RELIABILITY BY NATIONALITY







Nationality
Best model
Worst model



American
2001 Ford F-250 (2WD)
2001 Chrysler Town & Country
/Dodge Grand Caravan (AWD)



Asian
2001 Lexus GS300
2001 Hyundai Sonata



European
2001 BMW 3 Series Coupe & Convertible
2001 Volkswagen Cabrio



By problems per 100 vehicles


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CR'S GOOD AND BAD BETS







CR Good Bets have performed well in CR's road tests and have had several years of better-than-average reliability. Bad Bets performed much worse than average.



Good bets
Bad bets



Acura Integra
BMW 7 Series



Acura MDX
BMW X5 (v8)



Acura RL
Chevrolet Astro



Acura RSX (except '06)
Chevrolet Blazer



Acura TL
Chevrolet Express



Acura TSX
Chevrolet S-10 (4WD)



Buick Regal
Chevrolet Venture, Uplander



Chevrolet Prizm
Chrysler Town & Country (awd)



Honda Accord
Dodge Caravan (awd)



Honda Civic
GMC Jimmy



Honda Civic hybrid
GMC Sonoma (4wd)



Honda CR-V
GMC Safari



Honda Element
GMC Savana



HondaOdyssey
Infiniti QX56



Honda Pilot
Jaguar S-Type



Honda Prelude
Jaguar X-Type



Honda S2000
Jeep Grand Cherokee



Infiniti FX
Kia Sedona (except '06)



Infiniti G20
Land Rover Discovery, LR3



Infiniti G35
Lincoln Aviator



Infiniti I30, I35
Lincoln Navigator



Infiniti QX4
Mercedes-Benz CLK



Lexus ES
Mercedes-Benz M-Class (v8)



Lexus GS
Mercedes-Benz S-Class (v8)



Lexus GX
Mercedes-Benz SL



Lexus IS
Nissan Armada



Lexus LS
Nissan Titan



Lexus EX
Oldsmobile Bravada



Lexus SC
Oldsmobile Cutlass



Lincoln Town Car
Oldsmobile Silhouette



Mazda Millenia
Pontic Aztek



Mazda MX-5 Miata
Pontiac Trans Sport, Montana, Montana SV6



Mazda Protégé
Volkswagen Cabrio



Mazda3
Volkswagen Jetta (turbo, gas)



Nissan Altima
Volkswagen Jetta (v6)



Nissan Maxima
Volkswagen New Beetle (4 cyl.)



Nissan Pathfinder
Volkswagen Touareg



Pontiac Vibe
Volvo XC90 (6-cyl.)



Scion xB




Subaru Forester




Subaru Impreza




Subaru Impreza WRX




Subaru Legacy




Subaru Outback




Toyota 4Runner




Toyota Avalon




Toyota Camry




Toyota Camry Solara




Toyota Celica



Toyota Corolla



Toyota Echo



Toyota Highlander



Toyota Land Cruiser



Toyota Matrix



Toyota Prius



Toyota RAV4



Toyota Sequia



Toyota Sienna



Toyota Tundra




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By Chris Woodyard and James R. Healey, USA TODAY[/align]Toyota's vaunted Lexus luxury brand has fallen from first to fifth in Consumer Reports magazine's annual predicted reliability survey, and it's not the only luxury brand taking a drubbing.[/align]Mercedes-Benz was last among 36 brands. Also at the bottom: Land Rover, Hummer and Jaguar. BMW-owned Mini took the biggest tumble, falling 17 places to 28th.
The Toyota brand and the company's youth-oriented Scion brand are in the top three along with Honda, the magazine says in its April auto issue, on sale next week.
Consumer Reports, operated by the non-profit Consumers Union, bases its reliability rankings on responses from 965,000 subscribers, covering 1.3 million vehicles. The auto issue also includes the magazine's ratings of vehicles based on its own testing.
The reliability survey wasn't entirely dismissive of luxury makes. Nissan's Infiniti line was most improved, moving up 20 places from last year. Audi and Lincoln also moved up dramatically.
David Champion, the magazine's director of automotive testing, blamed one model for Lexus's fall, the midsize GS, redesigned last year. He said the car had significant problems in three areas — body integrity, defined as rattles or poorly fitting panels; body hardware, such as locks and trunk mechanisms; and the sound system.
The model still rated average — and earned a recommendation for purchase — but all other models in the Lexus line were better than average.
While Lexus dropped, Toyota officials looked at the bright side. "We had three of the top five. It reflects well on our products," said spokesman Xavier Dominicis.
Mercedes, DaimlerChrysler's luxury brand, tumbled four places to the cellar, "a very poor showing for a very expensive car," Champion said. Mercedes' quality is so imperiled that a nine-year-old Lexus LS400 has potentially fewer problems than a brand-new Mercedes ML.
Champion said of Mercedes: "They perform well, have great fit and finish. But they seem to have a lot of problems with the seven-speed automatic transmission in all their products, and power accessories and electrical systems."
Mercedes officials disputed the findings. "Today's Mercedes models ... are without question some of the best we have ever built," said spokeswoman Donna Boland. "If the survey doesn't reflect that, there's something wrong with the survey."
She noted that 74% of the Mercedes models sold in the U.S. the past 50 years are still on the road. And a 2006 survey by R.L. Polk showed that Mercedes has the highest owner loyalty of any brand.
Mercedes had well-publicized quality issues a couple years ago, but they were fixed, Boland says. "We have been out-front about that. But the data we have on the new models absolutely support that the quality is right up there with people's expectations."
Mini fell because of reliability issues with the supercharged convertible version of the sporty car, Champion said.
Mini spokesman Andrew Cutler said he couldn't explain why his brand fell in the rankings. An all-new replacement for the Mini was introduced this month. "They must be factoring in a drop in reliability (now) that the cars are all new from plant that's been upgraded," he said.

From the 'net
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Oh no my ash tray's full! This d*mn car always leaves me stranded! I better take it to the shop stat!


That's why you see many of them with nearly 200,000+ miles on them I bet.