This luxury juggernaut is the most reliable brand, says Consumer Reports

Car ownership is very stressful, especially if one owns a car that spends more time at the service center than on the open roads. 

Every year, Consumer Reports polls its members about reliability issues and received responses involving over 330,000 vehicles from the 2020-2024 model years. 

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This year, the review authority has reworked its questions and factored in issues pertaining specifically to electric cars and hybrids, but thirty brands made it on their list and made for some surprising results.

Lexus is on top

The most reliable brand, according to Consumer Reports' data, is Toyota's luxury marque Lexus, which scored a 79 out of 100. Its parent brand, Toyota  (TM) - Get Free Report, follows in second with 76 points, followed by BMW-owned  (BMWYY) - Get Free Report brand Mini with 71, followed by Honda's luxury marque Acura and Honda  (HMC) - Get Free Report itself, both tied with 70 points. 

Car brands from certain regions fared better than others, as cars hailing from the Asia/Pacific region lead reliability with an overall reliability score of 63, followed by Europe with 46 and North America with 39. General Motors' Buick was the top American make, making it at No. 12, in between Hyundai and Nissan's luxury marque Infiniti. 

The bottom has some well-known names -- and a Tesla rival

The bottom five of the brands surveyed include both Stellantis SUV brand Jeep and Volkswagen  (VLKAF) - Get Free Report with 26 out of 100, followed by Tesla  (TSLA) - Get Free Report rival Rivian  (RIVN) - Get Free Report with 24 points, Mercedes-Benz  (DDAIF) - Get Free Report with 23 points and Stellantis  (STLA) - Get Free Report brand Chrysler with 18 points. 

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Consumer Reports also grouped powertrains together in their writeup about reliability, stating that EVs suffered 79% more problems than internal-combustion, gas-powered cars. However, it should be noted that many EVs and EV marques, such as Rivian, are newer to the market than contemporary automotive companies on the list, where one EV with an issue can severely throw such data off-balance. 

On the other hand, hybrids, according to Consumer Reports, have 26% less problems compared to gas vehicles, however, it reported that plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) as a whole have 146% more problems than a traditional gas car.

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