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10 Best Auto Brands in 2011
by James Bleeker
The ten best automobile brands by the 2011 Auto Reliability Grade Point Average (GPA) 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.
Nine of the Top 10 brands are offered by corporations
headquartered in Japan; the remaining one is offered by a South
Korean Company. Toyota Motor Corporation and Honda Motor Company account for
the Top 5 of the Top 10 brands in 2011, as has been the norm for
a number of years.
To view the Auto Reliability GPAs and Grades of all of the major brands
in North America, click here.
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" rating, a GP of 3.00 (that is, a B) is given to a
CR "Better Than Average" rating, a GP of 2.00 (that is, a C) to
an "Average" rating, a GP of 1.00 (that is, a D) to a "Worse
Than Average" rating, and a GP of 0.00 (that is, an F) to a
"Much Worse Than Average" rating. The Grade Point Average (GPA)
of an automobile model is
an average of the Grade Points and is computed using Microsoft's
Average(a:b,[c:d],...) function. These GPAs are the Average
GPAs given in the table "The Updated 2011 Motor Vehicle Reliability
Grade Point Averages (GPAs) and Grades with
Reliability GPAs for Four 4-Year Age Ranges and
an Overall Average Reliability GPA" on the
Updated Auto
Reliability Grade Point Averages and Grades page. The
GPAs of auto brands are the average of its model GPAs.
The sources for Consumer Reports' ratings are the reliability
tables in (1) the April 2011 issue of Consumer Reports, (2) Consumer
Reports New Car Buying Guide: 2011, and (3) Consumer Reports Used
Car Buying Guide: 2011.
Consumer Reports defines reliability as the infrequency
of reported serious problems.
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