Consumer Reports has revealed its annual 2010 reliability scores and predictably, the Asian brands killed, the domestic brands are on the rise and the Euro brands remain as uneliable as Metro Transit’s bus services.
While this is hardly breaking news, it did seem that the Euro brands were making some heaway over the past few years with BMW and Mercedes-Benz finding themselves above the industry average. This time around, the sport luxury heavyweights are all near the bottom with different problems.
BMW, it seems, is still having problems with its N54 engine which is bringing its overall scores down. As a result BMW’s least reliable model is the 135i and surprisingly the M3 is its most reliable model.
Mercedes-Benz on the other hand has 6 models rated below the industry average with most experiencing electric issues.
Audi is also doing terribly with 75% (!) of its models ranking below industry average. Audi’s least relaible vehicle is apparently the A6 3.0T. In fact, Audi has the second worst reliability score behind Chrysler. Oddly enough, Volkswagen is doing much better as it ranks 10 spots up from Audi.
It’s not all bad news for the Euro brands, however. Porsche is ranked 2nd for best reliability, while Volvo is ranked 8th overall. That is the first time in a long time that the Swedish brand has been able to crack the top 10. Porsche’s least reliable model is the 911 while the Boxter gets the nod for most reliable. For Volvo the XC90 is worst while its best is the C30.
Another odd ranking worth noting is Chevrolet who ranks 17th overall, but the Corvette Z06 is its most reliable vehicle (unsurprisingly the Aveo is its worst). But this could likely be explained by the sheer volume of model a brand sells. The Corvette likely has good reliability scores because they are niche vehicles and as such, they don’t sell in great numbers, therefore there won’t be as many Corvettes in Chevy’s service bays as say a volume seller like the Aveo.
[Consumer Reports]