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It's also useless in time frame. This is over the first few months of ownership. I've owned two of the cars that rank near the top of this list and it's problem

It's also useless in time frame. This is over the first few months of ownership. I've owned two of the cars that rank near the top of this list and it's problems after 5 years that I care about. That's when you start to pay out of pocket and the problems get big. Most cars, now, don't survive ten years, but I want a car that's reliable from year 5 to year 10.

kbenson 6y ago
It's not useless, it's just targeted at a specific audience. Some people only keep cars for 5 years and then get a new car. I buy used cars about 3 years old and keep them for 5-6 years, so reliability ratings over later years is more important for me (which is why I generally buy Honda or Toyota for my minivan/car needs), but it might not be for those people. Consumer reports has traditionally been good about showing reliability over different stages of car lifetime, but it's been a while since I looked.
- brookside 6y ago
  Consumer Reports relies on elective responses to their reliability survey. Doesn't this make their rankings problematic and statistically invalid?
  - kbenson 6y ago
    As opposed to what? JD Powers seems to do the same. If you have a better survey with more rigorous standards that actually has enough data to by useful and comparable across many cars and years, I'm all ears. Here's what both Consumer Reports[1] and JD Powers say about how they collect their data. 1: https://auto.howstuffworks.com/buying-selling/consumer-reports-automotive-ratings.htm https://auto.howstuffworks.com/buying-selling/consumer-repor... 2: https://www.jdpower.com/faq https://www.jdpower.com/faq
TylerE 6y ago
Amazingly a survey of initial quality measures initial quality.
gnopgnip 6y ago
The average age of cars on the road in the US is 11.8 years. So most cars survive well past 10 years.
ryathal 6y ago
This still helps you. Unless you expect a car that is constantly in the shop the first five years to magically stop needing work after that. Yes it's possible that some of the top cars switch places in the 5-10 range, but its very unlikely a bottom 5 car is going to eclipse a top 5 car. Most cars are also far more reliable now than you are thinking. Every big company makes cars now that routinely last 200k-300k miles, that takes more than 10 years of driving for most people.

kbenson 6y ago

It's not useless, it's just targeted at a specific audience. Some people only keep cars for 5 years and then get a new car. I buy used cars about 3 years old and keep them for 5-6 years, so reliability ratings over later years is more important for me (which is why I generally buy Honda or Toyota for my minivan/car needs), but it might not be for those people. Consumer reports has traditionally been good about showing reliability over different stages of car lifetime, but it's been a while since I looked.

brookside 6y ago
Consumer Reports relies on elective responses to their reliability survey. Doesn't this make their rankings problematic and statistically invalid?
- kbenson 6y ago
  As opposed to what? JD Powers seems to do the same. If you have a better survey with more rigorous standards that actually has enough data to by useful and comparable across many cars and years, I'm all ears. Here's what both Consumer Reports[1] and JD Powers say about how they collect their data. 1: https://auto.howstuffworks.com/buying-selling/consumer-reports-automotive-ratings.htm https://auto.howstuffworks.com/buying-selling/consumer-repor... 2: https://www.jdpower.com/faq https://www.jdpower.com/faq

TylerE 6y ago

Amazingly a survey of initial quality measures initial quality.

gnopgnip 6y ago

The average age of cars on the road in the US is 11.8 years. So most cars survive well past 10 years.

ryathal 6y ago

This still helps you. Unless you expect a car that is constantly in the shop the first five years to magically stop needing work after that. Yes it's possible that some of the top cars switch places in the 5-10 range, but its very unlikely a bottom 5 car is going to eclipse a top 5 car. Most cars are also far more reliable now than you are thinking. Every big company makes cars now that routinely last 200k-300k miles, that takes more than 10 years of driving for most people.