The automotive industry is driven by innovation and new ideas. But, if you’re smart, you ignore all of that. The best way to play it is to follow old rules.
The car world this year was dominated by the new technology of electric cars, touchscreens for everything, and even a truck that looks like it was designed on Mars. But the most reliable cars? Your oldest relative could probably predict that list.
Consumer Reports is out with its annual reliability study. It’s long on the wisdom of choosing proven things. The magazine found that electric vehicles (EVs), the latest new thing, have 79% more problems than gas-powered cars. Plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), a halfway step that uses electricity on commute-length trips and gas on road trips, were almost twice as bad.
The most reliable cars? Those were proven old platforms and cars built by Toyota. Japan’s largest automaker has dominated CR’s list for many years.
Related: Consumer Reports Names Ten Least Reliable Cars
CR’s Methods Are Unique
Before we get into the results, it’s worth noting that CR’s methods differ from those of other car reliability studies.
The magazine doesn’t try to build a representative sample of cars or buyers. It surveys its subscribers. They’re asked if their car has experienced problems in 20 common areas in the prior 12 months.
This year, CR got data “on more than 330,000 vehicles as reported by their owners, covering the 2000 through 2023 model years, including some early 2024 models.”
That method has strengths – it gives CR a solid picture of the reliability of the cars its members tend to buy. But it also has weaknesses – it limits CR’s picture to the cars its members tend to buy. Not everyone would pay a subscription fee for access to lists of reliable products. CR readers are a subset of the population, filtered to find the pickiest.
But when you’re making a five-or-six-figure purchase, that’s not a bad group to join.
Toyota Dominates This List
The most reliable cars? Those that have been in production for a long time. The Toyota 4Runner took overall first place, CR says. It has been in production with just minor changes since 2009. That has given Toyota a long time to correct any problems.
Toyota, in fact, makes seven of the top ten. Even some Toyota products outside the top ten did well. “A majority of Toyota models have above- or well-above-average reliability,” CR says.
Remarkably, hybrid versions of some Toyota products did better than gas-powered versions. And, though PHEVs performed poorly overall, the Toyota RAV4 Prime PHEV was the fourth most reliable car in the survey.
Consumer Reports’ 10 Most Reliable Cars in 2023:
| Model | Reliability Score (1 to 100) |
| Toyota 4Runner | 87 |
| Toyota Camry Hybrid | 87 |
| Toyota Camry | 86 |
| Toyota RAV4 Prime | 84 |
| BMW X5 | 82 |
| Subaru Forester | 82 |
| Toyota RAV4 | 80 |
| Acura RDX | 80 |
| Toyota Corolla | 77 |
| Toyota Highlander Hybrid | 75 |
