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
James Ruppert: The cars that cost least in maintenance bills
I like it when companies tell us how much cars cost to fix and which ones break down. So thank you to the whocanfixmycar.com people, who have crunched the numbers to reveal which cars cost a bomb to repair and which don’t. In theory, this should be our banger buying guide. The criteria is how much each car costs to maintain at different ages, from brand new to 15 years old, and there’s an average cost for each car per year. Each figure includes servicing, MOT and any unexpected repairs. Well, here’s a favourite of ours, a BMW 5 Series, which sits at the very top of the ‘most expensive cars to fix’ list. There does not seem to be any qualification, but certainly recent-era ones aren’t a cheap fix. Indeed, a Bavarian specialist once told me that the E39 generation was the last truly fixable 5 Series. With that in mind and ignoring the fact that E39s are more than 15 years old now, let’s get ourselves a nice one for just £1500. That will bag you a 2003 520i ES with 120,000 miles. It’s got those nice star alloy wheels and automatic ’box, and being a petrol, I think it will be pretty reliable. The stats, though, say it will cost £585 a year to sort out. You might get away with it, but I’m not so sure about a 2006 530d Sport with 185,000 miles at £1950. It was a dealer part-exchange and even they admitted that it needed some TLC. Not far behind at £557 per year is the Mercedes-Benz C-Class. They look small, cool and unfussy now and a 100,000-mile 2007 C200 Kompressor Sport Edition with a fresh air-con condenser is £2490. Then there is the Volkswagen Passat, with a £543 bill. That’s a surprise because they seem to gobble up huge mileages with not too much bother. Certainly, the estates are wonderful luggers. A 2002 1.8 Turbo SE with 100,000 miles, a proper old-school petrol estate with a full year’s MOT, is just £900. After the Passat, it is more BMWs, with the 1 Series costing £518 to fix and the 3 Series £486. We’re running out of space here and obviously should have been focusing on the five cheapest cars to maintain. A Fiat Punto is at number one (£255) although, in my experience, every single used one needs at least that to struggle through an MOT. After the Fiat comes a Peugeot 206, then a Mercedes A-Class, Citroën C4 and Renault Mégane. Actually, those French cars always seem to need a lot of fettling after the first year of ownership. Maybe, though, it didn’t amount to more than £250. What we take away from this is avoid premium-brand used cars. What we almost bought this week Reliant Scimitar: Some people sell their car because they fancy a change, others because they’re worried it’s about to go pop, but the seller of this 40,000-mile, 1982 X-reg Scimitar 2.8 GTE auto, on which “thousands of pounds” have been lavished, claims he’s selling simply because he’s “unable to get in or out of it any more”. It’ll happen to us one day. Tales from Ruppert’s garage Just in case you wondered, the Baby Shark failed its MOT. The horn didn’t horn. That was it. But that really didn’t matter as it’s remaining in situ at the garage to have rather a lot of other things attended to. Not the least the fact that it is not keen on starting. At least I have a spare Weber carburettor to donate. Also, the fact that 16-year-old tyres passed the MOT should be a concern and I have decided to replace them all at no small damage to my bank balance. Contributions, please, to the usual channels. Reader’s ride Here’s Ross Neil’s latest buy. “It’s a 2012 A8 L 4.2 TDI SE Executive, 61k miles, full service history, £15k from a BMW dealer who took it as a trade-in. “They had already advertised and sold it, but when that customer’s finance fell through, it meant it was hanging about the forecourt longer than they wanted. I stepped in and got, to my mind, a cracking deal. “The alloys need repainting. I used that as a bargaining tool and got £500 off. I traded in my 2006 Jag XJ diesel and got £1800 for that so I’m delighted.” Readers’ questions Question: I’ve been declined motor finance but am convinced lenders are mistaken about my situation. What can I do? Nick Rowntree, via email Answer: Ask the last lender you dealt with which credit reference agency they use. There are three: Equifax, Experian and Trans Union. Contact them asking to see your credit history. Ignore their request for payment: it’s a free service. You only pay for extras, if you want them. Check your file for errors or misunderstandings. If you find any, inform the agency and have a note attached explaining why you dispute them. Lenders must take this into account. Finally, don’t make multiple applications because they’ll count against you. John Evans Question: I’m in the happy position of being able to afford a new car but should I buy nearly new instead? Sophie Whittingham, Rickmansworth Answer: Autocar sibling title What Car? recently reported that to drive sales of new cars, dealers are offering discounts
Origin: James Ruppert: The cars that cost least in maintenance bills
Hyundai Sonata N Line confirmed with at least 275 horsepower
2020 Hyundai SonataAndrew McCredie / Driving Hyundai wants you to know that it hasn’t abandoned the sedan. The automaker revealed the 2020 Sonata at the New York Auto Show, and the eighth-generation midsize sedan might be its most attractive yet. Our own David Booth goes as far as to say “it’s set to become one of the best-looking midsize sedans on the road.” Now, Hyundai has confirmed that an N Line-spec Sonata is also on the way, along with a hybrid model. Jim Trainor, director of communications at Hyundai’s U.S. division, revealed in a conversation with Autoblog that the Sonata N Line will come with at least 275 horsepower, and probably a lot more. Pressed for more details, Trainor only reiterated that there was “more” on the way. Whether that means upgraded suspension, brakes or other bits is unclear, but it’s sure to include some aesthetic adjustments as well. The 2020 Sonata that will arrive in Canada this fall, meanwhile, is powered by either a 178-horsepower, 1.6-litre turbo-four, or a normally aspirated 2.5L inline-four with 191 horsepower. The source of the promised 275+ horsepower in the Sonata N Line remains unconfirmed, but it’s worth noting in Canada, the Hyundai Veloster N’s four-cylinder turbo makes exactly that — 275 horsepower. Coincidence? We hope not.
Origin: Hyundai Sonata N Line confirmed with at least 275 horsepower
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