Every year, both Consumer Reports and J.D. Power release data concerning car brand and car model reliability.
The two lists are considered the gold standard of reliability rankings in terms of authority, accuracy, and independence. Here’s a look at the latest rankings from each organization, to help you in your car-shopping journey.
As expected, there are some familiar automakers in this year’s list, but there are some surprises as well.
Consumer Reports’ Most Reliable Car Brands Are:
- Lexus
- Toyota
- Mini
- Acura
- Honda
- Subaru
- Mazda
- Porsche
- BMW
- Kia
J.D. Power Most Reliable Car Brands Are:
- Lexus
- Genesis
- Kia
- Buick
- Chevrolet
- Mitsubishi
- Toyota
- Hyundai
- Mini
- Nissan
Why Are the Two Lists Different?
Even though both Consumer Reports and J.D. Power publish yearly reliability ratings for both car brands and car models, the way that they gauge those ratings is different. Both outlets utilize data that they receive from subscribers and owners of the vehicles they rate, but they use different data sets to publish their reliability rankings.
Consumer Reports sends out surveys to its subscribers every year. The subscribers then indicate if they have had any issues with the vehicles they own in the past twelve months and what those issues have been. Once CR obtains that data, they can pinpoint trouble spots and trends in certain vehicles.
Their predicted reliability ratings are based on the same data but with a twist. Consumer Reports compares the changes that automakers are planning for each of their models in the upcoming model year. If the past year’s technology has proved problem-free, they can gain confidence in the next model year of that vehicle, if it will feature minimal changes. The opposite could be true if a certain technology has proven unreliable or if sweeping changes are planned for a vehicle.
J.D. Power also bases its reliability rankings on consumer feedback, but it combines two different sets of data to get its annual list of the most reliable car brands. J.D. Power gathers info from owners concerning how their vehicles have performed in the first 90 days of ownership. They also gather owner data for vehicles that are three years old to get a longer-term and more comprehensive idea of how reliable a vehicle is over time.
From these sets of data, J.D. Power releases its dependability report. That report is released yearly in the spring. Unfortunately, it has not yet been released for 2024 as of this writing. We will still reference J.D. Power’s 2023 reliability rankings.
The Top Brands
Unsurprisingly, both Lexus and Toyota make an appearance in the top ten reliability rankings of Consumer Reports and J.D. Power. Both outlets have Lexus as the number one car brand, so there is no question concerning Lexus’ consistency when it comes to reliability.
Toyota falls in at number two on CR’s list and at number seven on J.D. Power’s list. We will see if that changes in the spring when J.D. Power releases its latest list.
The only other two automakers that fall into the top ten in both lists are Mini and Kia. Mini makes a third-place appearance in CR’s reliability rankings while coming in ninth place for J.D. Power. Kia is the third most reliable car brand, according to J.D. Power but falls to tenth place in Consumer Reports’ list.
Both Hyundai and Buick fall just below the top-ten line in Consumer Reports’ latest rankings but they are included in J.D. Power’s top ten most reliable brands. Mazda makes a seventh-place appearance for Consumer Reports and falls to thirteenth in J.D. Power’s list.
Honda, Acura, Porsche, and BMW all make an appearance in the Consumer Reports top ten, but all come close to the middle of the pack in J.D. Power’s rankings. Genesis, Chevrolet, and Nissan are included in J.D. Power’s reliability top ten, but they fall to the middle and lower end of Consumer Reports’ most recent rankings.
Top-Ranked Models:
Car brands would be nothing without the lineups that they offer, so we need to take a look at the vehicles that boosted their companies’ records, starting with Lexus.
Lexus offers a relatively small lineup of vehicles including the UX, NX, RX, and ES with several hybrid versions of most. The UX earns a perfect predicted reliability score from Consumer Reports for 2024, and all other Lexus models have a higher-than-average predicted reliability score.
Toyota is Lexus’ parent company, and the familial bond is obvious. Toyota has a more extensive lineup than Lexus, but they have vehicles that bookend the high end of predicted reliability and the low end. Consumer Reports gives the 2024 4Runner, Camry, Camry Hybrid, and RAV4 Prime perfect predicted reliability scores.
