https://driving.ca/lexus/auto-news/n...nsumer-reports

 

Not surprising Lexus is best. What is surprising is that Acura is in the toilet and the Korean brands are in the top 5 best..

 

This is Consumer Report we are talking about, I would take this with a grain of salt.

 

Historically have not tracked Consumer Reports. J D Power which has Lexus #1 in dependability for eight years in a row has Acura 26 out of 31. Six years ago Acura was in the top five. Every year they are dropping three or four positions. In 2018,they were 20th. Something has happened at Acura. Consumer Reports rates the MDX as one of the ten worst in reliability.

 

Reliability is matrix that is not well represented in a ranking system like JD power and CR. Reliability across the entire automotive industry has improved quite a bit in the last 10 years or so. Today's #10 ranking might have the same amount of issue per so many car as a brand that was rank much higher years ago. Cars that are rank in the middle of the pack are by no mean unreliable, at the same time, there is no guarantee that cars that are rank highly are going to be reliable, it is a generalization and luck of the draw. I had family members that had to replace a transmission in their Lexus and another friend of mine had a Range Rover for 8 years with no major issue.

 

You can not seriously think that one can buy a Lexus at the top for eight years in a row and keep it for six years and another buys a Land Rover that is next to last consistently and there will be minimal difference in reliability.

 

I am quite serious, it probably does not happen a lot but do you seriously think Lexus do not make lemons? In reality, there is not much difference comparing the top spot to the top 1/3 of the ranking chart. My 2008 Lexus GS350 was in the shop for a total of more than 6 weeks in the 1st year, at the end, they could not fix the problem and I had to trade it in.

 

Why you did not use lemon law but traded it in? Lemon law, in general: if your car was in the shop with the same repair for 30 days total or X number of visits in 12 months of ownership (slightly different from state to state), Lexus will have to take it back for full refund.

 

Dodge hasn't made a good transmission since the 1970s. I wonder how much CR got bribed for their thumbs up for the Chrysler gang?

 

Why should it be taken with a grain of salt?

 

One of the main reason is that CR only survey CR subscribers that owns the brand, That is a flawed mythology since it excludes the majority of the owners. CR has also been known to be bias toward certain brands, Lexus being one of the brand that CR favors was widely reported.

 

How else could CR do their surveys? They don't have the funding or resources to survey all owners of every make/model.

Widely reported by whom? I have not seen these reports. What does CR have to gain by being bias? They're non-profit and receive their funding from Consumer Union members only.

Sure, all entities who report to the public should be scrutinized to assure their validity. I just don't understand those who feel CR has some kind of hidden agenda. Their agenda is very transparent and straight-forward to most--to help consumers make informed purchasing decisions. They're not perfect and I don't always agree with them, but when I don't, I don't assume they're "bias" or using "flawed mythology."

I do agree with others who have criticized CR's on-line services. They're getting better, but still not very user-friendly and sometimes glitchy. That said, I've been using their site for over a decade and now have a good enough understanding of it to make it work for me.

 

It looks pretty accurate to me would you put Jeep in top 5 I wouldn’t? Porsche in top 5 I would say that’s about right. Unless someone is Acura fan and pretty pissed it’s not same level as other Japanese brand. Haha grain of salt.

 

Repairpal.com, which I think uses actual repair data and no opinions, rates Lexus @5-7th, not close to #1. CR suggests this:

10 most reliable models of 2020, according to Consumer Reports:

• Mazda MX-5 Miata
• Toyota Prius Prime
• Toyota Prius
• Lexus GX
• Hyundai Kona
• Mazda CX-3
• Lexus NX
• Toyota 4-Runner
• Mazda CX-9
• Lexus GS

JD Power is a marketing scheme with limited real world value, from what I can see.

 

That makes sense to me. Why would they survey non-brand owners? If they ask me about a Volkswagen Jetta, I wouldn't know anything about it. Furthermore, if Lexus owners were not happy, then that should correctly be reflected in the final results.