Ford came out on top of GM and Chrysler in the new survey and now "ranks just below Lexus," noted Consumer Reports. GM was praised for making strides in reliability since shedding "models with subpar reliability when it shut down the Saturn, Pontiac and Hummer brands," the survey noted. But Chrysler was criticized for its "dated models."
"The Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep brands are saddled with dated models," said Consumer Reports in a statement on Tuesday. "Twelve of the 20 models that CR had sufficient data for rated below average in reliability. None of Chrysler Corporation's models scored above average."
Surprisingly, Toyota's massive recalls did not seem to hurt the Asian automaker much. Consumer Reports said that Toyota models, including those from Scion and Lexus, "remained among the most reliable and earned top scores in five vehicle categories." They include the Toyota Yaris, Toyota FJ Cruiser, Lexus LX, Toyota Sienna and Toyota Tundra V6. The Lexus GS and Lexus IS 250 convertible are below average, while the 2010 Toyota Prius was "hurt by anti-lock-brake problems on early vehicles and scored only average," the survey said.
European reliability has "stalled," said Consumer Reports.
"All Porsche and Volvo models are rated average or better," it said. "But Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz are among the worst automakers overall in terms of reliability. BMW had a bad year, with five of its 11 models scoring below average."
Almost all of the Audi models were "below average."
"The A6 with the new supercharged 3.0-liter V6 was tied with the Jaguar XF for the worst new car prediction score," it said. "The Porsche Boxster has the best predicted reliability score in Consumer Reports survey, while the Audi A6 3.0T and Jaguar XF have the worst."
