Top 3 worst reliable automobiles on sale today, courtesy of Consumer Reports. Not like I care, I never thought CR was a good judge.

http://autos.yahoo.com/news/10-least...140000315.html

 

Sweet, they didn't mention the ALL4!

 

Just to be clear, there is no "judgment" involved - CR surveys car owners and reports/ranks the data. If you don't believe the result, you're saying their survey is no good, nothing about their judgment.

My personal opinion: I'm sure their survey has flaws, but it is by far the best data we've got on overall vehicle reliability. The biggest problem is that they don't differentiate between minor and major problems - the reason many Fords appear in these lists is mostly due to software issues in their media systems, not basic car reliability. I think you have to take these things as general indicators and not try and put too fine a point on it. The Countryman may not be in the bottom three (or even the bottom ten), but it certainly has its fair share of problems (as most Minis do). You don't buy any Mini for rock-solid reliability.

- Mark

 

dare i say this, mine's been pretty good. But then again I have only 25k mi

 

WTF?.............

 

So....we're almost as good as a Lincoln!

 

Hopefully when all the data is available, we will see that there is a improvement trend from the first model year through the most recent model year.

 

I told the SAs to not worry about their jobs because MINI ranked so high in unreliability - as I was picking up Fenton after a bout with CEL, overtemp flags, and no-fuel in the tank indications - for 4 days in the shop. The good news is I had a manual Roadster S for the duration.

 

It does bother me that they lump together minor/inconvenient problems with major problems that I would consider actual reliability issues. A glitchy nav system doesn't keep you from getting to work in the morning (and if it does you're truly hopeless). To be fair, MINI has their fair share of actual reliability issues, like clutch problems on the early CMs and high-pressure fuel pumps on all N14/N18 cars.

It's a shame that BMW/MINI can't seem to get their act together, but the legendary German car quality/reliability mythos has been more or less imaginary for a long time.

 

51k miles in 1yr 8mos. Still no issues except at 450 miles had to get towed car wouldn't turn on. Dealer said a valve tonic plug was not in all the way?!

 

Did you get to drive the "roadie" with the top down ??

 

i'm not surprised about the data. it's still a completely new model for mini and they'll be shaking out the bugs for a couple years. i'd guess most of their "data" came from '11 and '12 owners and that's 1st and 2nd year models.

 

You bet!

 

UGH!

I just saw the list, and, while the CM came in #3 worst, our recently purchased Ford C-MAX Energi came in #1!

UGH UGH!

 

Some of the top CM issues were "stiff ride" and "noisey cabin".

WHAT DID YOU SAY -- YOU BOUGHT A MINI FOR IT'S FEEL OF THE ROAD. And if you don't like the road noise turn up the tunes

 

But who's having the most fun!!

 

I've been eyeballing those Taurus SHO's since they came out. The wife wants an Explorer. Oh well.

 

Right! This WAS at the top of the list for the Countryman replacement next summer!

 

Keep in mind, we use the C-MAX for most long-range travel - it's more comfortable than the CM4 for the long haul - and all-electric wins for local trips...no gas purchases for 1000s of miles...........
...But....when I want to go play in the dirt - it's Fenton!

 

I commute 145 miles a day for work. Even with the decent milage from the CMS, I'm spending $375 a month at the pump. So I'm looking at electric, or even a VW TDI to ease the monthly dent in the wallet! Have you personally had any problems with your C-Max?

 

C-MAX Energi gets 25-30 mi in EV mode. We're getting about 72 mpg overall in local and long-distance driving. Considered a Tesla? TDI probably a good choice, too. Energi has been more reliable than Fenton.

 

I saw that article too. Now it'll be even harder to convince my husband that i want a CM!!! I already configured mine online!! Boohoo.

Sent from my iPhone using NAMotoring

 

unfortunately it's not the case. I am a CR subscriber and the reported problems for the 2013 model year cars tally to the same "much worse than average" as the earlier model years. While it may be improving (I did not see the raw data), there no question BMW has a long way to go on this issue. Too bad...no doubt this will continue to scare some buyers away.

At least one post mentioned concern that minor issues were being counted against the CM. What CR does is ask each member if they have experienced "serious" problems with a number of different functional areas of the car...it's up to the member to decide what constitutes "serious". Of course that becomes subjective, and it's an imperfect method. But a perfect method simply is not practical. I have never seen data anywhere else that's as useable and not biased. When you see this big a disparity versus other cars there's no question the average CM owner is experiencing far more problems versus most other cars. Sure, some owners are reporting no issues at all, but that's the same for any car.i would contend what's more significant is what the "average" owner experiences, and that's the best predictor of what the next buyer is going to experience.

What I really like is that when you dig down into CR's data you can see the functional areas that are causing the most complaints...and if you have followed this forum for any length of time, there's a clear correlation to the problems owners are reporting in big numbers on this forum.

 

Previous post summarizes things nicely.

More bad news from http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/...-cars/3304413/

The list of the worst brands for reliability:

1. Mini
2. Lincoln
3. Ford
4. Cadillac
5. Dodge
6. Jeep
7. Nissan
8. Hyundai
9. Volkswagen
10.Ram

I'm wondering where Land Rover and Jaguar are though. They have habitually been at the top of this list. Either they've dramatically improved reliability (doubtful) or something is off in CR's surveys.

And I do think Lincoln and Ford being high on this list is mostly due to the very buggy MyFord, Sync, and Touch media system problems. In general, cars are so reliable these days, these surveys are dominated by electrical system and software issues.

- Mark

 

Interesting statistics, but not very usable for a purchase decision. One really needs to drill down into the results as models within the same make often vary widely in reliability. For example, just compare the BMW X1 4 cylinder to the 335i. You often cannot judge a book by it's cover. So far as Land Rover and Jaguar, they are generally not sold in large enough numbers to provide a statistically valid sample size of CR subscribers reporting on them.