TSX69
03-01-2007, 07:47 AM
Lexus Takes a Beating (http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2007-02-28-cr-reliability_x.htm?csp=34)
By Chris Woodyard and James R. Healey, USA TODAY
Toyota's vaunted Lexus luxury brand has fallen from first to fifth in Consumer Reports magazine's annual predicted reliability survey. Other luxury brands took worse drubbings.
The automaker's Toyota brand and its youth-oriented Scion brand are in the top three along with Honda and its Acura, the magazine says in its April auto issue, on sale next week.
Mercedes-Benz was last among 36 brands. Other luxury brands at the bottom: Land Rover, Hummer and Jaguar.
MORE CHARTS: Top picks by category, winners and losers from last survey
The magazine, operated by the non-profit Consumers Union, bases the reliability rankings on responses from 965,000 subscribers covering 1.3 million vehicles. The auto issue also includes the magazine's ratings of vehicles based on its own testing.
Some luxury brands improved: Nissan's Infiniti, Volkswagen's Audi, Ford Motor's Lincoln; Honda's Acura.
David Champion, the magazine's director of automotive testing, blamed one model for Lexus' fall, the midsize GS that was redesigned last year. He said the car had problems in three areas — body integrity, defined as rattles or poorly fitting panels; body hardware, such as locks and trunk mechanisms; and the sound system.
The model still rated average and earned a purchase recommendation. All other Lexus models were better than average.
Toyota officials looked at the bright side. "We had three of the top five. It reflects well on our products," spokesman Xavier Dominicis said.
Mercedes, DaimlerChrysler's luxury brand, tumbled four places to the cellar, "a very poor showing for a very expensive car," Champion said. Mercedes' quality is so imperiled that a 9-year-old Lexus LS 400 has potentially fewer problems than a new Mercedes ML. Champion said of Mercedes: "They perform well, have great fit and finish. But they seem to have a lot of problems with the seven-speed automatic transmission in all their products, and power accessories and electrical systems."
Mercedes disputed the findings. Today's models "are without question some of the best we have ever built," spokeswoman Donna Boland said. "If the survey doesn't reflect that, there's something wrong with the survey."
She noted that 74% of Mercedes models sold in the USA over the past 50 years are still on the road. A 2006 survey by R.L. Polk showed that Mercedes has the highest owner loyalty of any brand.
Mercedes had quality issues a couple of years ago, but they were fixed, she said. "We have been out-front about that. But the data we have on the new models absolutely support that the quality is right up there with people's expectations."
{Click the above link to see the following tables in the correct format}
RELIABILITY BY NATIONALITY
Nationality Best model Worst model
American 2001 Ford F-250 (2WD) 2001 Chrysler Town & Country
/Dodge Grand Caravan (AWD)
Asian 2001 Lexus GS300 2001 Hyundai Sonata
European 2001 BMW 3 Series Coupe & Convertible 2001 Volkswagen Cabrio
By problems per 100 vehicles
CR'S GOOD AND BAD BETS
CR Good Bets have performed well in CR's road tests and have had several years of better-than-average reliability. Bad Bets performed much worse than average.
Good bets Bad bets
Acura Integra BMW 7 Series
Acura MDX BMW X5 (v8)
Acura RL Chevrolet Astro
Acura RSX (except '06) Chevrolet Blazer
Acura TL Chevrolet Express
Acura TSX Chevrolet S-10 (4WD)
Buick Regal Chevrolet Venture, Uplander
Chevrolet Prizm Chrysler Town & Country (awd)
Honda Accord Dodge Caravan (awd)
Honda Civic GMC Jimmy
Honda Civic hybrid GMC Sonoma (4wd)
Honda CR-V GMC Safari
Honda Element GMC Savana
HondaOdyssey Infiniti QX56
Honda Pilot Jaguar S-Type
Honda Prelude Jaguar X-Type
Honda S2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Infiniti FX Kia Sedona (except '06)
Infiniti G20 Land Rover Discovery, LR3
Infiniti G35 Lincoln Aviator
Infiniti I30, I35 Lincoln Navigator
Infiniti QX4 Mercedes-Benz CLK
Lexus ES Mercedes-Benz M-Class (v8)
Lexus GS Mercedes-Benz S-Class (v8)
Lexus GX Mercedes-Benz SL
Lexus IS Nissan Armada
Lexus LS Nissan Titan
Lexus EX Oldsmobile Bravada
Lexus SC Oldsmobile Cutlass
Lincoln Town Car Oldsmobile Silhouette
Mazda Millenia Pontic Aztek
Mazda MX-5 Miata Pontiac Trans Sport, Montana, Montana SV6
Mazda Protégé Volkswagen Cabrio
Mazda3 Volkswagen Jetta (turbo, gas)
Nissan Altima Volkswagen Jetta (v6)
Nissan Maxima Volkswagen New Beetle (4 cyl.)
Nissan Pathfinder Volkswagen Touareg
Pontiac Vibe Volvo XC90 (6-cyl.)
Scion xB
Subaru Forester
Subaru Impreza
Subaru Impreza WRX
Subaru Legacy
Subaru Outback
Toyota 4Runner
Toyota Avalon
Toyota Camry
Toyota Camry Solara
Toyota Celica
Toyota Corolla
Toyota Echo
Toyota Highlander
Toyota Land Cruiser
Toyota Matrix
Toyota Prius
Toyota RAV4
Toyota Sequia
Toyota Sienna
Toyota Tundra
From what I can tell, the top 5 are:
1. Toyota
2. Honda
3. Scion
4. Acura
5. Lexus
By Chris Woodyard and James R. Healey, USA TODAY
Toyota's vaunted Lexus luxury brand has fallen from first to fifth in Consumer Reports magazine's annual predicted reliability survey. Other luxury brands took worse drubbings.
