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2012 Auto, Brand, and Manufacturer Reliability GPAs and Grades

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2012's Best-to-Worst Car and Truck Brands in North America: Table and Chart
by James Bleeker

This page provides the table giving the Auto Reliability GPAs of the motor vehicle brands in 2012 and a chart depicting the Overall Reliability GPAs of these brands in 2012.

The Table

The table below provides the 2012 Auto Reliability GPAs and Grades of car and light truck brands in the U.S.

Reliability GPAs for 4 age ranges are given so that the visitor may examine more closely the age range that is of greater interest to him or her. As well, an Overall Reliability GPA - an average of the 4 Reliability GPAs - is provided; this may be of greatest value to those interested in purchasing a new car and owning it for decade, or several.

Letter grades for automobile reliability are determined thusly: A if the Auto Reliability GPA is 3.50 to 4.00, B if the Auto Reliability GPA is 2.50 to 3.49, C if the Auto Reliability GPA is 1.50 to 2.49, D if the Auto Reliability GPA is 0.50 to 1.49, and F if the Auto Reliability GPA < 0.50.

The table is in descending order of Overall GPA, i.e., from best to worst.

The Reliability GPAs and Grades of Car and Truck Brands in 2012
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 Overall Reliability GPA Grade Based on Overall GPA Minimum Reliability GPA Grade Based on Minimum GPA Average Number of Model Years of Data
12 Toyota Lexus 3.18 3.28 3.50 3.75 3.44 B 3.14 B 6.82
67 Honda Honda 3.19 3.42 3.58 3.58 3.44 B 3.17 B 6.53
51 Honda Acura 3.35 3.43 3.45 3.38 3.43 B 3.22 B 7.33
43 Toyota Scion 3.06 3.21 3.44 3.67 3.41 B 3.21 B 4.25
38 Toyota Toyota 3.18 3.34 3.42 3.63 3.35 B 3.03 B 7.12
317 Nissan Infiniti 3.17 3.30 3.31 2.83 3.32 B 3.11 B 5.67
354 Suzuki Suzuki 3.00 3.00     3.00 B 3.00 B 3.00
309 Mitsubishi Mitsubishi 3.33 3.17 2.67 2.63 2.67 B 2.63 B 2.50
351 Subaru Subaru 2.89 2.69 2.66 2.25 2.63 B 2.06 C 7.88
175 Ford Mercury 2.44 2.13 2.22 2.05 2.43 C 2.13 C 6.00
268 Hyundai Hyundai 2.23 2.49 2.41 2.27 2.33 C 1.94 C 5.50
303 Mazda Mazda 2.66 2.20 2.09 2.54 2.25 C 1.77 C 5.82
387 Volvo - Geely Volvo 2.35 2.51 1.90 1.65 2.17 C 1.70 C 5.38
159 Ford Ford 2.21 2.06 2.07 2.00 2.08 C 1.76 C 6.79
335 Nissan Nissan 2.28 2.08 1.86 1.68 2.06 C 1.75 C 6.35
341 Porsche Porsche 2.00 2.17 1.83 3.50 1.99 C 1.33 D 3.00
245 General Motors Saab 2.33 2.38 2.00 1.50 1.97 C 1.50 C 7.50
167 Ford Lincoln 1.96 2.02 2.07 1.67 1.81 C 1.68 C 4.57
286 Kia Kia 1.90 1.82 1.75 1.07 1.77 C 1.52 C 4.40
185 General Motors Buick 1.25 1.31 2.04 1.88 1.69 C 1.44 D 4.88
241 General Motors Pontiac (with Toyota-engineered Vibe) 2.27 1.58 1.34 1.68 1.55 C 1.24 D 4.88
131 Daimler Mercedes-Benz 2.07 1.54 1.20 1.82 1.54 C 1.22 D 5.30
85 BMW Mini Cooper 1.94 1.25 0.50 1.33 1.51 C 1.25 D 4.50
290 Land Rover - Tata Land Rover 2.00 1.50 1.00   1.50 C 1.50 C 1.00
133 Daimler Smart ForTwo 1.50 1.50     1.50 C 1.50 C 2.00
80 BMW BMW 1.45 1.47 1.61 1.73 1.45 D 1.15 D 5.64
377 Volkswagen Volkswagen 1.76 1.67 1.18 1.35 1.43 D 1.10 D 4.33
103 Chrysler Chrysler 1.67 1.17 1.26 1.32 1.40 D 0.96 D 5.71
274 Jaguar - Tata Jaguar 0.00 0.00 2.33 1.83 1.40 D 0.88 D 2.25
232 General Motors GMC 1.59 1.22 1.10 1.69 1.36 D 0.99 D 6.77
119 Chrysler Dodge 1.61 1.20 1.07 1.34 1.31 D 0.92 D 5.00
242 General Motors Pontiac (without Toyota-engineered Vibe) 2.00 1.25 1.07 1.35 1.30 D 0.95 D 4.43
218 General Motors Chevrolet 1.54 1.26 1.17 1.24 1.28 D 0.98 D 5.92
95 Chrysler Jeep 1.51 1.19 1.03 1.42 1.20 D 0.81 D 6.00
253 General Motors Saturn 1.50 1.07 0.96 1.44 1.20 D 0.96 D 3.86
192 General Motors Cadillac 1.23 1.00 1.15 0.98 1.15 D 0.82 D 5.83
364 Volkswagen Audi 1.11 1.29 1.25 1.39 1.07 D 0.69 D 3.88
 

