If there’s any instance we can mention “Buick” and “Porsche” in the same report, it’s here. The Buick brand claimed the third spot in the latest J.D. Power Dependability rankings just behind the aforementioned German sports car and luxury brand and Lexus.
Buick’s move to third place ousted Toyota, which fell to ninth place this year. The brand’s placing also beat out BMW, Audi, Infiniti, Lincoln and Honda.
Chevrolet moved to sixth place in the latest rankings, ahead of Hyundai, but behind Kia.
The study measures placements via problems per vehicle on a scale of 100. Buick showed 116 problems per 100 vehicles, while Chevrolet saw 124 problems per 100 vehicles. The leader, Lexus, claimed 99 problems per 100 vehicles, for comparison. The industry average is 142 problems per 100 vehicles.
General Motors’ other two brands, GMC and Cadillac, didn’t place nearly as well. GMC ranked 18th with 156 problems per 100 vehicles, and Cadillac fell even lower with 25th with 186 problems per 100 vehicles. Notably, that puts Cadillac below Mitsubishi, Volkswagen, Dodge and Subaru.
It’s worth noting that this study looks at all problems associated with a vehicle, not simply mechanical issues. That means respondents can report issues with Bluetooth connectivity or voice recognition qualms as “problems.” In fact, both issues were the most populous response in the survey.
The survey itself looked at 36,896 original owners of 2015 model year vehicles from October through December.
Comments
General Motors quality has been solid in this decade.
And the previous two! This is not anything new.
Buick/Opel has been ranking well in the JD-P for a number of years now. Kudos to KIA
Opel introduced good DNA into General Motors and that can be denied given that the brands least linked to Opel, GMC and Cadillac, place so poorly.
I hope Detroit is able to match the great contributions made by General Motors Europe. Opel contributed more than profits to The General.
Anyway, had all licencing fees been returned to Opel, even with the higher tax burden, The Blitz would have been back in black.
Funny how these findings mirror Consumer Reports. You know — that magazine that doesn’t matter?
lol
I don’t believe any of JD Power or any other ratings or reviews. Maybe Amazon reviews where you can be proven who gave the review by asking them a question. I own a 2014 Cadillac, 2015 GMC, and a 2017 GMC and I never received any rating or review questions. Who receives these questionnaires. I also find it hilarious that a 2 to 3 year old vehicle bought new needs an award to be dependable. What was the average mileage on dependability 35,500 miles or less. Dependability is 5 years old and 75,000 miles.
This just shows that people buy what they want and don’t pay attention to crap articles like this.
Cars don’t need to last for 10 years with zero problems in order to be considered a great car
I agree people buy what they want. I also agree that a vehicle doesn’t need to last 10 years to be a great vehicle. BUT DEPENDABLE is different than great. Dependable is dependable. Like I want a dependable friend, someone I can count on for the long haul you know DEPENDABLE. Sure the great friend is a lot of fun had a great time but dependable in 2-3 years. ” I’m going to hire a great contractor just moved to town last year”. ” I’m going to hire a DEPENDABLE contractor they have been doing contracting in town for 10 years”. Can GM tell the difference, just asking.
Buyers deserve quality. Bang for you buck and your money’s worth.
Quality is part of a great owning experience. I like driving Dodge and Chrysler, good driving, but terrible ownership experience, for example.
A car should make it 7 years with no major problem,, at the least
lets hope that GMs idiot marking department has enough sense to incorporate this outstanding accomplishment into a Buick advertisement . ( i bet you not )
Not a good sign to see Cadillac slipping. And I’ve been hoping to see Land Rover rising a bit more, but they just seem to be mired in the basement.
buyers of Caddy’s and Rovers expect more quality for the $, and are more likely to report minor problems that the average owner may not be aware of, or may not even care about. It would be interesting to see the detail of what problems get reported.
I bet a lot of problems come from the CUE infotainment system. The one in my ’15 ATS had to be replaced.
Since it’s reported problems per 100 vehicles, there’s a lot of hidden variables here. There are sume buyers who are more particular about minor problems while others ignore them or don’t know they exist. It would make sense that feature-laden cars sold to fussy people would have a far worse rating than a base rental car type vehicle, which is why Toyota has done so well in the past. Now they’re throwing more enhanced safety devices, and a less than stellar infotainment system could explain Toyota’s fall in the ratings. It may also explain why Chevrolet is doing better than GMC – hard to believe GM has different quality standards for the brands, GMC buyers are probably just pickier. Porsche doing well may be a great sign as many owners would be very picky about their cars, but then again, maybe many are owned by rich people who have them as toys but rarely use them, hence no problems. I’m sure some of the just-below average cars are very excellent cars, but maybe sold to people who expect more from their cars. The ones on the very bottom, typically Fiat, are probably truly cars to avoidl
I am a Cadillac buyer for 20 years, currently a 2014 ATS. Also now 2015 GMC Canyon and 2017 GMC Denali 2500HD. So I am evidently that picky more particular buyer. I also am not going to complain, just state the facts, the truth. We love the ATS AWD Performance 2.0 T, but it is not near the car our 2004 CTS 3.6 was in 2004, in fact our 2004 CTS is still a great car we still have with 140,000+ miles. The ATS troubles. My 2007 Silverado 2500HD 140,000+ miles great truck, We love the 2017 Denali but troubles. 2005 Cadillac SRX AWD Northstar 140,000+ miles great car. 2015 Canyon troubles. Now I could go into details on both the old and the new and I will tell you straight up the old will win, less troubles already, less TSBs, less Recalls, just less. And how it has all been handled terrible. A problem is a problem. A recall is a recall. A customer satisfaction campaign is a customer satisfaction campaign. NOT 1 ON THE OLDER CARS, O wait the plastic glued in the center of the key thing, just wait for the glue to dry that was nothing. So I am not any pickier or more particular now than I was then, its the vehicles and how I have been treated. Reliability and dependability are earned not told, proven over time. And not 2 years and 36000 miles. Maybe we need a survey of what people think a reliable vehicle is, and not just the new vehicle owner but all vehicle owners. GM just simply needs to quit blaming there owners of complaining and listen to them. Things are never going to be perfect, fix them and move on.