One brand will surprise you.
ToyotaReliability is one of the major considerations when buying a car. And Consumer Reports — among the biggest names in judging product reliability — just published their car brand reliability rankings for 2022. CR assessed more than 300,000 vehicles for the survey over the past 12 months, grading vehicles with an expected reliability score from 0-100. (A ranking of 40-60 is average. )
Hybrid cars were the most reliable vehicles, which helped out reliability leader Toyota. Full-size pickups and electric cars tend to be the least reliable. The bottom five finishers were Chevrolet, GMC, Volkswagen, Jeep and Mercedes-Benz. Tesla finished 19th out of 24 brands with enough data to participate.
It’s also worth noting that reliability isn’t the only factor for consideration. The Lexus GX, for instance, has impressive reliability. But that’s in large part because the current generation has been in production for 14 years and it is seldom updated. Whereas a brand like Mercedes — regularly upgrading its product lineup and incorporating cutting-edge infotainment and powertrain technology — will have more reliability issues.
Here are the five most reliable car brands according to Consumer Reports.
1. Toyota (72)
ToyotaConsumer Reports found that every Toyota except for two had above or well-above average reliability. The new Corolla Cross was the most reliable. The RAV4 Prime had average reliability issues.
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Toyota2. Lexus (72)
LexusLexus lost the top spot to its corporate sibling. But Consumer Reports found that every Lexus model had above-average or better reliability in this year’s study. The venerable GX, in its 14th year of production, was the most reliable Lexus.
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Tyler Duffy 3. BMW (65) daniel krausBMW jumped 10 slots into number three for this year’s rankings and was one of only two European automakers — Audi No. 6 was the other — to finish in the top 10.
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Will Sabel Courtney 4. Mazda (65) MazdaMazda fell from the number 2 to number 4 slot in this year’s survey. Japanese brands made up six of the top eight most reliable brands.
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Mazda 5. Honda (62) HondaHonda stayed pat at number five this year. Audi, Subaru, Acura, Kia and Lincoln rounded out the top ten in that order.
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Tyler DuffyKeyword: These 5 Brands Build the Most Reliable Cars You Can Buy