Chart of the Reliability GPAs of North America's Car and Truck Brands

The following bar graph depicts the Overall Reliability GPAs of North America's car and light truck brands in 2012.

Bar graph depicting the Overall Reliability GPAs of North America's Car and Light Truck Brands in 2012.

The Auto Reliability GPAs are automobile reliability statistics that are obtained from Consumer Reports' auto reliability survey data summarized in the reliability tables of (1) Consumer Reports: New Car Buying Guide: 2012, (2) Consumer Reports: Used Car Buying Guide: 2012, and (3) the April 2012 issue of the Consumer Reports magazine.

The method of computation of the GPAs is probably familiar to nearly every college, technical school, and high school student. For each model year, a Grade Point of 4.00 (that is, an A) is given to a Consumer Reports Used Car Verdict of "Much Better Than Average," 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. A 4-year Grade Point Average (GPA) is an average of the Grade Points and is computed using Microsoft's Average(a:b,[c:d],...) function. The Overall GPA of a model is the average of the four 4-year GPAs. The brand GPAs given in the table and chart above are the averages of the model GPAs.

AutoOnInfo.net: Helping to inform consumers which autos, brands, and manufacturers are better than good and worse than bad since 2001.

Additional Resources

More detail on brand Quality Grades is given in the Kindle ebook entitled AutoOnInfo.net's Car Quality Series, Volume 2: Brand Quality for Model Years 1985 to 2006 and Brand Market Shares from 1985 to 2009. Links to the Amazon page offering the book are given below.

Icon for AutoOnInfo.net’s Car Quality Series Volume 2: Brand Quality for Model Years 1985 to 2006 and Effect on Brand Market Shares from 1985 to 2009

AutoOnInfo.net's Car Quality Series, Volume 2: Brand Quality for Model Years 1985 to 2006 and Effect on Brand Market Shares from 1985 to 2009

This volume of AutoOnInfo.net’s car guide series offers consumers and researchers an historical summary of the reliability and durability of car and truck brands and examines how these brands have fared in their U.S. market shares. It uses 6-year-old model entries in Consumer Reports’ Used Car to Avoid – also termed Vehicles to Avoid and Worst Cars, Year by Year – and CR’s reliability charts to ascribe quality grades to automobile brands for model-year groups 1985 to 1989, 1990 to 1994, 1995 to 1999, 2000 to 2004, 2005 to 2006, and 1985 to 2006. In addition to ascribing quality grades to each brand, it provides a chart that plots the number of the brand’s 6-year-old model entries in CR’s vehicles to avoid. To examine the effect that a brand’s reliability and durability has had on sales, two or more charts depicting the brand’s U.S. market shares for calendar years 1985 to 2009 are given. These grades and charts and the author’s comments impart an historical perspective that sheds light on the present condition of surviving vehicle lines and their future prospects, individual and institutional shortcomings, and what effect these may have on the U.S.

Also visit www.CarsOnInfo.net and www.CarQualityInfo.net for more car and truck quality tables, charts, graphs, and information.