Most Reliable Car Study, Mini Is Last

Source: J.D. Power and Associates 2011 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study SM

Reliability survey ranks Mini last, with Porsche pipped from the top spot.

Mini is the least reliable brand of car you can buy, according to a new US long-term dependability report.

The 2011 JD Power survey reveals the BMW-owned British brand experienced more problems with its vehicles than any other manufacturer in the US during the past 12 months.

The US-based report measures the number of problems per 100 cars that owners experience during the first three years of ownership – meaning the lower the number, the better the reliability.

Mini ranked last with 221 issues per 100 cars despite an overall increase in dependability rankings - more than double the issues of the Ford-owned Lincoln (101 per 100 cars) that became the first American luxury brand to top the list in more than a decade.

Mini’s parent company improved marginally from 165 to 164 issues, but BMW’s result was inferior to those of its closest rivals and below the industry average of 155 problems per 100 cars.

Mercedes-Benz scored 128 (down from 142) and was the best of the big three premium German brands, with Audi reducing its issues from 182 to 161 compared with 2010.

Luxury brands otherwise dominated the top four positions. Lexus placed second with 109 issues, while Jaguar leapt into third place after cutting its number of issues by nearly a third – up from 175 to 112.

Porsche, last year’s leader, slipped to fourth place in 2011 after its problems rose from 110 to 114.

Mainstream manufacturers also increased their reported reliability in the survey in which 25 of the 36 brands monitored offered improved reliability compared with last year's rankings .

With pre-accelerator-fiasco models from Toyota ranking fifth (122, down from 128); while Hyundai grabbed 10th spot with 132 (down from 148) and sister company Kia jumped up one spot to 20th with 160 reported problems (down from 167).

Volkswagen continued to disappoint despite improving from 225 to 191 issues, while Japanese maker Honda slipped from 7th to 11th, with issues increasing from 132 to 139.

Despite an American brand topping the list, other US makers did not fare so well. Chrysler (202) and Dodge (206) both fell further down the rankings (where they scored 166 and 190 respectively), while Jeep still ranked second last, despite improving with a score of 214 (down from 222).

Land Rover again fared poorly, ranking third last with a score of 212, although that score was a marked improvement on 2010's result of 255.

There were 202 "problem sypmtoms" addressed in the survey, which relied on information from 43,700 owners of 2008 model cars.

As Drive has previously reported, JD Power has been working unsuccessfully towards publishing an Australian vehicle quality study for more than a decade.

The research company says local manufacturers are not willing to allow the information to be made public despite their American parent companies allowing US findings to be published.