Consumer Reports has revealed its list of the top 10 least reliable vehicle models for 2019, and, shocking no one, its filled mostly with cars from American automakers.To evaluate the vehicles, Consumer Reports tests 17 problem areas, including squeaky brakes, broken interior trim, out-of-warranty transmission repairs and four-wheel-drive issues.The severity of each problem is weighted to give a Predicted Reliability Score, cross-referenced with track tests and owner satisfaction survey results to give the final score. Some 420,000 vehicle owners are surveyed in the test.Yes, not unexpectedly, this year a lot of the vehicles at the bottom of the reliability scale are from American and Italian brands, with only a few surprises thrown in.Chevrolet TraverseRight off the bat, the Chevrolet Traverse earned its spot at number 10 on the list by offering poor reliability, but above-average owner satisfaction, it should be noted. You win some, you lose some.Chrysler PacificaNumber nine on the list is one of the few remaining Chrysler-branded vehicles the namesake OEM makes anymore, the Pacifica minivan. With a score of 16, the vehicle received a poor reliability rating and an average owner satisfaction rating.Tesla Model XThe Tesla Model X is next with a score of 15. Perhaps we should not be surprised by Tesla owners’ cult-like devotion to the brand, but despite this poor reliability, the Tesla somehow managed to garner an excellent rating in the Owner Satisfaction department. It’s not the first time we’ve seen this counterintuitive devotion from Tesla owners…Acura MDXOnly one Japanese vehicle made the list, the Acura MDX, with a score of 15. Reliability was found to be poor, and customer satisfaction was also below-average.Volkswagen Atlas and TiguanTwo Volkswagens made the list in the fifth and sixth spots, the Atlas and Tiguan. with a rating of 13 and 15 respectively. Both earned poor reliability scores, and only average owner satisfaction.Alfa Romeo GiuliaAlfa Romeo had to make the list, and it did it this time with the Giulia, and a score of 13. Owner satisfaction was above-average, but reliability was still poor.Jeep WranglerIf youre surprised at number three, you dont know anything about cars. Its the Jeep Wrangler, with a score of 12. Poor reliability ratings, but, again, still an above-average owner satisfaction rating.Chevrolet CamaroSecond from worst is the Chevrolet Camaro with a score of five. Poor reliability ratings didnt stop owners from giving it an excellent satisfaction rating, however. We have a hunch Camaro owners are probably more interested in performance than durability, anyway.Chevrolet ColoradoThe worst offender, according to Consumer Reports’ surveys, is the Chevrolet Colorado, with a reliablility score of just four. Not only was the truck unreliable, owners rated their satisfaction with the vehicle as
Origin: These 10 vehicles are 2019’s least reliable models according to Consumer Reports
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News Roundup: Consumer Reports’ most and least reliable, Honda’s many CR-V options and police pull over the weirdest cars
2019 Lexus LS 500Handout Welcome to our weekly round-up of the biggest breaking stories on Driving.ca from this past week. Get caught up and ready to get on with the weekend, because it’s hard keeping pace in a digital traffic jam.Here’s what you missed while you were away.2019’s most and least reliable brands according to Consumer Reports 2019 Mazda CX-5 Signature Al Charest / Postmedia Breaking news! Dodge has landed itself on the top ten list of Consumer Reports’ most reliable brands! That’s a first. Otherwise, the list was not so surprising, with Japan sweeping the top three (Lexus, Mazda and Toyota in that order) and Jeep, VW and Acura elbowing each other for position down at the bottom of the pile. Where does your brand land on the list this year?Anyone want to buy a $90k Corvette for $145,500 on eBay?A selfish Corvette buyer is fishing for suckers online with an ad for a build slot for a 2020 C8 Corvette. The listing is asking for $145,500 for what is, if you were to purchase it directly from the brand, a $90,000 car. Listed as ““BRAND NEW C-8 2020 CORVETTE FOR SALE ALLOCATED PAID FOR 1ST WAVE EARLY RELEASE,” the car is basically just a standard 1LT trim C8 with the free white paint, free silver wheels, $100 mirrors, US$5,000 Z51 package and less than $10,000 worth of other options. Do the math. Don’t buy the car. Honda’s CR-V gets lots of new options for 2020Honda has freshened up its popular SUV for 2020, giving shoppers even more options for trims and some new options like Remote Engine Start and heated front seats at the base level of the CR-V. The exterior gets a bit of a facelift, too, with some Civic-esque tweaks, two new colour options and 19-inch wheels. All models will run with a 1.5-litre turbo four. Pricing starts at $28,690 for the base model, which is exactly $1,000 more than last year’s. These are the strangest vehicles to ever be pulled over by policeAn electric three-wheeler homemade from balsa wood and duct tape. A couch on wheels capable of travelling over 140 km/h. A bumper car with another bumper car being pulled beside it, armstrong-style. These are a few of the most surprising vehicles to get pulled over by police. The couch got a ticket, but balsa-wood trike did not. Check out the full list here. Gone in 60 Seconds ‘Eleanor’ Mustang likely to fetch over US$1 million at auctionThe “Dream Car,” or the main ride of the 11 Mustangs used in the 2000 Nicolas Cage film Gone in 60 Seconds, is scheduled to head to auction in January 2020. And based on the sale of the last, less-of-a-star ‘Eleanor’ Mustang, which sold for US$1 million, this Shelby-inspired 1967 Ford will likely fetch more than the sum of the entire film budget of the original 1974 cut of the film. The movie car will go under the hammer at the Mecum auction in Kissimmee, Florida in January 2020. LISTEN: Toyota has led the hybrid charge for two decades, and as Toyota Canada’s Stephen Beatty tells Plugged In host Andrew McCredie, is now all-in on EVs, particularly fuel cell vehicles. The company’s vice president also has some interesting things to say about some provinces’ push to create electric vehicle sales quotas for 2030, and tells us about Toyota’s fascinating, and potentially game-changing, work with Quebec to produce green hydrogen. Plugged In is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts.Is the player not working? Click
