Looking over our updated car reliability stats, some cars did especially well or especially poorly.

For some models with 25 or more responses, no owner reported a repair in the past year:

2013 Ford F-150
2013 Hyundai Elantra
2013 Subaru Impreza
2012 Toyota Prius c
2011 Mazda CX-9
2010 Lexus RX
2010 Toyota Tundra

For quite a few more the repair frequency is at most one repair trip for every ten cars:

2013 Honda CR-V
2013 VW Golf / JSW TDI
2013 FIAT 500

2012 Honda CR-V
2012 Honda Fit
2012 Subaru Forester
2012 Toyota Highlander
2012 Chevrolet Equinox / GMC Terrain
2012 Mazda3
2012 Toyota Prius
2012 Audi A4
2012 Honda Accord
2012 Hyundai Accent
2012 Mazda5
2012 Toyota Prius v
2012 Toyota Camry
2012 Kia Soul
2012 Nissan LEAF

2011 Honda Civic
2011 Honda CR-V
2011 Nissan LEAF
2011 Honda Fit
2011 Kia Forte

2010 MazdaSpeed3
2010 Acura MDX
2010 Toyota Camry
2010 Toyota Corolla
2010 Honda CR-V
2010 Toyota Yaris

2009 Honda CR-V

The Honda CR-V has been the most consistently highly reliable model in the survey. Nearly every model year has a very low repair frequency. (The 2002 is an exception.)

We have a much smaller number of models with sad faces:

2013 Nissan Altima
2013 Ford C-MAX
2013 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport
2013 Audi Q5 (the only one in this group of four that wasn’t redesigned for 2013)

2012 FIAT 500

2011 Hyundai Sonata
2011 MINI Cooper

2010 Mercedes-Benz GLK
2010 Hyundai Genesis
2010 BMW 5-Series (the 2011+ 5-Series is much more reliable)

2009 Jaguar XF

An important note: even the least reliable cars listed average less than one repair per car. In some cases, one common problem was enough. For example, the 2011 Sonata is here because of a faulty brake light switch (that can make the car difficult to start). The Kia Sorento almost landed on this list for the same bad part.

What’s more amazing, that some cars require virtually no repairs, or that so few often required repairs?

Updated car reliability stats have now been posted to the public site. Hard to believe we’ve now been doing this like clockwork for 28 quarters!

The 2014 Mazda CX-5, like the 2013, has been experiencing a few minor common problems. We have stats based on very small sample sizes for a few more 2014s. The updated Grand Cherokee isn’t faring as well as the new Mazda6 and Subaru Forester, for which hardly any repairs have been reported.

Among car models redesigned or updated for 2013…

Happy faces: Audi A4 (and related models), Honda Accord, Lexus RX, Nissan Pathfinder / Infiniti JX

Moderate: Acura RDX, Dodge Dart, Ford Escape, Ford Fusion, Mazda CX-5, Scion FR-S / BRZ

Sad faces: Ford C-MAX, Hyundai Santa Fe, Nissan Altima

To check out all the updated stats:

Car reliability stats

From a member, concerning a repair experience with his Lexus 2011 RX450h:

The problem is a squeaky rear end when going over speed bumps or driving on uneven road surfaces. It started around 25K miles and appears to finally be resolved at 33K miles and 4 trips to the Lexus service department.

On the first visit to the dealer, they said that this was common and they lubed the rear end but did not go into specifics. This resolved the problem for a few days but then the squeaking started again. It is very annoying as we live in a development with several speed bumps so I get to hear this noise every day!

On the second visit to the dealer they had the car for three days and could not find anything wrong and said there was no noise when they road tested it over speed bumps and many conditions and only had normal noise expected from this model.

Continue reading “Eventually the Dealer Listened” →

J.D. Power released the results of its 27th annual Initial Quality Survey (IQS) for cars today at the Detroit-area Automotive Press Association (APA). The survey was significantly revised this year to include new systems such as lane departure warning among the 233 covered and to use an online rather than a paper form. But the output and implications remains much as they have been since the third-generation IQS was introduced in 2007. So the previous strengths and weaknesses continue to apply.

Continue reading “2013 J.D. Power IQS: What Does It Mean?” →

The 27th update of TrueDelta’s car reliability stats was recently posted to the public site. This update covers the year ending March 31, 2013. Other sources are nearly a year behind.

Models for which very few repairs have been reported:

2013 — Hyundai Elantra, Kia Optima, Subaru Impreza / XV Crosstrek, Subaru Outback / Legacy

2012 — Honda CR-V, Honda Fit, Kia Soul, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, Subaru Forester, Toyota Prius, Toyota Prius c

2011 — Honda Civic, Honda CR-V, Mazda CX-9, Nissan LEAF

2010 — Lexus RX

Once again we have very few “sad faces” (out of a total of over 400 results):

2013 — Ford Escape (mostly fit and finish issues)

2012 — FIAT 500 (common problems with oil leaks, Bluetooth module, and intermediate steering shaft)

2011 — MINI Cooper (common problems with the thermostat and coolant temp sensor)

2010 — Hyundai Genesis sedan, Jaguar XF, Mercedes-Benz GLK

Few repairs were also reported for the all-new 2013 Honda Accord and updated 2013 Audi A4 and allroad. Among other new 2013s, the Mazda CX-5 and Scion FR-S / Subaru BRZ remain in the “yellow zone” thanks to some common minor problems.

We fell just short of the minimum sample size with a few new-for-2013 models. Only one of the 25 owners responding for the new Ford Fusion reported any repairs, but that one reported multiple repairs, yielding a moderate repair frequency. With the next update this stat will likely improve. The C-MAX isn’t doing as well, with a stat at the high (not good) end of the moderate range. The new Nissan Pathfinder / Infiniti JX35, Acura RDX, and Nissan Altima are all moderate as well, with the last possibly suffering from a few common glitches. Our preliminary stat for the Dodge Dart is the best for this bunch, and just inside the low range. (Then again, the FIAT 500 had a good start that was not sustained.)

To view the stats for a model, and the specific repairs behind the stats:

Car Reliability Survey Results