Which Car Brands Are Best

[USMA81]

This is one, informed opinion. JD Power also just came out with their 2026 (somewhat different) brand reliability rankings. And Consumer Reports has yet a different ranking of brands.

Two common threads in all these: (1) the first year, or two, of a new model of any brand will be more problematic, and (2) the bigger the company / profit margin / engineering budget, the better the vehicle, generally (not always).

Sponsored

 

[ColdCase]

Do they still count feature upgrades or optional improvements against reliability? What about safety inspections that discover maybe .001% of the inspected cars have a defect needing repair?

Models that get continuous improvements (not bug fixes) used to get docked significantly more than those that don't.

 

[USMA81]

I think they mostly use owner surveys. Both JD Power and CR publish their data collection methodologies and criteria.

Sponsored