I take your cite, and raise you JD Power
In this 2005 Vehicle Dependability Study, based on responses from 50,635 original owners of 2002 model-year cars, you will find Toyotas are less dependable than Lincoln, Buick, and Cadillac, while Honda is less dependable than those in addition to Mercury.
This study just makes me happy I didn’t buy a MINI.
That’s interesting, and also a bit confusing, as it’s difficult to compare the Consumer Reports findings to the JD Power findings, or to the Warranty Direct Study. The CR study looks at 810,000 vehicles from years 1997-2004. The JDP study looks at 50,635 cars from the 2002 model year. The WD study appears to look at all cars with expired warrantees, meaning probably no younger than 2002 models, and going back some undetermined period of time (I’m trying to find the original cite). The CR study singles out models, the JDP study ranks the entire make.
If I had to hazard a guess at what it all might mean, I’d bet that American makes have improved their reliability dramatically since the late 90’s. It would have been nice if the JDP study was larger (they only look at half as many cars per model year, if you take the average, as CR), and it would be especially nice to compare the JDP and CR results for models from 2002 directly. Is there a discrepancy? If so, I wonder why. I wonder if somebody from either ranking firm could address those questions! Heck, I might try…
Well, you see they aren’t that different (CR, and JD). If you scroll down to the bottom of the JD power cite you’ll see where they broke down the models. The problem with the CR is that they even broke down, the broke down. In other words, they broke down the Camry into 4cyl, and the Lexus into the models.
I believe this is a bit disingenuous. I don’t think the Camry should have been included if both (4 and 6cyl) aren’t included in the same study. But that’s just me.
I just sent a an email to both firms. Who knows? Maybe I’ll get an answer…