The Updated 2011 Reliability Grade Point Averages and Grades for Lines/Brands of Automobiles Sold in North America: The Complete Table and the Top 10 Automobile Brands and the Bottom 10 Automobile Brands
by James Bleeker

The Complete Table

This page provides detailed 2011 auto brand reliability ratings and auto brand reliability rankings. It expresses the auto brand reliability ratings and auto brand reliability rankings, and makes available brand reliability comparisons and brand reliability contrasts, using the Auto Reliability Grade Point Average, or Auto Reliability GPA. This auto reliability index is valuable as it is an easy-to-understand, but detailed, auto reliability measure, and is familiar to many having attended secondary school and nearly all who have received some post-secondary education. The page also employs Auto Reliability Grades as a reliability index. This measure of auto reliability differences, although less detailed, is valuable as it is familiar to all persons having attended primary school. The updated Auto Reliability GPA is an automobile reliability statistic that is obtained from Consumer Reports' auto reliability survey data summarized in the reliability tables of (1) Consumer Reports: New Car Buying Guide: 2011, (2) Consumer Reports: Used Car Buying Guide: 2011, and (3) the April 2011 issue of the Consumer Reports magazine.

The Average GPA for each car brand is the average of the Average GPAs of its models. The Average Minimum GPA for each car brand is the average of the Minimum GPAs of its models. The Reliable Two, Toyota Motor Corporation and Honda Motor Company, appear first in the table, because of their rather singular stature; the remaining manufacturers are listed alphabetically.

Letter grades corresponding to Average GPAs and Average Minimum GPAs are determined thusly: A if the GPA is 3.50 to 4.00, B if the GPA is 2.50 to 3.49, C if the GPA is 1.50 to 2.49, D if the GPA is 0.50 to 1.49, and F if the GPA < 0.50.

GPAs for 4 age ranges are given so that the visitor may examine more thoroughly the age range that is of greater interest to him/her, if such there be.

The Updated 2011 Reliability Grade Point Averages (GPAs) for Brands of Motor Vehicles with Reliability GPAs for Four 4-Year Age Ranges and an Overall Average Reliability GPA   ID Auto Manufacturer Line Line GPA for 0-to-4 Year Old Vehicles Line GPA for 2-to-6 Year Old Vehicles Line GPA for 4-to-8 Year Old Vehicles Line GPA for 6-to-10 Year Old Vehicles Average GPA Grade Based on Average Average Minimum GPA Grade Based on Average Minimum GPA Average Number of Model Years of Data 12 Toyota Lexus 3.01 3.48 3.70 3.75 3.39 B 3.06 B 6.9 38 Toyota Toyota 3.10 3.54 3.60 3.65 3.43 B 3.04 B 6.9 43 Toyota Scion 3.56 3.73 3.56 3.50 3.65 A 3.50 A 4.0 52 Honda Acura 3.55 3.67 3.40 3.38 3.51 A 3.38 B 6.3 67 Honda Honda 3.27 3.45 3.59 3.39 3.45 B 3.13 B 6.9 80 BMW BMW 1.21 1.80 1.99 1.79 1.37 D 1.07 D 5.5 83 BMW Mini Cooper 1.63 0.88 0.63 0.67 0.95 D 0.58 D 7.5 93 Chrysler Jeep 1.10 0.99 1.10 1.19 1.13 D 0.82 D 6.3 102 Chrysler Chrysler 0.89 1.31 1.36 1.53 1.37 D 0.92 D 5.6 118 Chrysler Dodge 1.08 1.02 1.16 1.07 1.04 D 0.84 D 5.1 131 Daimler Mercedes-Benz 1.42 1.63 1.88 2.31 1.44 D 1.11 D 4.8 133 Daimler Smart ForTwo 1.00       0.50 D 0.00 F 2.0 158 Ford Ford 2.29 1.99 2.06 2.08 2.14 C 1.87 C 6.7 166 Ford Lincoln 1.83 2.12 2.00 1.83 1.83 C 1.57 C 4.7 175 Ford Mercury 2.19 2.11 2.18 1.67 2.14 C 1.93 C 6.3 186 Ford Volvo 2.53 2.31 2.09 1.81 2.32 C 1.86 C 4.4 196 General Motors Buick 1.83 1.90 1.95 1.78 1.88 C 1.71 C 4.5 203 General Motors Cadillac 1.02 1.24 1.25 1.33 1.21 D 0.74 D 5.7 229 General Motors Chevrolet 1.50 1.00 1.08 1.44 1.25 D 0.94 D 6.1 241 General Motors GMC 1.31 1.01 1.32 1.70 1.27 D 0.92 D 6.3 243 General Motors Hummer 0.50 0.33     0.42 F 0.33 F 3.0 252 General Motors Pontiac 1.83 1.57 1.63 1.15 1.50 C 1.22 D 4.6 255 General Motors Saab 3.25 2.17 1.25 1.13 1.95 C 1.13 D 7.5 262 General Motors Saturn 1.23 1.13 1.42 1.38 1.13 D 1.00 D 3.7 275 Hyundai Hyundai 2.52 2.47 2.29 1.69 2.38 C 2.05 C 5.5 278 Isuzu Isuzu       1.50 1.50 C 1.50 C 2.0 284 Jaguar Jaguar 1.00 2.00 2.00 1.83 1.46 D 1.42 D 2.3 296 Kia Kia 2.41 1.98 1.38 1.04 2.04 C 1.73 C 3.8 300 Land Rover Land Rover 2.00 1.50 1.00   1.50 C 1.50 C 1.5 314 Mazda Mazda 2.35 2.13 2.38 2.14 2.15 C 1.73 C 6.2 321 Mitsubishi Mitsubishi 2.83 2.83 2.50 2.35 2.61 B 2.35 C 2.8 331 Nissan Infiniti 3.01 3.21 3.20 2.63 2.89 B 2.67 B 4.4 348 Nissan Nissan 2.01 1.87 1.84 2.03 1.95 C 1.56 C 6.4 354 Porsche Porsche 2.17 2.58 2.00 1.89 2.23 C 1.75 C 4.5 363 Subaru Subaru 2.85 2.86 2.69 2.15 2.63 B 2.11 C 7.6 366 Suzuki Suzuki 2.67 2.50     2.58 B 2.50 B 3.0 377 Volkswagen Audi 1.41 1.37 0.70 1.00 1.14 D 0.86 D 3.7 390 Volkswagen Volkswagen 1.78 1.21 0.82 1.00 1.29 D 0.83 D 4.1

