JD Power 3rd year dependability survey rates the most reliable 2011 model year vehicles. The top 3 scoring compact cars ranked in order were: 1. Chevrolet Volt 2. Toyota Carolla 3. Honda Civic J.D. Power: Most reliable 3-year old cars
As if J.D. Power doesn't accept funding from the auto manufacturers? YEAH RIGHT! Theirs reports are best takened with a grain of salt at the most. DBCassidy
I think your thread title is misleading. What they actually were reporting on was the 3 year repair history of the 2011 models. Banter on the Volt forums makes it look VERY much like it won't fair nearly as good with the 2012, 13 and maybe even 14 models.
Here is the description of the survey from JD Powers: Time will tell about the results for later model years. My own car has been free of any significant problems for the last 3+ years and 72,000 miles. 2012 cars are essentially identical and should do similarly. In 2013, they switched the design or vendor for the electric heating element used for heating the cabin and some of those have failed and needed replacing (or related firmware needed updating). This is not an initial quality survey so even the 2013 models may get good marks if the heating element issue is resolved during the first year of ownership.
I don't claim to know much about their funding or corruption level but it is an interesting datapoint. Consumer Reports also shows a strong repair record for the Volt but it isn't as good as the records for the Corolla, Civic, or 3rd gen Prius which are all nearly perfect scores. On the other hand, the CR repair record for the Volt is very comparable to the 2nd gen Prius (2004-2009) which many people consider to be very reliable. I have attached the CR charts for the Volt and Prius below. CR repair data for the Prius Plugin did not seem to be available. Chevrolet Volt Toyota Prius
So far so good after 21k miles and only one issue with an axle. Still not as reliable as my Prii were but I love this car so much more. With my new commute I've been driving purely on electric for the last two weeks. Total bliss.