The automaker's Toyota brand and its youth-oriented Scion brand are in the top three along with Honda and its Acura, the magazine says in its April auto issue, on sale next week.
Mercedes-Benz was last among 36 brands. Other luxury brands at the bottom: Land Rover, Hummer and Jaguar.
MORE CHARTS: Top picks by category, winners and losers from last survey
The magazine, operated by the non-profit Consumers Union, bases the reliability rankings on responses from 965,000 subscribers covering 1.3 million vehicles. The auto issue also includes the magazine's ratings of vehicles based on its own testing.
Some luxury brands improved: Nissan's Infiniti, Volkswagen's Audi, Ford Motor's Lincoln; Honda's Acura.
David Champion, the magazine's director of automotive testing, blamed one model for Lexus' fall, the midsize GS that was redesigned last year. He said the car had problems in three areas — body integrity, defined as rattles or poorly fitting panels; body hardware, such as locks and trunk mechanisms; and the sound system.
The model still rated average and earned a purchase recommendation. All other Lexus models were better than average.
Toyota officials looked at the bright side. "We had three of the top five. It reflects well on our products," spokesman Xavier Dominicis said.
Mercedes, DaimlerChrysler's luxury brand, tumbled four places to the cellar, "a very poor showing for a very expensive car," Champion said. Mercedes' quality is so imperiled that a 9-year-old Lexus LS 400 has potentially fewer problems than a new Mercedes ML. Champion said of Mercedes: "They perform well, have great fit and finish. But they seem to have a lot of problems with the seven-speed automatic transmission in all their products, and power accessories and electrical systems."
Mercedes disputed the findings. Today's models "are without question some of the best we have ever built," spokeswoman Donna Boland said. "If the survey doesn't reflect that, there's something wrong with the survey."
She noted that 74% of Mercedes models sold in the USA over the past 50 years are still on the road. A 2006 survey by R.L. Polk showed that Mercedes has the highest owner loyalty of any brand.
Mercedes had quality issues a couple of years ago, but they were fixed, she said. "We have been out-front about that. But the data we have on the new models absolutely support that the quality is right up there with people's expectations."
{Click the above link to see the following tables in the correct format}
RELIABILITY BY NATIONALITY
Nationality Best model Worst model
American 2001 Ford F-250 (2WD) 2001 Chrysler Town & Country
/Dodge Grand Caravan (AWD)
Asian 2001 Lexus GS300 2001 Hyundai Sonata
European 2001 BMW 3 Series Coupe & Convertible 2001 Volkswagen Cabrio
By problems per 100 vehicles
CR'S GOOD AND BAD BETS
CR Good Bets have performed well in CR's road tests and have had several years of better-than-average reliability. Bad Bets performed much worse than average.
Good bets Bad bets
Acura Integra BMW 7 Series
Acura MDX BMW X5 (v8)
Acura RL Chevrolet Astro
Acura RSX (except '06) Chevrolet Blazer
Acura TL Chevrolet Express
Acura TSX Chevrolet S-10 (4WD)
Buick Regal Chevrolet Venture, Uplander
Chevrolet Prizm Chrysler Town & Country (awd)
Honda Accord Dodge Caravan (awd)
Honda Civic GMC Jimmy
Honda Civic hybrid GMC Sonoma (4wd)
Honda CR-V GMC Safari
Honda Element GMC Savana
HondaOdyssey Infiniti QX56
Honda Pilot Jaguar S-Type
Honda Prelude Jaguar X-Type
Honda S2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Infiniti FX Kia Sedona (except '06)
Infiniti G20 Land Rover Discovery, LR3
Infiniti G35 Lincoln Aviator
Infiniti I30, I35 Lincoln Navigator
Infiniti QX4 Mercedes-Benz CLK
Lexus ES Mercedes-Benz M-Class (v8)
Lexus GS Mercedes-Benz S-Class (v8)
Lexus GX Mercedes-Benz SL
Lexus IS Nissan Armada
Lexus LS Nissan Titan
Lexus EX Oldsmobile Bravada
Lexus SC Oldsmobile Cutlass
Lincoln Town Car Oldsmobile Silhouette
Mazda Millenia Pontic Aztek
Mazda MX-5 Miata Pontiac Trans Sport, Montana, Montana SV6
Mazda Protégé Volkswagen Cabrio
Mazda3 Volkswagen Jetta (turbo, gas)
Nissan Altima Volkswagen Jetta (v6)
Nissan Maxima Volkswagen New Beetle (4 cyl.)
Nissan Pathfinder Volkswagen Touareg
Pontiac Vibe Volvo XC90 (6-cyl.)
Scion xB
Subaru Forester
Subaru Impreza
Subaru Impreza WRX
Subaru Legacy
Subaru Outback
Toyota 4Runner
Toyota Avalon
Toyota Camry
Toyota Camry Solara
Toyota Celica
Toyota Corolla
Toyota Echo
Toyota Highlander
Toyota Land Cruiser
Toyota Matrix
Toyota Prius
Toyota RAV4
Toyota Sequia
Toyota Sienna
Toyota Tundra
From what I can tell, the top 5 are:
1. Toyota
2. Honda
3. Scion
4. Acura
5. Lexus