Consumer Reports and JD Powers have recently published their lists. Aside from the lists being Apples and Oranges due to the group of cars included (JDP, e.g. is only including ~ 2 year old cars in their 'long term' study), I am most aggravated by the lumping of all issues into one bin. It seems to me rather obvious that Issues that force the car off the road deserve more weight than issues that do not People weight issues differently. More expensive repairs should be weighted higher than less expensive repairs. I would love to see a smart report card that lets me set the weight of the major car functions, and then calculates a score for my preferences. Categories that come to mind: Immediate repair required Cost Entertainment, telematics Noise Drive Dynamics Fuel Economy Safety Tests
MSN Autos gave some useful data reliability. Not on the likely hood of a problem occurring, but some common reported ones along with expected costs. TrueDelta might be a good site of repair and maintenance costs, but it depends upon user reports, so an uncommon car might not have the most accurate info. Here is the 2001 mercury Sable listing at MSN Autos; I choose something that would have issues. 2001 Mercury Sable Reliability - MSN Autos
agreed, those reports are almost useless. it would be nice if there was an accumulated reliability report of mechanical issues, electronics aside (radio/phone/gps/etc.)
^^Exactly. In my OP I mixed up reliability with other attributes. Mechanical and Other are the most important to differentiate.
