Lexus Still the Most Dependable Car Brand

Ford, GM, and even Honda can crow over how their 90 day initial quality is comparable to that of foreign brands, but three years down the road tells the real tale.

That was the conclusion to a study was conducted by J.D. Power and Associates, including 52,000 original owners of 2005 model year vehicles, and was concluded in April 2008.

Lexus took first for the fourteenth year running with a reported 120 problems per 100 vehicles; a 25 problem improvement over the 2007 study. Long term vehicle quality improved in 2008 throughout the industry by about 10 per 100 vehicles compared to 2007.

The third year is when the rattlers come out of the nest; 75 percent more problems are reported in the third year of ownership than the first 90 days. Of course, customer satisfaction experiences a correlating decline.

Mercury, Cadillac, Toyota(!), and Acura trailed Lexus from second through fifth places in the study, respectively. The Tata-owned Land Rover still sits at the bottom of the list with a whopping 344 problems per 100 vehicles. Saab had the largest improvement with 65 fewer problems per 100 vehicles compared to 2007, but still sits below the industry average.

Lexus led in six vehicle segments with the winning models as follows: the ES 330, GX 470, IS 300, LS 430, LX 470 and SC 430. You made a good choice if you bought one of these.

Interestingly enough, automakers have yet to figure out ways to reduce five of the top ten complaints by consumers which include: excessive wind noise; noisy brakes; vehicle pulling to the left or right, issues with the instrument panel/dashboard; and excessive window fogging. Granted some of these so-called problems are trivial nonsense, but the customer is supposed to be always right.

Our take? A car is a long term investment and it should be pretty obvious where your money will be worth the most. But people will believe whatever they want to believe.


via MSN