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Regardless of where you stand on the validity of Consumer Reports' testing and survey methods, there's millions of people out there who consider the magazine their buying bible. Thus, it's news when the non-profit releases findings from a new subscriber-based survey. This time it's the 2008 Reliability Survey, and while you'll have to buy the latest issue of Consumer Reports to see how your favorite favorite brand or model in particular performed, the overall trends indicate that fuel efficient vehicles, whether they be hybrids or just small gas-powered cars, are very reliable. Also, Ford is reportedly pulling away from its domestic rivals in the reliability arena with the majority of its models, including Lincoln and Mercury vehicles, now scoring above the industry average.

You may recall the shock from last year's survey in which three Toyota models - the Camry V6, Tundra V8 4WD and Lexus GS AWD - all fell below average in predicted reliability. Consumer Reports says that those three models have clawed their way back up to average reliability scores, while every other Toyota, Lexus and Scion model in the survey scored average or better. Finally, while European brands are reportedly improving their reliability, many models remain below average and Land Rover has again came up dead last with all four of its SUVs scoring far below average. Oh, and remember when Jeremy Clarkson called the Chrysler Sebring Convertible the "worst car in the entire world"? Apparently CR subscribers who own one agree, scoring it worst in reliability of all the models surveyed and 283% below the average.

[Source: Consumer Reports]

Consumer Reports releases 2008 Reliability Survey originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We've given Ford credit in the past for its super smooth roll out of the Fusion midsize sedan and its counterparts, the Mercury Milan and Lincoln Zephyr/MKZ. To date the three sedans haven't had a single recall for anything minor or major, not an easy feat when you're launching all-new models as Ford found out the hard way with the recall-plagued Focus launch back in 2000. Still, our kudos mean little in the grand scheme of things. However, when Consumer Reports calls out your success in its predicted reliability ratings, potential customers take notice.

In its newly released 2006 Annual Car Reliability Survey, Consumer Reports discovered that the Fusion and Milan actually scored higher in predicted reliability than the Honda Accord V6 and Toyota Camry V6. The Zephyr also did will in the upscale cars category, scoring slightly behind the Lexus ES350. Other domestic models did well too, including the Buick Lucerne and Cadillac DTS, both of which were above average in predicted reliability.

Despite these pockets of success, the domestics still only managed to account for six of the 47 vehicles that achieved the highest predicted reliability scores and got a little red circle with a white dot next to their names. The Japanese, meanwhile, accounted for 39 (21 from Toyota/Lexus and 11 from Honda/Acura). The Fusion/Milan/Zephyr, Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Yukon and Pontiac Vibe were the six American vehicles that scored highest. The remaining two vehicles were a split between Europe and Korea with one going to the MINI Cooper and the other to the Hyundai Azera.

Mercedes-Benz wound up the worst brand in reliability with eight models, including the new S-Class, rated as least reliable. Nissan, which has lately scored very pourly in these reliability rankings, still contributed the only five Japanese vehicles to be rated least reliable, though CR says its vehicles are showing about half as many problems as they did last year.

Check out CR's full press release after the jump with more details from this year's survey.

[Source: Consumer Reports]

Continue reading Domestic models gain major ground in Consumer Reports reliability ratings

Domestic models gain major ground in Consumer Reports reliability ratings originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 10 Nov 2006 13:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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