You may recall that last year's edition of Consumer Reports annual reliability survey featured a significant surprise, with Mazda taking the top spot ahead of the Lexus/Toyota duo that has recently dominated the chart.
The publication has just announced its winners for 2021, and it's back to business as usual. Lexus once again lords it over all others in the ranking. It’s followed by Mazda and the Japanese luxury automaker's parent company, Toyota.
The data collected by Consumer Reports is the result of surveys and polls of more than 300,000 vehicle owners. The survey ranks both brands and models individually within the group to which they belong. Reliability predictions are based on the overall reliability of the last three model-years.
Following Toyota in the top 10 are Infiniti, Buick, Honda, Subaru, Acura, Nissan and Mini, in that order.
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Buick is the only U.S. brand to make the Top 10, which is noteworthy. However, several American models did better in the list of individual products. Specifically, American vehicles topped the list in seven of the 17 categories. Consumer Reports acknowledges that this performance is “unusually strong”.
Those models are the Buick Envision, Chevrolet Trailblazer, Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD and GMC Sierra 2500 HD, Chrysler 300, Ford Bronco Sport, Ford Mustang Mach-E and Ford Ranger.
Cadillac delivered one of the most reliable models in the industry with the XT5.
As for the big winner, Lexus, all of its representatives ranked average or better for reliability.
At the other end of the spectrum are Lincoln, Tesla, Jeep, Genesis, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, GMC, Ram, Volvo and Kia.
Before you head for the full list of Consumer Reports’ most reliable makes and models below, it's always important to add a few caveats. Most notably, a brand that offers few vehicles is more exposed to doing very well or very badly. If its models make for happy owners, the brand quickly rises to the top. But even one or two problems, can mean relegation to the back of the pack. Conversely, the more vehicles a manufacturer offers, the more representative its ranking becomes, and the less volatile its positioning in the ranking.
Consumer Reports mentions, furthermore, that it didn't have enough data to rank the following companies: Alfa Romeo, Dodge, Fiat, Jaguar, Land Rover, Maserati, Mitsubishi and Polestar.
See also: Consumer Reports Picks its Top 10 Cars for 2021
See also: The Best SUVs in 2021, As Chosen by Consumer Reports: Kia Telluride on Top
Here are the results:
The most reliable models:
And the least reliable models:
