Posted on 02/18/2021 10:16:27 AM PST by Red Badger
KEY POINTS:
According to a new J.D. Power study, the three most dependable auto brands in the U.S. are now Lexus, Porsche and Kia.
Chrysler, Tesla, Jaguar, Alfa Romeo and Land Rover are in the bottom five when it comes to dependability.
The 2021 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study by J.D. Power looked into 33 different auto brands, and about 150 different models including cars, SUVs and trucks.
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The three most dependable auto brands in the U.S. are now Lexus, Porsche and Kia, according to a new J.D. Power study. The three least dependable are Jaguar, Alfa Romeo and Land Rover.
Tesla, which was profiled for the first time in this year’s vehicle dependability study, came in 30th out of 33 automakers. It landed one place behind Chrysler and one ahead of Jaguar.
J.D. Power studies serve as an industry benchmark, and its results can drive sales and impact insurance premiums for owners. The 2021 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study analyzed responses from 33,251 verified owners of 2018 model-year vehicles sold in the U.S. The study assessed around 150 different models including cars, trucks and SUVs.
Tesla’s ranking in the 32-year-old annual study this year is considered unofficial, said Dave Sargent, J.D. Power’s vice president of automotive quality. That’s because Elon Musk’s electric vehicle venture doesn’t grant J.D. Power permission to survey its owners in 15 states that require this.
One of the excluded states is California, Tesla’s home base and a massive market for the company. However, the J.D. Power study included 756 Tesla respondents from 35 different states including major markets with comparably warm weather like Florida and Texas.
While Tesla rated unofficially low on the dependability survey, it unofficially topped J.D. Power’s 2020 APEAL survey, which rates vehicle brands by owners’ emotional attachment and level of excitement with their new vehicles.
Who’s up, who’s down The dependability survey asks drivers how many and what kind of problems their cars, trucks or SUVs experienced in the past year and assigns a score based on problems reported per 100 vehicles. The lower the score, the more dependable the automaker.
The greatest number of problems reported by vehicle owners across all makes and models concerned audio, communication, entertainment and navigation systems.
“With smartphone apps increasingly giving owners an alternative, some will give up on the vehicle’s built-in systems that caused that initial frustration. That’s problematic for automakers, as a lot of the vehicle’s value is tied up in these systems and they don’t want to hand this business over to third parties,” said Sargent.
The Porsche 911 was the highest-ranked model in the 2021 study.
Toyota-owned Lexus topped the list among all brands, with a score of 81 problems per 100 vehicles.
Kia vehicles have notably risen from among the least dependable auto brands in the U.S. to most dependable in just a decade, with 97 problems per 100 vehicles on average. Toyota was near the top of the list with 98 problems per 100 vehicles.
Volkswagen, which introduced two new models in 2018, slid in the dependability rankings. Sargent noted: “Results can be affected by whether a manufacturer has just launched a bunch of new products. They tend to be the most problematic their first year out.”
Owners of 3-year-old Teslas reported 176 problems per 100 vehicles, compared with the industry average in the U.S. of 121 problems per 100 vehicles. Tesla owners reported more problems with their exterior and interior than with other systems like propulsion, battery or infotainment and navigation. However, some did complain about troubles with Tesla’s in-vehicle voice recognition.
Overall, vehicle dependability improved by about 10% year over year, J.D. Power found. Part of this was due to lower use and abuse of vehicles amid a Covid pandemic that has restricted commuting and travel in 2020 stateside.
“We know the more people use a vehicle the more problems they’re going to have,” Sargent said. Last year, on average consumers had driven about 32,000 miles over three years of new vehicle ownership. This year, they had driven 29,000 miles -- representing a 10% reduction over a three-year period, and an implied 30% reduction in the last year.
-- CNBC’s Michael Wayland contributed to this report.
JD Power is a know pay-to-play ranker.
So, what you are telling me is Tesla won’t pay for rankings. They don’t pay for advertising, either.
Now talk about safety :)
buy a new truck/car and have to replace the trans or engine and get back to me.
5-8k easy.