The following bar graph depicts the 2011 Auto Reliability GPAs of the above brands.

There are several important points to be noted from the above bar graph. The first is that the Hyundai brand is now among the ten most reliable brands and the Kia brand is above average. The second is that all of the Top 10 brands are brands of corporations headquartered in Southeast Asia - 9 in Japan and one in South Korea. The third is that 5 of the Bottom 10 brands are General Motors brands - Hummer, Saturn (a brand offloaded with the assist of bankruptcy), Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC. The fourth is that both the Hyundai and the Kia brands outperformed all of the brands of General Motors and Chrysler. The fifth is that many more brands have a 2011 Auto Reliability GPA below 2.00 than above 2.00; this reflects the very high concentration of quality in a small number of brands.

The 2011 Top 10 Automobile Brands

Next, we list the 10 most reliable automobile brands. The 2011 Top Ten brands are:

Toyota Motor Corporation's Scion brand, with an overall 2011 Auto Reliability GPA of 3.65,
Honda Motor Company's Acura brand, with an overall 2011 Auto Reliability GPA of 3.51,
Honda Motor Company's Honda brand, with an overall 2011 Auto Reliability GPA of 3.45,
Toyota Motor Corporation's Toyota brand, with an overall 2011 Auto Reliability GPA of 3.43,
Toyota Motor Corporation's Lexus brand, with an overall 2011 Auto Reliability GPA of 3.39,
Nissan Motor Company's Infiniti brand, with an overall 2011 Auto Reliability GPA of 2.89,
Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd.'s Subaru brand, with an overall 2011 Auto Reliability GPA of 2.63,
Mitsubishi Motors Corporation's Mitsubishi brand, with an overall 2011 Auto Reliability GPA of 2.61,
Suzuki Motor Corporation's Suzuki brand, with an overall 2011 Auto Reliability GPA of 2.58,
Hyundai Motor Company's Hyundai brand, with an overall 2011 Auto Reliability GPA of 2.38.

Note that Toyota Motor Corporation's three brands and Honda Motor Company two brands constitute the five best brands. Also note that the difference between the 2010 Auto Reliability GPA of Toyota's Lexus brand, fifth most reliable, and the 2010 Auto Reliability GPA of Nissan's Infiniti brand, sixth most reliable, is quite sizable this year (0.50).

Ford Motor Company has sold the Volvo brand to the Tata Group of India, but this year Volvo is still included among Ford's brands.

The 2011 Bottom 10 Automobile Brands

Next, we list the 10 least reliable automobile brands. The 2011 Bottom Ten brands are:

General Motors Corporation's Hummer brand, with an overall 2011 Auto Reliability GPA of 0.41,
Daimler AG's Smart ForTwo brand, with an overall 2011 Auto Reliability GPA of 0.50,
BMW AG's Mini Cooper brand, with an overall 2011 Auto Reliability GPA of 0.95,
Chrysler LLC's Dodge brand, with an overall 2011 Auto Reliability GPA of 1.04,
General Motors Corporation's Saturn brand, with an overall 2011 Auto Reliability GPA of 1.13,
Chrysler LLC's Jeep brand, with an overall 2011 Auto Reliability GPA of 1.13,
Volkswagen AG's Audi brand, with an overall 2011 Auto Reliability GPA of 1.14,
General Motors Corporation's Cadillac brand, with an overall 2011 Auto Reliability GPA of 1.21,
General Motors Corporation's Chevrolet brand, with an overall 2011 Auto Reliability GPA of 1.25,
General Motors Corporation's GMC brand, with an overall 2011 Auto Reliability GPA of 1.27.

Together, General Motors Corporation and Chrysler LLC account for 7 of the 10 worst brands in 2011. By location of corporate headquarters, the U.S. accounts for 7 of the Bottom 10 brands; Germany - the remaining 3.

The method of computation of the GPAs is probably familiar to nearly every college, technical school, and high school student. A Grade Point of 4.00 (that is, an A) is given to a Consumer Reports "Much Better Than Average" auto reliability rating, a GP of 3.00 (that is, a B) is given to a CR "Better Than Average" auto reliability rating, a GP of 2.00 (that is, a C) to an "Average" auto reliability rating, a GP of 1.00 (that is, a D) to a "Worse Than Average" auto reliability rating, and a GP of 0.00 (that is, an F) to a "Much Worse Than Average" auto reliability rating. A Grade Point Average (GPA) is an average of the Grade Points and is computed using Microsoft's Average(a:b,[c:d],...) function.

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