92 points

“based on CR member surveys” so its what people think is most reliable. Not what is actually most reliable.

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24 points

Right? It’s not like it’s unknowable how reliable a car is? I want to see the metrics I get for all other stuff on the planet. Uptime. Unscheduled maintenance dollars per year/kilometer. I know all companies that operate fleets have these numbers!

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18 points

Right, the metric at the top is “predicted reliability” - how can that even be quantified? You buy a new car, you haven’t owned it long, please tell us how reliable you think this might be in the future

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14 points

… So basically owning a Subaru makes you happier. That’s what I thought.

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7 points

Owning a Subaru makes you smug.

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1 point

Makes you depressed because you listen to normal all the time so you get a dog and go camping

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12 points

Not all surveys are opinion surveys like political ones are. It’s just a method of data collection.

We calculate predicted reliability ratings for almost every new car, truck, and SUV on the market using data from Consumer Reports’ annual reliability surveys, which ask members about problems they’ve had with their vehicles

This year we calculated brand-level score by first examining the weighted overall problem rate for all models within a brand for each model year. Then the brand reliability score was calculated by averaging models from 2022 to 2024, and some early 2025 data for each brand, where there was sufficient sample size. We had insufficient data to create brand rankings for Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Infiniti, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln, Lucid, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz, Mini, Mitsubishi, Polestar, Porsche, and Ram.

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14 points
*

Good point but still questionable methodology.

This basically defines most reliable as “least issues in first 3 years”. Also why would you collect them as a survey of your members and not try to get a broader statistic.

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0 points

What broader statistic? The next step up would be cold calls and that comes with all kinds of issues of it’s own.

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2 points

Read again. This is an aggregation of specific model-level data on actual maintenance events.

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21 points

How are any electric car makers so unreliable. They’re so mechanically simple.

How the hell do you fuck up so badly that you’re the bottom of the list Rivian??

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11 points

Combustion car makers had a century to make their cars more reliable

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9 points

“Since EV technology is still relatively new, automakers continue to work the bugs out of their powertrains and platforms,” Elek says. “But we also see issues with their non-EV components, such as the latest infotainment and electronic features.”

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3 points

Electric cars are actually very complex. They monitor a ton of sensors and electrical properties constantly and need to manage everything.

It isn’t just a big motor and a big battery hooked up to a variable resistance switch at the accelerator.

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8 points
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I mean, they’re still a lot simpler than combustion cars. Like the other guy said, it’s probably because they’re startups.

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-2 points

They are mechanically simpler because they don’t have hundreds of parts in a combustion engine and an automatic transmission, but their overall complexity is much higher.

You have all of the electrical system out of a modern car(fucking complex) with all of the systems needed to handle the electric motors and batteries.

It is the different between a flip phone and a smartphone. The smartphone isn’t simpler because it doesn’t have as many buttons or a hinge.

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3 points

There are far, far, far fewer components for an EV than an ICE.

Their ECU/computer sensors are likely even less sophisticated than ICE ones, especially when it comes to ignition timings, interference engines, etc. There’s just WAY more things that can go wrong with an ICE.

The difference is ICE manufacturers have had over a century to get feedback and improve, and EV’s have had a tenth of that.

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14 points

Wow, how did Subaru get to the top, they had reliability issues for years ago

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13 points

It’s been over a decade since they’ve addressed their head gasket issues by many accounts (the most notorious large failure they were known for around 100k miles). The main problem they have right now is the infotainment is hot garbage and very integrated into the cars (cheap, slow, touch screen based controls) and using CVTs (which other manufacturers also are using to get better mileage ratings).

Toyota and Honda on the other hand followed Ford and installed rubber belts where there is oil in the engine and are seeing failures way earlier than what they were known for. I know some of these annoying things since we had to shop for a car due to someone crashing against our 2006 Honda recently. I say annoying since it seems every new car out there is made to break.

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3 points

Yeah. Highly suspicious of Subaru’s ranking.

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2 points

Their newer cars still have reliability issues. Especially the computer/ infotainment system.

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1 point

I have a current gen Outback, and I have all the issues!

Admittedly, it very reliably goes down the road when I’m towing it with my truck.

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0 points
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Member survey, not reality. This chart is worthless. Suby fanbois are nearly impenetrably stuck on how awesome their vehicles are. I’m surprised Tesla isn’t on the top.

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10 points

BMW is so high for a company that sells basic plastic for like $500. I watched a YouTuber repair one and he said the rubber seal for the windows was like $2,000 EACH

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8 points

Are Rivian’s really that bad? I’ve always heard good things about them, especially compared to Tesla.

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3 points

They are not. Ask Rivian owners and they’ll tell you they love them and they’re very reliable.

I have three friends with Rivians, two truck models and an SUV model, and they swear by them. The biggest issue is if you need to service them, their shops are difficult to get to, and getting parts can take months. They have not fabbed up enough replacement components yet. Other than that, they’re stellar.

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1 point
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Teslas were unreliable garbage for a long time too. Making reliable cars takes a lot if institutional knowledge it seems, and I’m guessing Rivian just doesn’t have it yet.

If I’m buying electric, I’ll be looking at the older brands that cut their teeth on combustion cars.

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