It really depends on your driving. I used to put about 5,000 miles a year on my car with a relatively short commute. So I would change the oil twice a year regardless. My wife drives fewer miles than that, but a year seemed like too long to go. She's a really short drive user. Less than five miles round trip. So even though mileage-wise with the van, I could change it yearly with synthetic, I change it every six months due to the way her car is driven.
Does your dealer reset the oil life indicator when they change it? If not, you should be able to. It would be in the manual.
Thank you for your input. Yes, the dealer resets oil life number and tops off any fluids if needed, rotates the tires upon request, checks condition of belts and battery, washes the car. I guess they are looking for me to buy next car there. Occasionally I will go to a Cadillac dealer for oil change, they do all of above plus a custom ordered breakfast on the house free and it is pretty good, but they always want to replace my cabin air filter or other filters or wipers, clean fuel injectors etc. Also the cost of oil change is more. Last time I was there it ended up costing me $400 LOL but we were going on a long 12,000 mile round trip from FL to WA state, then stop in Arizona to see relatives and back to FL. So I wanted the car in tip top shape.
If safety in crashes is very important to you, go with Volvo who invented the 3 point seat belt and energy absorbing front and rear ends of the car structure in case of a serious collison.
Nothing new for Tesla (lack of quality) But I suspect like in previous years Tesla will be near the top in Customer satisfaction. Impossible to square that, woke owners I guess. Having said that Musk is growing on me a bit.
My in-laws are driving a 19-YO Avalon with 250,000 on it. They have done nothing except maintenance on it all this time.
Still a great car.
” ... they always want to replace my cabin air filter or other filters or wipers, clean fuel injectors etc.”
Replacing the cabin air filter and cleaning the fuel injectors are classic dealership ripoffs. At some dealerships, the service representatives get bonuses based on the number of such add-ons they sell.
I kind of knew it was a rip off by the Cadillac dealer, but I must be feeling magnanimous after a good custom ordered free breakfast LOL
The cabin filter is easy to change, it is usually behind the glove compartment. And those fuel injector fluids in cans off the shelf work pretty good as well.
It was the same make and modal as their old car which had been mostly trouble free.
About six months after they bought it the trunk would not open. No key, just one of those silly electric fob things. Took it back to the dealer who after fooling around for a week finally repaired it.
A few months later same thing happened again.
Finally they figured out that hooking up the trailer lights to the car was causing a malfunction in the electrical system.
Took it back to the dealer. They were told that the car electrical system was too light to handle the trailer lights, which were essentially four more LED bulbs. We are not exactly talkin a major power drain.
Asked why since the car could not handle a towing package was one offered.
:shrug:
So now they borrow our truck when they have to use the trailer.
that was 1980-1990.
Volvo is not reliable now, several family members ditched them due to repair cost
I can’t eve find a new truck that I can play my 8 track tapes in.
heh!
Teslas that are out of warranty can be had pretty cheap. I have seen them in Raleigh for <$20K. But, there is a youtube channel called Rich Rebuilds. I was thinking about buying a Tesla, but after a few of his videos I decided to pass. Very entertaining, especially the horseless carriage video.
Porsche has been pretty damn solid for a good while.
My daughter drives nothing but Lexus. She has a new hybrid SUV now. She drove my 2017 Mercedes E350 and hates it.
That’s what I drive. Love it.
There. Bias removed.
Yep, nobody is showing surprise here.
Well finding a good mechanic is an entirely different discussion. I’ve had the same guy for 20 plus years. He did some work on my Tacoma a while back and quoted over $700 LESS than the Toyota dealer. So yeah, buyer beware.
I’m sure there are plenty of good, easy to work on American cars. But I’m saddled with my Toyota-trained engineer wife (Johns Hopkins grad if that counts for anything!) As I was a lowly military officer, she made much more money than me, so she chose the vehicles basically. Which is fine with me, as I was very happy with my used Tacoma.
I think having a general desire to work on cars helps too. While I’m a capable mechanic in basic terms (I was a maintenance test pilot for UH-60 Blackhawks for 20 years). I didn’t look forward to puttering around my garage all weekend after climbing on broken helicopters all week. So there’s that.
I’ve been teaching my boys engines with old snowblowers and lawnmowers. That’s been fun. But yeah, probably won’t be doing much work on the Camry over the next 5 years anyway...
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