2009 Annual Auto Reliability Survey: A high price doesn’t mean it’s reliable

Paying more for a new car doesn’t guarantee that it will be reliable. Inexpensive small cars and midsized family sedans are the most reliable vehicles according to our 2009 Annual Auto Survey, which is based on our subscribers’ experiences with 1.4 million vehicles.

Twenty of out of 37 small cars and 21 out of 41 family cars have above-average predicted reliability. Minivans are at the bottom of the list, but there are not as many minivan options. See how the other vehicle categories fare below.

Car type	% of models rated average or better
Family cars	91%
Small cars	84%
Small SUVs	83%
Upscale cars	78%
Compact pickups	74%
Midsized SUVs	74%
Full-sized pickups	68%
Luxury cars	67%
Sporty cars	62%
Upscale/luxury SUVs	55%
Large SUVs	50%
Minivans	43%

When it comes to buying a new car, you do not need to spend top dollar. It pays to do your research and find the model that meet Consumer Reports’ stringent requirements to be recommended, as well as your budget.

For more details on our 2009 Annual Auto Survey including the full list of most and least reliable new cars by vehicle type, see our reliability report. Also, check out our guide to car reliability for more details on new and used car reliability as well as owner satisfaction.

—Liza Barth 

Comments

[Sjones]

More features leads to more complaints. It doesn't really mean that luxury cars are less reliable. if people experience a glitch with a nav system or control interface system in a luxury car it's likely to be noted on a quality survey. Cheaper cars don't have those features and thus have a lower chance of annoying owners. It really doesn't mean anything in terms of "reliability". It's unfortunate that the definition of reliability has become so broad, its a little misleading.

[Dave]

However, you paid for that feature, so you most likely expect it to work well. The point is that you should get what you paid for. If I paid for a cheap car and everything on it works better than a Lexus or Benz that is probably 3-5x the price, something is wrong here.

[Sjones]

Dave:

When you have tons of electronics and features there can be bugs. This is simply a matter of increased complexity. Calling these issues "reliability" problems is a stretch which is why CR's results are questionable in my book. There is a difference between an annoyance and a reliability problem. If luxury cars were as unreliable as CR contends they wouldn't sell. Simple cars have less problems simply because there is little to go wrong. The average compact has power windows, a CD player and air conditioning- not much can go wrong there.

[Jeff Bartlett]

The reliability survey does not tally annoyances. It is strictly focused on repair-level problems.