The Early 2011 Reliability Grade Point Averages and Grades for Brands of Automobiles
by James Bleeker

Photograph of a 2005 V6 Toyota 4Runner on 18 October 2010

The V6 Toyota 4Runner has an early 2011 Auto Reliability GPA of 3.81 over its 10-year data history and has helped the Toyota line place third among all automobile lines in the Early 2011 Auto Reliability Grade Point Averages. See the table below.

This page provides detailed 2011 auto brand reliability ratings and auto brand reliability rankings in a reorderable table. It expresses the auto brand reliability ratings and auto brand reliability rankings, and makes available brand reliability comparisons and brand reliability contrasts, using the Auto Reliability Grade Point Average, or Auto Reliability GPA. This auto reliability index is used as it is an easy-to-understand auto reliability measure, and is well known to nearly all persons having attended high school. The page also employs Auto Reliability Grades as a reliability index, as this measure of auto reliability provides a quick assessment of differences in motor vehicle brand quality. The Auto Reliability GPA is an automobile reliability statistic that is obtained from Consumer Reports' auto reliability survey data summarized in the reliability tables of Consumer Reports: New Car Buying Guide: 2011 and the April 2011 issue of the Consumer Reports magazine. Column reordering on this page is Ajax enabled to make for a convenient and easy-to-use reordering option.

The Average GPA for each car brand is the average of the Average GPAs of its models. The Average Minimum GPA for each car brand is the average of the Minimum GPAs of its models. The Reliable Two, Toyota Motor Corporation and Honda Motor Company, appear first in the table, because of their rather singular stature; the remaining manufacturers are listed alphabetically.

Letter grades corresponding to Average GPAs and Average Minimum GPAs are determined thusly: A if the GPA is 3.50 to 4.00, B if the GPA is 2.50 to 3.49, C if the GPA is 1.50 to 2.49, D if the GPA is 0.50 to 1.49, and F if the GPA < 0.50.

GPAs for 4 age ranges are given so that the visitor may examine more thoroughly the age range that is of greater interest to him/her, if such there be.

The 2011 Early Reliability Grade Point Averages for Lines of Motor Vehicles for Four 4-Year Age Ranges 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 Average GPA Grade Based on Average Average Minimum GPA Grade Based on Average Minimum Average Number of Model Years of Data 11 Toyota Lexus 3.01 3.42 3.67 3.75 3.33 B 2.97 B 7.10 36 Toyota Toyota 3.10 3.54 3.68 3.75 3.47 B 3.08 B 6.67 41 Toyota Scion 3.15 3.57 3.66   3.50 A 3.16 B 6.26 48 Honda Acura 3.55 3.60 3.35 3.31 3.51 A 3.33 B 7.40 63 Honda Honda 3.27 3.45 3.59 3.39 3.46 B 3.14 B 6.57 75 BMW BMW 1.21 1.77 1.99 1.88 1.29 D 0.98 D 5.10 78 BMW Mini 1.63 0.88 0.63 0.67 0.95 D 0.58 D 7.50 88 Chrysler Jeep 1.10 0.99 0.95 1.13 1.09 D 0.79 D 5.25 95 Chrysler Chrysler 0.89 1.03 1.20 1.00 1.12 D 0.64 D 5.83 108 Chrysler Dodge 1.08 1.03 1.25 0.95 1.06 D 0.88 D 5.33 121 Daimler Mercedes-Benz 1.43 1.63 1.84 2.25 1.42 D 1.11 D 4.55 123 Daimler Smart ForTwo 1.00       0.50 D 0.00 F 2.00 145 Ford Ford 2.35 2.11 2.16 2.04 2.26 C 1.99 C 6.55 152 Ford Lincoln 1.83 2.02 2.00 1.00 1.77 C 1.54 C 3.83 158 Ford Mercury 2.37 2.28 2.20   2.28 C 2.03 C 5.20 168 Ford Volvo 2.64 2.48 2.43 2.17 2.51 B 2.09 C 3.78 174 General Motors Buick 1.78 1.67 2.00   1.79 C 1.75 C 4.00 180 General Motors Cadillac 1.02 1.08 1.23 1.50 1.16 D 0.68 D 5.80 200 General Motors Chevrolet 1.50 1.10 1.05 1.76 1.35 D 1.04 D 6.26 211 General Motors GMC 1.31 1.12 1.49 2.05 1.37 D 1.02 D 6.20 213 General Motors Hummer 0.50 0.33     0.42 F 0.33 F 3.00 217 General Motors Pontiac 2.11 2.00 2.00   2.04 C 1.83 C 5.00 220 General Motors Saab 3.25 2.17 1.25 1.13 1.95 C 1.13 D 7.50 224 General Motors Saturn 0.89 0.83 2.00   1.52 C 1.08 D 3.67 237 Hyundai Hyundai 2.54 2.50 2.36 1.92 2.44 C 2.18 C 5.18 242 Jaguar Jaguar 1.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 1.33 D 1.33 D 2.00 253 Kia Kia 2.41 1.97 1.35 1.17 2.10 C 1.81 C 3.78 257 Land Rover Land Rover 2.00 1.50 1.00   1.50 C 1.50 C 1.50 269 Mazda Mazda 2.36 2.10 2.44 2.25 2.15 C 1.70 C 5.80 276 Mitsubishi Mitsubishi 2.83 2.83 2.25 2.15 2.51 B 2.15 C 2.80 284 Nissan Infiniti 3.01 3.21 3.25 2.75 3.02 B 2.72 B 5.00 301 Nissan Nissan 2.01 1.87 1.84 2.03 1.95 C 1.56 C 6.44 307 Porsche Porsche 2.17 2.58 2.00 1.89 2.23 C 1.75 C 4.50 315 Subaru Subaru 2.85 2.92 2.75 2.18 2.69 B 2.13 C 8.33 318 Suzuki Suzuki 2.67 2.50     2.58 B 2.50 B 3.00 329 Volkswagen Audi 1.41 1.37 0.85 1.00 1.19 D 0.92 D 3.22 341 Volkswagen Volkswagen 1.78 1.38 0.92 1.00 1.37 D 0.95 D 3.55

Notice that Toyota and Honda brands dominate the upper end of the reliability spectrum for all age ranges.

The following bar chart graphically depicts the overall line-average GPAs.

From the chart, it may easily be seen that the early 2011 average Reliability GPA of the Hyundai brand exceeds all of the early average Reliability GPAs of the Detroit 3 brands. Also, the early 2011 GPA of the Kia brand exceeds those of the Detroit 3 brands, save those of the Mercury and Ford brands.

A PDF version of this page will be made available for downloading and/or printing, if there are several requests for such.

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" reliability rating, a GP of 3.00 (that is, a B) is given to a CR "Better Than Average" reliability rating, a GP of 2.00 (that is, a C) to an "Average" reliability rating, a GP of 1.00 (that is, a D) to a "Worse Than Average" reliability rating, and a GP of 0.00 (that is, an F) to a "Much Worse Than Average" reliability rating. A Grade Point Average (GPA) is an average of the Grade Points and is computed using Microsoft's Average(a:b,[c:d],...) function.

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