The Most Reliable Vehicles for Under $25,000

Friday, November 14, 2014

Brad Boyer, GoLocalPDX Auto Expert

Toyota Scion xB, via Wikimedia Commons

Consumer Reports recently released its recent list of 10 most reliable vehicles for under $25,000. Mind you, this list doesn't really include the sexiest vehicles with a ton of power.

Toyota products led the way with four of its family of vehicles on the list. The Scion xB was tapped as the most reliable. Likely aided by the lack of changes and redesign since 2008, the Scion xB, with a decent 2.4-liter engine, averages a combined 23 mpg and the starting selling price is under $17,000.

Second place went to a nameplate that is associated with quality: the Honda Civic with a base MSRP price of $18,290. The Civic has had a couple of “refreshes” over the past two years and manufacturers have seemingly ironed out all the bugs. Besides it's quality, the Civic has an impressive list of standard features and maintains a very strong resale value.

Not to be outdone too much by its car cousin, the Scion, the Prius couldn’t be far off. The Toyota Prius C was named the third most reliable car. The 37 highway MPG was the best of any of the vehicles tested in this category. That coupled with the strong quality makes it a great buy with a starting price of $19,080.

Rounding out the rest of the top 10 were the Subaru Forester, Volkswagen Passat 1.8T, Mazda6, Honda Civic Si, Subaru XV Crosstrek, Toyota Yaris and the Toyota Camry.

Most Reliable Used Cars

J.D. Powers released its latest study of most dependable cars. The study, which has now been around for 25 years, looks at problems original owners of 2011 model year vehicles experienced during the past 12 months. For the first time since 1998, the average number of problems drivers experience increased.

“Until this year, we have seen a continual improvement in vehicle dependability” said David Sargent, vice president of Global Automotive at J.D. Power. “However some of the changes that automakers implemented for the 2011 model year have led to a noticeable increase in problems reported.”

As evidenced by people’s brand loyalty to lines such as Toyota and Honda, quality and dependability absolutely results in more sales. A comparison of data from the 2013 Dependability Study with information from other J.D. Power studies show that consumers are definitely more likely to avoid vehicles from brands that ranked in the lowest portion of the report.

“By combining our customer research with trade-in data, we see a very strong correlation between dependability and real-world brand loyalty”, said Sargent. “Also, we see brand with lower dependability are likely to be shut out of a significant piece of the market, as many consumers will not even consider purchasing one of their vehicles because of concerns about it reliability.”

Not surprisingly, Lexus is the highest ranking vehicle in dependability and by a big margin over Mercedes which came in second. Rounding out the top five are Cadillac, Acura and Buick. It should be noted that these results were all tabulated before a number of the massive recalls that have hit the industry in the past few months so the studies should find some interesting numbers in the next year or two. Ironically, given General Motors huge recalls this year, GM received eight segment awards, more than any other car maker, in this study.

$400 Billion in New Vehicle Sales

Apparently, the recession is officially over. That is at least true when you look at what Americans will spend on new vehicles this year. According to J.D. Power and Associates, buyers are on pace to spend over $400 Billion on new vehicles in 2014 for the first time ever. That is an increase of over 80 percent from just five years ago. U.S. light-vehicle sales rose 6 percent in October and the annual selling rate was a solid 16.5 million.

Consumers are transitioning from the smaller sedans to SUV’s, Crossover Vehicles, and more expensive Hybrid and Electric models. The forecast for 2015 is even more aggressive as lower gas prices, innovations and pent up demand fuel the increase. Just last year, the U.S. had the oldest car population in its history creating a void to be filled with new vehicles.

"The industry is performing at a very, very high level," said Thomas King, a J.D. Power vice president. "There's good news on volume, exceptionally good news on transaction prices and therefore record-breaking spending. We broke the record in '13 and we're going to break that record again in '14."

Brad Boyer is owner of Carcierge, a car concierge company providing expert assistance on anything car-related. He also co-hosts Test Miles on 101.1 FM KXL on Sundays, and is a founding member of the Northwest Auto Press Association. You can email him your car-related questions at [email protected].