Consumer Reports recently announced its 2011 reliability rankings for car brands. Based on expected near-term reliability, the top 10 CR brands for the 2011 model year are, in descending order:

Stem
Porsche
Acura
Sling
Infiniti
Toyota
Subaru
Volvo
Lexus
Ford.

Toyota Motor Corporation’s three car lines, Scion, Toyota, and Lexus, and Honda Motor Company’s Acura and Honda, have consistently placed in the top 10 short, medium, and long-term reliability lists. Nissan’s Infiniti line is also often among this very select group.

Regarding the best cars, the Scion xD, a small hatchback, is the highest-ranking model of the Scion line, the Toyota Yaris, a small sedan or hatchback, is the highest-ranking model of the Toyota brand, and the Lexus LX, a great luxury SUV. It is the best of Lexus. The Scion xD has an average 2010 car reliability ratings for the first 4 years of a perfect 4.00, as does the Yaris hatchback. The 2010 Lexus LX’s 2010 First 4-Year Auto Reliability GPA is 3.67.

The best of Acura is the Acura RL, a sedan, and the best of Honda is the Honda CR-V, a small SUV. The best thing about Infiniti is the Infiniti G sedan with all-wheel drive. The CR-V’s first 4-year automatic reliability GPA is 3.75; the RL and G sedan have more modest GPA.

Porsche’s ranking on CR’s predicted short-term reliability jumped from ninth for the 2010 model year to second for the 2011 model year. However, its highest-rated model for 2011 was its model with the lowest rating for 2010, suggesting that the data for this car brand may be too thin to give stable results.

Volvo’s rankings also jumped considerably, from 18th to 8th, as did Ford from 16th to 10. Both indicate that Ford Motor Company has been very serious about improving quality.

Outside of the top 10, both the Hyundai line, 11th place, and the Kia line, 13th place, outperformed all lines of General Motors Corporation and Chrysler LLC, as they also did last year. Based on CR’s rank change from last year, GM’s Chevrolet line was up 3 while its Buick line dropped by 3.

Consumer Reports’ predicted reliability for an automobile brand is based on the reliability performance of the brand’s models in the most recent 3 model years. The reliability of a model is a measure of the infrequency of serious problems reported by the model.

Many follow CR’s reliability ratings closely, as they are based on an infrequency of serious problems, rather than complaints that can be about fairly trivial matters.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *