Sunday, May 19, 2013
The Most And Least Dependable Cars
Every year, J.D. Power releases its Vehicle Dependability Study, which measures how dependable a vehicle has been over the previous three years of ownership. It is a valuable study, some would say more important for your consideration than its better known Initial Quality Study, which measures quality issues and problems as reported by customers after just three months of ownership.
We have chosen to show you vehicles that are at the top of their categories based on Powers 2012 VDS, as well as what we think their counterparts are. Power does not tell is which vehicles score at the bottom of the heap in their category, but we have applied our expertise and weighed that against Consumer Reports and IIHS safety ratings to offer the worst choices in the category. Thats not to say that our picks are bad cars. In many cases, they are just less good than their rivals.
Its important to remember that the VDS champ is a car the car that was sold three years ago. In some case, these models have been substantially upgraded, and will have to be scored again. But in our experience, models that score tops in VDS rarely fall very far from the top even after a redesign unless the automaker really messes up. We are showing you the picture and information links of the 2013 models of all vehicles. But its also worth noting that the fact that these cars have been the most reliable over the last three years means that the 2008 versions make for excellent used car purchases.
We have chosen to show you vehicles that are at the top of their categories based on Powers 2012 VDS, as well as what we think their counterparts are. Power does not tell is which vehicles score at the bottom of the heap in their category, but we have applied our expertise and weighed that against Consumer Reports and IIHS safety ratings to offer the worst choices in the category. Thats not to say that our picks are bad cars. In many cases, they are just less good than their rivals.
Its important to remember that the VDS champ is a car the car that was sold three years ago. In some case, these models have been substantially upgraded, and will have to be scored again. But in our experience, models that score tops in VDS rarely fall very far from the top even after a redesign unless the automaker really messes up. We are showing you the picture and information links of the 2013 models of all vehicles. But its also worth noting that the fact that these cars have been the most reliable over the last three years means that the 2008 versions make for excellent used car purchases.
