.
The other American automakers had much worse scores. Only 49 percent of GM and 67 percent of Chrysler models scored at least average or better. The Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon scored much below average after scoring above average last year. The Pontiac Solstice had the worst score overall.
The European companies made slight gains, but have traditionally scored low along with the Americans.
Even the luxury European cars like Jaguar, Land Rover and Mercedes Benz have done poorly. The Audi A3, A4 and A6 all scored average or better, as did the BMW 3,5, and 7 series, the Volvo S60, V70 and XC70. For the first time in years, the Mercedes Benz C-Class scored average.
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