On the opposite side of the coin, the average predicted reliability scores that CR gives the Toyota Crown (pictured above), Sienna, and bZ4X help lower Toyota’s average score as a brand. The Toyota Tundra is Toyota’s least reliable model with a lower-than-average predicted reliability score, one of the largest reasons that Toyota falls below Lexus for 2024.
Mini comes in third place, but they only have two models: The Mini Cooper and Mini Cooper Countryman. Both have better-than-average predicted reliability scores.
Acura and Honda occupy the fourth and fifth spots in CR’s 2024 reliability rankings. Much like Toyota and Lexus, Honda and Acura share many powertrain parts and technologies as Honda is Acura’s parent company.
Both the RDX (pictured above) and TLX earn better-than-average predicted reliability scores while the only other two vehicles in Acura’s lineup, the MDX and Integra only muster average predicted reliability ratings.
Honda’s lineup is more extensive than Acura’s and therefore has more ground to make up for its overall average. Its HR-V is the star of the show with a perfect predicted reliability rating from Consumer Reports.
Nearly every other model in Honda’s lineup earns average scores, except the CR-V and Accord Hybrid (pictured above). Both earn a better-than-average predicted reliability score.
Subaru falls below Honda, but it has some impressive models of its own. Both the Subaru Forester (pictured above) and Crosstrek get perfect marks for reliability. Like Honda, most of the rest of Subaru’s lineup lives in the middle of the charts, but the WRX and BRZ sports cars are predicted to be better than most.
Another frequent flier in CR’s reliability rankings is Mazda. It currently sits in seventh place for 2024 thanks to its small, but reliable lineup. Each model, including the MX-5 Miata, Mazda3, CX-5, and CX-50 is predicted to do better than average in the reliability department.
Porsche follows up with the eighth spot in our rankings, but it also has only two models that have been rated for 2024. Both the Cayenne and Macan crossover SUVs get better-than-average marks from the staff.
BMW has made an appearance in the top ten before, but it was higher last year. The German automaker still sits solidly in ninth place this year with the BMW X5 leading the way. It is rated as one of the most reliable vehicles and one of the best overall vehicles for the 2024 model year by the CR staff. The X3, 4-Series, and 2-Series follow the X5 nicely with slightly lower marks. The rest of the lineup, including the i4, iX, 3-Series, and X7 come with average predicted reliability ratings.
Kia rounds out the top ten. They have a full lineup of vehicles with several hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and electric options. The Kia Carnival, Forte, Niro, and K5 earn higher-than-average predicted reliability marks from the CR staff. The rest of the lineup, including the Kia Sportage, Telluride, Sorento, EV6, and Niro EV all fall to average in the reliability rankings.
Brands That Missed the Cut:
Consumer Reports’ ten most reliable car brands list features six Japanese automakers, one Korean automaker, and three German automakers since Mini is owned by BMW. The next ten feature more of a mixed bag. American automakers like Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac, and Tesla all make an appearance.
One of the largest surprises of the group is the appearance of Ram, one of the most historically least reliable brands according to past reliability data from Consumer Reports. Ram falls nearly smack dab in the middle of J.D. Power’s current rankings, but we will see if they can gain even more traction there.
Hyundai performed well in 2023’s rankings but slipped outside of CR’s top ten. Buick is currently the highest-rated American automaker on the Consumer Reports list and has traditionally done better than other American brands in past years.
Infiniti fills the thirteenth spot on CR’s 2024 list, ahead of its sister company, Nissan, by four places. Tesla and Ram fill out the fourteenth and fifteenth spots on Consumer Reports’ 2024 list. Cadillac, Nissan, Genesis, Audi, and Chevrolet fill out the remaining top 20 car brands for 2024 in that order.
Consumer Reports:
- Hyundai
- Buick
- Infiniti
- Tesla
- Ram
- Cadillac
- Nissan
- Genesis
- Audi
- Chevrolet
J.D. Power:
- Dodge
- Cadillac
- Mazda
- GMC
- BMW
- Ram
- Jeep
- Honda
- Infiniti
- Acura
Key Observations:
Even though we do not have J.D. Power’s 2024 most reliable car brands report, we can take the information that they found last year and combine it with Consumer Reports’ current data set to start concluding 2024 model year vehicles.
