With Only A 5 Point Spread In Consumer Reports Rankings, Is Audi Finally Closing In On Lexus?

Lexus is the best overall brand; Fiat is worst. That's what Consumer Reports concludes after combining road-test and reliability scores for 28 brands for which the pubicaton had enough data.

In its annual April auto issue -- which has CR's biggest-circulation of the year at about 4 million -- says reliability and road test performance go together in what should be thought of "as a dating couple: often seen together, but not always."

Consumer Reports Rankings:

•Lexus, 78, 78%

•Mazda, 75, 67%

•Toyota, 74, 68%

•Audi, 73, 56%

•Subaru, 73, 80%

•Porsche, 70, 60%

•Buick, 69, 83%

•Honda, 69, 58%.

•Kia, 68, 78%

•BMW, 66, 50%

•Acura, 65, 40%

•Volvo, 65, 67%

•Hyundai, 64, 36%

•GMC, 61, 17%

•Volkswagen, 60, 46%

•Lincoln, 59, 40%

•Infiniti, 59, 29%

•Nissan, 59, 25%

•Chevrolet, 59, 36%

•Cadillac, 58, 25%

•Mercedes-Benz, 56, 20%

•Scion, 54, 25%

•Chrysler, 54, none

•Ford, 53, 19%

•Dodge, 52, 33%

•Mini, 46, none

•Jeep, 39, none

•Fiat, 32, none

cidflekken - 2/24/2015 5:28:44 PM

+2 Boost

Sure, I know CR can be an appropriate tool for car shoppers, but it's still very hard for me to take any of their "Best" lists seriously.

GermanNut - 2/24/2015 5:50:31 PM

+1 Boost

Audi's $29 billion investment through 2018 is paying huge dividends. Its quality is improving tremendously, its sales growth has outpaced BMW over the past 5 years and it is now on the verge of surpassing BMW in global sales, its interiors are widely regarded as some of the best in the industry and its technology is on the cutting-edge.

The synergies and economies of scale from being a part of VAG are clearly apparent from a profitability and quality standpoint.

MrEE - 2/24/2015 6:24:49 PM

+1 Boost

Interesting to see a brand roll-up but the second number tells you need to look at individual model rating. Plus there are more factors than reliability that goes into a great products.

Do yourself a favor and get a subscription or visit a library to access the details covered in the model reviews that are throughout the year.

JDMUSMuscle - 2/24/2015 8:02:20 PM

-2 Boost

Lexus, Mazda, Toyota and Subaru. They are like, some of the best ultra luxurious brands that you can buy.

MDarringer - 2/24/2015 9:08:18 PM

-1 Boost

I'll take Lexus reliability over Audi lack of same ANY day of the week.

GermanNut - 2/25/2015 9:31:54 AM

-1 Boost

That's funny because Audi is more reliable than both BMW and Mercedes-Benz according to Consumer Reports.

CarCrazedinCali - 2/25/2015 8:54:53 PM

+2 Boost

CR is not credible I don't think anymore