Toyota, Lexus and BMW top reliability survey

Not-for-profit American firm Consumer Reports has revealed Toyota, Lexus and BMW are rated the most reliable car brands.

The result is according to its latest annual survey of more than 300,000 owners of vehicles purchased between 2000 and 2023 in the United States.

Notably, the recently-launched Toyota Corolla Cross small crossover is one of the top rated models (with a 96 out of 100 score), while the popular RAV4 medium SUV is above-average (63/100), and the forthcoming Tundra large ute is one of the less-reliable vehicles (39/100) covered in the survey.

Asian automakers are leading the industry with an average reliability score of 59, represented by seven brands in the top 10.

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In contrast, Mercedes-Benz is at the bottom of the predicted reliability ladder – dropping by five points compared to last year. However, it’s worth noting that the survey was limited to two models: the E-Class (29/100) and related GLE (23/100).

It’s followed by Jeep and Volkswagen at the bottom, with five models each surveyed.

Tesla improved its position by four points to rank 19th among the legacy carmakers, with its reliability score on par with Chevrolet – which dropped by 10 this year.

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Consumer Reports also notes more tales of electric car issues are emerging as new models hit the market and adoption grows. Reported problems this year in the US concern battery packs, charging systems and drive motors across models such as the Hyundai Kona Electric, Volkswagen ID.4 and Ford Mustang Mach-E.

Absent in the rankings include the likes of Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Fiat, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mini, Mitsubishi, Polestar, Porsche, Rivian and Maserati due to “insufficient data” or “too few models”.

Consumer Reports’ 2022 car brand reliability survey results