Biggest surprises from Consumer Reports' 2014 reliability survey

Spotlighting the cars that reach unexpected highs and lows

Published: November 05, 2014 03:15 PM

The 2014 edition of Consumer Reports' Annual Auto Survey ratified some long-term trends, and it also brought a few surprises, nasty and nice. The findings here focus on predicted reliability, which is how well we expect new models to hold up.

As usual, the most reliable brands were Japanese nameplates: Lexus, Toyota, Mazda, and Honda. But sadly, the bottom four brands all belonged to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles: Fiat, Jeep, Ram, and Dodge. (See the 10 least reliable cars.)

This survey of Consumer Reports magazine and online subscribers gathered data on about 1.1 million cars, spread over more than 400 new and older models. Full details on these and other models spanning across 10 years can be found on the model pages (available to online subscribers).

Here are some of the other more notable findings.

The Fiat 500L was the least reliable new car in the survey, with about 16 times the problem rate of the most reliable car, the long-in-the tooth but ironclad Scion xB.
Buick was the most reliable domestic brand, and it cracked the top 10 list this time, with all Buicks finishing average or better.
New last year, the Infiniti Q50 was the least reliable Japanese luxury car, with a much worse than average predicted-reliability score. Since the Q50 replaced the ultra-reliable G37 sports sedan, it helped diminish what used to be one of the most reliable brands to one of the least reliable among Japanese makes.
Most versions of the newest full-sized pickups, the Chevrolet Silverado/GMC Sierra twins and the Ram 1500 V8, were well below average. The heavy-duty 2500/3500 Ram diesels fell from average in last year's survey to far below average this time.
The Nissan Sentra compact fell from average last year to well below average in the 2014 survey. Nissan was the other least reliable Japanese brand, with the Pathfinder SUV and the Altima sedan also ending up near the bottom of their classes.
The Kia brand, once a stinker, has surged ahead in recent years. Kia's new upscale sedan, the Cadenza, had a far-above-average score in its debut year. Other solidly reliable Kias were the small Soul and Rio hatchbacks.
Audi continued as not only the most reliable European brand but one of the top brands overall, finishing fifth out of 28 brands, just behind the fourth-place Honda.