American Manufacturers Still Struggle but See Slight Improvement
American manufacturers did better on J.D. Power’s 2023 rankings than they did in Consumer Reports reliability rankings, but they have risen much higher in the automotive ranks this year. Both Tesla and Ram have moved several slots up the rankings from last year.
American brands like Jeep, Chrysler, Lincoln, and Dodge still fall quite low in Consumer Report’s rankings, joining European brands like Volvo, Volkswagen, and Mercedes-Benz. There is some greater apparent separation for certain American brands in 2024, though. This is especially promising for Ram trucks and truck buyers in general.
It Might Be Hard to Find a Reliable Truck
Speaking of truck buyers, pickup truck reliability continues to disappoint in 2024. Even the venerable Toyota Tundra earns a less-than-stellar reliability rating from Consumer Reports. With the Toyota Tacoma being fully redesigned for the 2024 model year, we may expect its ratings to fall as well.
Currently, the Ford Maverick is the highest-rated pickup truck for reliability. It is also the smallest, making those who want a larger, reliable work truck potentially turn to the used car market. The Ford Maverick Hybrid, Honda Ridgeline, and Ram 1500 are the only three other pickup trucks to muster an average predicted reliability rating.
The rest of the pack, including the Chevy Colorado, Chevy Silverado, Ford F-150, Nissan Frontier, Jeep Gladiator, and Rivian R1T fall to below average. The Ford F-150 Hybrid falls even lower, earning the worst possible predicted reliability score of 1/5 from the Consumer Reports staff.
Hybrids, PHEVs, and EVs
As manufacturers move more toward electrification, none of them have been without some major hiccups. Tesla has notably risen to the middle of the pack in CR’s reliability ratings for 2024, and we will wait to see if the same is true of J.D. Power’s findings. Tesla’s recent rise in the rankings has not been typical of electric vehicle rankings, though.
Automakers like Hyundai, Kia, Volkswagen, and Volvo have struggled with making their electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids consistently reliable. Consumer Reports has found that EVs have 79% more problems than vehicles with only gas engines. PHEVs are even worse, with 146% more problems than vehicles with gas-only powertrains.
On the flip side of that, Consumer Reports found that regular hybrid models have 26% fewer problems than vehicles with a traditional combustion-only powertrain. This could be one reason why Toyota and Lexus remain at the top of the rankings. Toyota has been making hybrid vehicles for years, and they have been hesitant to fully step into the all-electric game like some of the aforementioned automakers.
Additionally, a large portion of Toyota and Lexus’ lineup is either fully hybridized or features a regular model with a hybrid version on dealership lots.
Rivian, a new name on CR’s reliability list this year offers some impressive, all-electric vehicles, but it occupies the third lowest spot in the reliability rankings 2024. With only two current models having been tested, both bring the automaker’s average down significantly.
The Top Brands Remain Strong
We have already mentioned Lexus and Toyota several times, but they are not the only Japanese automakers near the top of the rankings. Acura is preparing to move toward electrification, but all of its current vehicles have gasoline powertrains. Subaru follows closely behind with only the Solterra as one of their first tries at an all-electric vehicle. Even that has been a joint effort with Toyota, who has been equally reluctant to make more electric cars.
Honda has their hand in the hybridized jar, but only with the CR-V and Accord Hybrid. The rest of the Honda lineup features combustion-only vehicles.
Mazda is much the same way. They only released the CX-90 for the 2024 model year, and nobody has enough data on that model to give it any kind of rating as of now. The remainder of the Mazda lineup still uses combustion. Mazda is also different in that it still uses conventional automatic transmissions rather than continuously variable transmissions.
Notable Extras
Along with the addition of Rivian to Consumer Reports’ data set for 2024, several brands were not included as a result of having insufficient data. Mitsubishi, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Land Rover, Maserati, Jaguar, and Lucid were all excluded from the 2024 reliability rankings. J.D. Power included Jaguar, Land Rover, and Mitsubishi in last year’s dependability study.
Conclusion
Lexus and Toyota continue to shine across the board as they again claim the top spots in 2024’s reliability rankings. They are joined by several other Japanese companies who continue to hold a majority share in the past several year’s top ten lists. Even though there is some movement for 2024, the general automaker population has remained consistent from year to year. European and American automakers generally continue to struggle against Asian automakers.