ALL AUTOCARS

Lexus remained high in the rankings but has lost its crown after a 14 year reign. Despite this, Lexus and its parent company Toyota still had a total of nine different models ranking highest for each vehicle segment. In particular, the Lexus LS430 set the industry standard for dependability as it was the model with the fewest reported problems in the entire study, which is no small feat considering the number of gadgets the car comes with.

Buick has shown a dramatic improvement in quality over the years and today is a regular in the top five brand rankings. In fact, in 2007 Buick had tied with Lexus at the top, with many of its models found to be more reliable than those from the more expensive Cadillac brand. The rating for the industry as whole showed substantial improvements in just the last year, with an average of 170 problems per 100 vehicles, down 36 on last year’s result. This shows that many carmakers have improved the level of quality in their production and design processes and bodes well for consumers looking to save money by purchasing an older vehicle.