As the saying goes, “It’s not how fast you can go, but how far you can get”—and in today’s world, a dependable car is crucial for getting you wherever you need to go.
Reliability, or how consistently a vehicle performs without experiencing mechanical failures or issues over time, remains a key factor when choosing which brand of vehicle to purchase.
This graphic, via Visual Capitalist's Kayla Zhu, visualizes the predicted reliability scores of various automakers, as ranked by Consumer Reports. The data is updated as of November 2023.
Asian Automakers Lead The Pack
Lexus and Toyota ranked first and second respectively as Consumer Reports’ most reliable car brands in this latest edition of the rankings.
| Rank | Brand | Predicted reliability score | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lexus | 79 | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| 2 | Toyota | 76 | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| 3 | Mini | 71 | 🇬🇧 UK |
| 4 | Acura | 70 | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| 5 | Honda | 70 | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| 6 | Subaru | 69 | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| 7 | Mazda | 67 | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| 8 | Porsche | 66 | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| 9 | BMW | 64 | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| 10 | Kia | 61 | 🇰🇷 South Korea |
| 11 | Hyundai | 56 | 🇰🇷 South Korea |
| 12 | Buick | 55 | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| 13 | Infiniti | 53 | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| 14 | Tesla | 48 | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| 15 | Ram | 46 | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| 16 | Cadillac | 45 | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| 17 | Nissan | 45 | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| 18 | Genesis | 44 | 🇰🇷 South Korea |
| 19 | Audi | 43 | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| 20 | Chevrolet | 43 | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| 21 | Dodge | 42 | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| 22 | Ford | 40 | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| 23 | Lincoln | 38 | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| 24 | GMC | 36 | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| 25 | Volvo | 28 | 🇰🇷 Sweden |
| 26 | Jeep | 26 | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| 27 | Volkswagen | 26 | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| 28 | Rivian | 24 | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
| 29 | Mercedes-Benz | 23 | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| 30 | Chrysler | 18 | 🇺🇸 U.S. |
The two Japanese automakers also ranked first and second in J.D. Power’s car reliability rankings this year.
Overall, Asian automakers led in reliability metrics by a wide margin in 2023, with an average score of 63 for the region. Seven of the 10 most reliable brands are from Asian automakers.
Specifically, Japanese vehicle-makers dominate the top of the rankings, making up six of the top 10 and four of the top five most reliable car brands. The only other Asian car brands in the top 30 were South Korean brands Kia and Hyundai, ranked 10th and 11th, and Genesis in the 18th position.
European automakers came in second, with a score of 46 for the region. Along with British car-maker Mini which came in third, German automakers Porsche and BMW were the top-ranked European brands, coming in at eighth and ninth respectively.
The most reliable American brand was Buick, placing 12th overall, and followed by Tesla and Ram in 14th and 15th respectively.
Methodology: Determining Vehicle Reliability
Consumer Reports ranked cars on their reliability based on data from member surveys and analyses of over 330,000 vehicles. Vehicles analyzed included 2000 to 2023 model years, with a few early-introduced 2024 model years.
They looked at 20 trouble areas, from small issues like squeaky brakes to major flaws like expensive, out-of-warranty engine or EV charging issues, and then weighed the severity of each type of problem to create a predicted reliability score for each vehicle, from 1 to 100.
Consumer Reports uses that information to give reliability ratings for every major mainstream vehicle brand sold in the U.S., and then combines that rating with data collected from their track testing, as well as their owner satisfaction survey results and safety data, to calculate each car brand’s overall score.
This year, Consumer Reports added three new trouble areas specific to hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and electric vehicles: electric motor, EV/hybrid battery, and EV charging.
Internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles have 17 potential trouble areas.
Electric vehicles (EVs) can have up to 12 trouble areas. Traditional ICE problems are not included, such as those with the engine and transmission.
Hybrids (HEVs) have 19 potential trouble areas: 17 from ICE vehicles, as well as electric motor and EV battery.
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) can experience all 20 trouble areas: 17 from ICE vehicles, as well as electric motor, EV battery, and EV charging.
Here are the 20 possible trouble areas Consumer Reports assess:
Powertrain, Build Quality, Engine (Major), Engine (Minor), Engine Cooling
Electric Motor, EV Battery, EV Charging
Transmission (Major), Transmission (Minor), Drive System, Fuel System, Electric System
Suspension, Brakes, Exhaust
Paint/Trim, Noises/Leaks, Body Hardware
Electrical Accessories, In-car Electronics, Climate System
To learn more about each generation’s preferences when it comes to car brands, check out this graphic that shows the top 10 car brands and their ownership rate according to each generation
