Honda Still Makes the Best All-Around Cars
Joe Sherlock summarizes vehicle reliability data from the Consumer Reports 2009 Annual Auto Issue. Honda and Toyota score big while Ford shows a nice improvement in reliability:
1. “Honda continues to make better all-around vehicles than any other automaker. The reliability of all Honda and Acura models is still the best of any automaker, although Toyota follows closely behind.”
2. “A Japanese nameplate doesn’t guarantee that a car is reliable or scores well in our testing. Although most models from Honda, Subaru and Toyota are very reliable, the Honda Element, Mitsubishi Eclipse and Toyota Yaris all score too low in our tests for us to recommend.”
3. “Ford continues to improve in reliability and some of its cars now rival the best from Japan.”
4. “But (Ford and GM) still lack the high level of consistency of the best automakers, such as Honda and Toyota, which build good, all-around vehicles that often excel in performance and reliability.”
5. “Chrysler is at the bottom of the class, with a drop in its overall score and average reliability rating. Most models from the manufacturer have noisy, inefficient, unrefined powertrains; subpar interiors and poor visibility. Chrysler is the only automaker with no models on our Recommended list.”
6. “Problem rates for cars have decreased across the board, so newer used cars should hold up better than their predecessors as they age. Among five-year-old and newer cars, Ford, Hyundai, and Nissan are about tied in reliability.”
7. “The 2007 Saturn Vue Green Line hybrid had the worst electrical problems of any model in our survey. About 25 percent of its owners reported a problem, usually with the batteries. By contrast, the Toyota Prius and Highlander, Honda Civic, and Ford Escape hybrids are notably trouble-free.”
8. “Some models are just downright problematic. About a third of 2001 all-wheel-drive Chrysler minivans and Volkswagen’s 2000 Passat V6 AWDs and 2004 Touaregs had multiple problems and at least one trouble spot for which they were the worst models in the survey.”
9. “On average, three-year-old (2006) models had about 43 problems per 100 vehicles. The most reliable three-year-olds, the Lexus SC and Toyota’s Highlander and Prius, had about 13 problems. The worst, the Land Rover Range Rover, had 140 problems.”
10. “Ten-year-old (1999) models averaged 124 problems per 100 vehicles. The best, such as the four-cylinder Toyota Tacoma pickup and Lexus LS, had about 49 problems per 100, still fewer problems than the most unreliable 2008 model, the Chrysler Sebring Convertible, which had 59 problems per 100 vehicles.”
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