Origin: News Roundup: Consumer Reports’ most and least reliable, Honda’s many CR-V options and police pull over the weirdest cars
The most – and least – reliable brands for 2019, ranked by Consumer Reports
2019 Dodge Challenger Scat Pack 392 WidebodyChris Balcerak / Driving If youve picked up a copy of Consumer Reports at all in the past 15 years, you know by now their tests typically rank Japanese manufacturers at or near the top for dependability; see various European automakers fill up the middle of the reliability list, plus maybe a Ford or GM brand; and then round out the bottom with most of the Detroit Three and some luxury car companies.This year, though, that pattern got a little up-ended. Perennial worst-for-reliability automaker Fiat Chrysler actually saw one of its brands, Dodge, take a spot in the top 10 on the list for the first time ever.What gives? The eighth-place ranking in Consumer Reports’ Auto Reliability Survey can be chalked up largely to high reliability scores from the Dodge Grand Caravan and Dodge Challenger two models built right here in Canada.If thats not a big enough upset for you, typically-reliable Volkswagen slipped nine spots, as did Acura yeah, the premium marque built by Honda. The non-profit consumer organizations survey is based on feedback from some 400,000 vehicle owners and their experiences with models from 2000 to 2019. The reliability score is distilled from numbers crunched using that feedback.So what else did this number-crunching show? Well let the top and bottom five brands on the list speak for themselves.The Worst26. JeepThis is what makes Fiat Chryslers meteoric rise this year so incredible typically it falls into the lower third of the 30-strong list, along with many other American brands, like Jeep did as usual. Dodge was the only U.S. brand in the top 10, thanks largely to the above-average reliability of the Windsor, Ontario-built Grand Caravan; and the Brampton, Ontario-built Challenger, but the also-Brampton-built Chrysler 300 dragged the automakers namesake brand out of the dregs, too.Whats the secret? Theyre old, says CR. The 300, Challenger and Caravan havent changed in forever, so all the bugs are worked out and theyre pretty solid now. Unfortunately the same cant be said, somehow, for the Jeep Wrangler, which anchored that brand down here, pulling it from 23rd place.27. VolkswagenDoesnt VW know how to make a good car by now? Sure, but the company is still not as familiar with SUVs. CR blames the companys new Atlas and Tiguan utilities for sinking Volkswagen nine spots on the list. Specifically, the trucks much-worse-than-average reliability rating stems from the frequent failure of their emissions and fuel systems and electronics and power-assisted options.28. AcuraHonda has built a reputation on rock-solid reliability, but move up to its premium Acura brand and that reassurance goes away. Transmission issues and continuing problems plaguing the MDX took the companys scores way down nine spots as did the below-average reliability of the RDX.29. Alfa RomeoOutside of the Detroit Three, the bottom of the list typically is stuffed with niche European automakers that just cant get their dependability where they want it. Mini managed to shake off that ballast this year, moving up five spots, but the Giulia sedan kept Alfa Romeo right at the lists end. We have to point out for ironys sake that Alfa is owned by Fiat Chrysler, parent company of the above-mentioned rapidly-improving Dodge and the not-so-hot Jeep.30. CadillacChevrolets Camaro and Colorado are among the least reliable vehicles on the market today, if you ask Consumer Reports members that own em, but overall the brand ranked 25th on the dependability survey. General Motors luxury arm Cadillac wasnt able to escape the bottom five, though, ending up in dead last.That still seems mostly par for the course for many U.S. brands, though; outside of Dodge, the best America could muster was a dead-middle 15th-place finish via Lincoln, with Ford just behind.The Best5. GenesisIt took a long time, but the Korean trio of Kia, Hyundai and Genesis all owned by parent company Hyundai have gone from regularly showing up in the bottom half of CRs reliability scores to now taking three spots in the top 10. There is no gap anymore between the Korean manufacturers and the Japanese, said Jake Fisher, CRs senior director of auto testing. Their reliability is equal.If you cant afford the automakers upscale Genesis luxury cars, Hyundai itself was just behind in sixth place, and its Kona was ranked one of the top most-reliable models.4. PorscheWhile you arent always guaranteed the reliability youd assume youd be with a luxury marque, you do get it with Porsche, which moved up five spots this year to make it that spot just next to the podium.That bodes well for its upcoming Taycan electric sedan, which has a bunch of hype to live up to and cant afford to break down on buyers, especially with Tesla also climbing in CRs reliability ranks.3. ToyotaWhat can we say? You expected to see it here, and here it is. While Consumer Reports blame some brands falling scores on re-designs they still have to
Origin: The most – and least – reliable brands for 2019, ranked by Consumer Reports
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