Buick ties Lexus for No. 1 in car reliability
Survey finds Detroit brands making headway against Japanese competitors.
August 9 2007: 3:56 AM EDT


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- For the first time in 12 years, Toyota's Lexus luxury brand has to share its top rank in J.D. Power and Associates' annual Vehicle Dependability Study.

And it has to share it with an American car.


General Motors' Buick brand tied Lexus in the study, which measures the number of problems owners experience with their cars after three years of ownership.

Following Lexus and Buick in the rankings were GM's Cadillac luxury brand, Ford's Mercury brand and Honda's Honda brand.

Toyota's mass-market Toyota brand ranked sixth.

"Consumers don't neccessarily need to pay premium prices to obtain high quality and dependability," said Neal Oddes, director of product research and analysis for J.D. Power and Associates.

"With three non-premium nameplates - Buick, Honda and Mercury - ranking within the top five," he said, "and particularly with Buick tying with Lexus for the top rank, consumers seeking a vehicle with strong dependability have good choices at various price levels."

J.D. Power Vehicle Dependability Study is based on responses from more than 53,000 original owners of 2004 model year vehicles.

Owners of the top-ranked Lexus and Buick vehicles experienced 145 problems per 100 vehicles. Owners of second-ranked Cadillac vehicles experienced 162 problems per 100 vehicles.

The lowest-ranking brand was Land Rover, Ford's European luxury SUV brand. Land Rover owners experienced 398 problems per 100 vehicles, according to the survey.

J.D. Power and Associates also ranked specific vehicles within their respective categories. The top-ranked sub-compact car, for example, was the Scion xA from Toyota's youth-oriented Scion brand.

The top-ranked compact car was the Honda Civic and the top-ranked "Sporty car" was the Mazda Miata.

The Chevrolet SSR, a low-slung convertible pickup, and the Ford Mustang tied as the most depenible midsize sporty cars, and the Ford Crown Victoria ranked as the most dependable large car.

Lexus vehicles topped five categories, more than any other brand. Lexus had the top-ranked premium SUV, large premium SUV, premium sporty car, large premium car and midsize premium car. Toyota's Toyota brand topped four categories.

 

And where is the xA now? Wish they just kept the xA badge even with the redesign.

 

Yeah...I was a little surprised at that too. Why totally discontinue the model? The xD could easily have been the "next generation xA." Oh well. Maybe they will become collectors items and be worth a bazillion dollars someday!

 

^^^ yeah that's why i aint gettin rid of mine.

 

Have you looked at dealer lots lately? If you can even find an xA it's probably selling for thousands of dollars more than it's worth. Owning an xA is probably he best financial investment I've made in my life (so far)! Though I'll be hard pressed to get rid of the Marshmallow...

 

This just made my day. I saw this article and just glanced over it the other day but didn't catch the Scion xA part!

Woo!

 

I'm glad they changed the name to xD ... I'm sure it looks/drives/ and IS a different car then THE xA. Peoples had long enough - 3+ years to buy one, and I almost missed out,

 

I like my xA, but I have recently read that it is also amongst the most frequently stolen and among the more expensive to insure among cars that don't include things like exotic sports cars. For some reason they say it is expensive to repair and that's why the insurance is higher...don't know how much it costs to repair, however, I've never had an accident in mine.

 

xA for the win!

 

xa isn't expensive to repair, because I can't say I've ever seen one get repaired, they total way too easily, thats why they are so expensive to insure

 

I was just looking at the prius yesterday. Makes me like my car more. True I am worry about an accident. Not that I would get hurt, but a small fender bender would total the car as seen in other accidents on this site.

Ive been looking on the side for a used small toyota from the 80s with 4wd to drive/wreck this winter if we get a good winter.

 

Actually xA's are less expensive to insure then say a tC, Civic, etc. Its considered a sub-compact + its 4-door + 4cyl. , there are several positive things going for it when it comes to being least costly to insure- in comparison to other autos.

 

true its less then a civic or a hummer, but the reason they aren't super cheap is because they have to keep replacing them because they are way too easy to total out, about 8 grand totals one thats a base model

 

its still less money for insurance on the xA vs. Civic , yet the Civic is still in production .... and the xA is not . Not so sure what else to say. If someone is to total there xA .... then they are SOL in terms of then potentially wanting to re-buy another xA... and are off buying a different car entirely.

What would you consider "super cheap" to insure ? A Chevy Aveo ? ... by how much less- $20 per year ?? With these sub-compacts.. its pretty much the bottom of the barrel cost $$ per year to insure as it is ... likewise probably with the xB.

 

yes but comparing an xa to a civic is apples to oranges, the civic is a compact not a sub compact, you have to compare the xa/xd/xb/fit/yaris/versa to each other, the civic is a comparison to the tc, not the xa

 

alright then, compare the xA or xB to other sub-compacts. Guarenteed there isn't much.. if any difference of cost per year between the cars to insure them (everything being equal- ie. age of driver, accidents, where the driver lives/resides, etc.

 

also the insurance companies have them ranked by numbers, xb used to be an 11 now its a 15, so the xb should be more expensive to insure then the xa, due to crash test ratings that the insurance companies do, the insurance companies retest vehicles every couple of years, I'm guessing due to a bunch of accidents with a certain car, with the xa being such an easy car to total because the parts are very very expensive, and theres practically no oe aftermarket parts available (just fenders/bumpers, and radiators) the insurance companies have to use OEM parts, so a rating also would depend on whether they can get aftermarket oe style parts, or not, like the fit they can get parts for that from everyone, keystone, mid-state, and not just fenders, pretty much any part, scions they can't because they are japanese 100% made cars, so they are a bit more generally to insure

 

Gotcha!

I did not know that.

Still though, the cost between a xA/xB per year(full coverage, or liability) .. is still marginally very close to most other sub-compacts - such as a Fit, Aveo, Focus, etc. - whether it be $20 or $80 a year more expensive for the Scions.. I dont know. What matters most of all, is being with the same insurace carrier for a while , 2+ years helps , and having no accidents/tickets ... basically not just being a good driver, but a great driver = all that goes a long ways to getting a good/decent insurance rate per year.
Personally, I have a perfect driving record, you see my age, and I do not live near a major city( closest city is 40 miles away , and has about 50K people) = for full coverage comp/collision w/ not too high of deductables, and great medical coverage for myself + second passenger, through AAA, its about $825/yr. If I just had liability, it would probably be $500ish per/year.
Also, as a car ages... and depreciates... Yeah , the cost of insuring the vehicle also goes down (typically.... unless it gains some kind of serious cult-following) - classic car, etc.

 

Wanna hear a good one? When we traded our '05 RS2 xB for an '07 Nissan Versa, I was a little worried about how much our insurance was going to go up because of having a 2-year newer car. It actually went DOWN by $60 per year! The lady at the insurance company said that it's because the Versa has so many safety features and because it scored so well in crash tests. Kinda makes me wonder...is the Versa that safe, or was the xB that unsafe?

 

yea I'm paying 3400 per year for my xb's insurance

and the xb failed on side impact crash testing, at 45 mph, there is absolutely no support on the sides of our cars