Avoid These Least Reliable Car Brands in 2024

What are the least reliable car brands? To help you avoid buying a new or used car that will be unreliable, Consumer Reports gathered data on over 330,000 vehicles to tell you which cars will end up in the repair shop, and which will keep you on the road. How do cars from brands like Toyota and Hyundai compare to vehicles made by Jeep, Honda, Chevrolet, and Mercedes-Benz? Before you buy your next vehicle, check our site for over two decades of reliability information!

[alexbrown]

Congratulations to Jaguar-Land Rover for not taking its customary position!

Nevermind: I just checked the full list and they weren’t included in the rankings due to insufficient data, so they’re here in spirit.

[mehmanuel]

Mercedes-Benz's race to the bottom has been breathtaking.

[markjwil]

Mercedes-Benz is not the company it used to be. Their focus on profitability and high volume comes with consequences.

[EastA]

finally, you guys started to produce materials regarding the reliability list of brands. you should be making them videos more often. the consumer is getting hit hard by these expensive repairs due to the lack of quality control. for the amount of money/debt. that feels very disrespectful from the manufacturer not to make sure their product is well built or at least stand by it recall it and perform appropriate fixes. Dodge Jeep and GM. they always push their customer out by giving them software updates!!! that's why I will never buy their products.

[HOON]

4xe Wranglers are awesome but I'm terrified of owning one outside of warranty.

[fatboy]

Use consumer reports as a guide. If you love a car get the car you love NEW or under factory warranty. If it gives you a world of problems get rid of it before the warranty is up.

[JPMJPM]

My 2003 Saturn Ion has over 300, 000 miles on it, and I regularly put 200 miles or more on it every three days or so. All I’ve ever needed to replace were filters, tires, brakes (just once), and a valve (just recently). They need to bring the Saturn back!

[tonyvargas]

And yet my 2019 Alfa Romeo Stelvio keeps soldiering on with zero problems. 😊

[globetrotter]

Great info to know! I'm starting to look for another vehicle to buy. This helps!

[wholeNwon]

No surprises there except perhaps for omissions. What buyers also need from CR are long-term data....like 10 yrs.

[leftcoaster]

Can CR do a top ten/bottom 10 build quality video. I'm curious to see how bad some manufacturer's are.

[Buc_Stops_Here]

Their background data is very good, but you have to know more to use it. For example, their overall reliablity for a car is based only on the last three years of reliablity data. For longer term reliablity, you need to look back - essentially to the last redesign. Even better, if you can determine prior to the last redesign the manufacturer kept the same powertrain, so much the better. For example, the Mazda CX-5. Generally a reliable car, its powertrain has been made since 2014 - 10 years ago since it will be used for one more year in 2024. Buying that model you probably will do very well on long term reliablity. It is how I use their data and buy cars - I track powertrain production and on the older designs by those - and most my cars last 200, 000 miles.

[fatboy]

I lucked up with my 2001, X J Jeep Cherokee, 350, 000 miles no major problems. Everything in the drivetrain works. The power seats and ac finally went out. No headliner. I could drive from Ny to La today.

[j.z]

I own a 2014 Passat 1.8T, current mileage is just over 100k…other than regular oil change and replacing spark plugs, brake pads and rotors, it runs fine

[trevorthompson]

What exactly is predicted reliability? What goes into determining that metric? Who measures it?

[tylersmith]

Interesting the divergence between BMW and Merc in the reliability rankings.

[JeremyKasperson]

Rivian, Mercedes, and VW all surprised me. I thought Ford, the NHTSA leader in recalls, would have been on there.

[rotcoke]

I feel like most consumers aren't buying a Mercedes for reliability. Sure you got some older diesel models that you can put 500k miles on, but for the most part you're just kind of accepting the 5k a year running cost when you buy it.

[snaga]

Finally range rover not at the bottom 😅

[chrismadson]

I dont get the pacifica. There are 1000 of the within 10 miles of me (myself included) and everyone loves them. Never had an issue. CR may be non profit but glady take handouts. I would NEVER skip out on the perfect vehicle for my family based on their crappy data.