Toyota and Honda Move Up, While Mercedes-Benz and Porsche Slip Backwards
Which automaker builds the most reliable vehicles? That's a question most car buyers want answered before taking the plunge.
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| J.D. Powers and Associates try to take the guesswork out of your car buying experience when it comes to reliability. (Photo: Lexus) |
J.D. Powers and Associates attempts to make your job of buying a new car easier each year, by publishing their Vehicle Dependability Study (VDS) which rates automakers by corporation, nameplate and the top three vehicles in each segment of the market.
The results of the 2004 VDS were obtained by surveying more than 48,000 original owners of 2001 model year cars and light trucks. Being a survey, it can't be construed as an exact science, but nevertheless the Westlake Village, California based company is a force in the market, sending automakers scrambling to engineer their cars to achieve better results. In the end, vehicles are becoming more reliable with each passing year.
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| Nissan's Infiniti luxury division slips from 2nd place to 3rd this year, overtaken by Buick. (Photo: Infiniti Canada) |
J.D. Powers released the results of the 2004 VDS yesterday, Tuesday, July 29, 2004, with few surprises. With regard to the nameplate rankings, out of 37 brands once again Toyota's Lexus luxury division is on top, decimating the competition with only 162 problems per 100 vehicles (PP100) from last year's 163 PP100 ranking.
Next in line was Nissan's Infiniti luxury division last year, and if it had managed to maintain its 2003 PP100 ranking of 174 it would have stayed there. Perhaps it was the introduction of the brand's upgraded "t" models in the 2001 model year that caused reliability to drop, but nevertheless Infiniti has fallen to 3rd place with a 189 PP100 while Buick has surged forward from 3rd to 2nd with a 187 PP100 rating, despite losing 8 positions from its 2003 179 PP100 ranking. The adage "you've got to be good to be lucky" seems appropriate with Buick in this case.