General Motors didn’t make out all too well in the latest Consumer Reports Reliability Survey. The non-profit organization ranked GM brands towards the bottom of the list.
The reliability survey comes from owner responses, which CR said it received feedback on more than 500,000 vehicles in the latest survey. Vehicles spanned the 2000-2018 model years and covered 300 models.
The biggest fall from grace was the Buick brand. The brand placed eighth last year but tumbled 11 spots to 19th place. That’s a major fall from 2016 when Buick became the first U.S. auto brand to crack the top three rankings since data collection began in the 1980s.
Owners cited issues with the 2018 Buick Enclave’s nine-speed automatic transmission as a real sour point. And it gets worse from there.
Buick was the best-ranked GM brand in the latest survey. Chevrolet placed 23rd, down from 18th place; GMC placed 25th, up from 26th place; and Cadillac held steady in 28th place. The luxury division was the second-worst ranked brand, only behind Volvo. The only Cadillac vehicle deemed “better than average” was the XTS sedan, coincidentally enough.
Ford placed 18th, down from 15th place, and FCA’s brands (Dodge, Jeep and Chrysler) placed 21st, 22nd and 24th, respectively.
Each GM brand has hovered toward the bottom of rankings for years, but this year’s list included a few bright spots. CR gave its recommendation nod to the Cadillac XTS, Chevrolet Cruze and Chevrolet Suburban. Each vehicle earned good scores in the reliability survey.
Domestic brands continue to perform poorly in the survey partially due to adding some untested technologies. As GM tries to play catch up with new turbocharged engines, transmissions with more gears and other technologies, the likelihood something hasn’t been entirely ironed out increases.
Moving opposite to market trends.
With four model years recommended for purchase.
This example is a former NCRS award winner.
Many automakers oppose right-to-repair laws citing cybersecurity concerns.
Breaking out the spec sheets for a comparison.
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I lease an Equinox and the experience at the dealership was so bad that I'll buy an used Chevy just for the sake of not ever going to a dealership again.
No surprise to me. We own a 2014 Cadillac ATS, 2015 GMC Canyon, 2017 GMC Denali HD. I would rate them terrible also. For the GM lovers like myself I have also had Great GM vehicles. In fact our last 3 were great vehicles and well over 140,000 each. However the new ones are nothing but JUNK. BUT the worst thing isn't only the vehicles but GM will do NOTHING for the owners. To those who say Toyota should be on here because of problems, Toyota FIXES THERE VEHICLES. Toyota FIXES THERE KNOWN PROBLEMS. GM DOES NOTHING. Toyota or Lexus was #1 or high because unlike GM they care about there owners. I haven't said a word about GM in 37 years of ownership but the last 3 vehicles JUNK.
13 GM vehicles in 30 years of driving. I don’t keep them long enough for problems but I also won’t ever even consider owning anything else.
Second generation, GM, grew up inna GM town, 40+ years working for GM. Seen it go from 50+% market share to bankruptcy. Couldn't stand it any longer, retired early to get away from it all. Their products (and attitude to employees and customers) suck, I've heard it ALL. Also, mechanic, so I can keep my cars running. Seen family and friends disgusted and leave GM. I believe CR, based on my experience. Their Chevy/JDPowers ads for reliability r a joke, I don't buy brand new and sell before 3yrs old.
Over all GM is doing a pretty good job. I fault the modern electronics hiccups for most of their hits. They still need to step it up a bit though with Mary Barra's statement about no more crappy cars I think. Also CR is a biased left leaning tree hugger rag at any rate, and to me they should always be viewed while squinting a little.
Lean right or left, the results comes from over 600,000 of their subscribers who reside all over the place.
When Buick was near the top, GM and Buick guys were thumping their chests.
You can have a bad experience from any auto maker. People just need to keep an open-mind that one vehicle they have does not mean that every model is problematic. I generally keep my vehicles till the wheels fall off.
The '84 Cadillac Cimarron was a mix bag and kept that car for four years.
I had a '96 Honda Civic which was O.K. in reliability but has its usual bugs since it was a brand new first year design.
My previous car was the '06 B6 Passat which was problematic and have something else fix on it almost every six months. It was the best car I own when it came to performance, steering feel (probably the best part of the car) and fuel efficiency on the highway but the worst car also for as problems, maintenance and repairs are concerned. But for whatever reason, most people gave me positive comments on it. I had a love and hate relationship of the car.
My current car is the '15 Regal 2.4 and that car is the most reliable bar none so far. The only things about it that i will complain about is poor fit and finish on the exterior and interior currently. When I first got the car, the Onstar system was defective, rear-view mirror was not steady, and imitated wood trim on the console was misaligned and had them corrected under warranty. The only problems currently, also, is that I have exterior paint on the hood of the car that is slightly faded. Also, not a big deal, but when I close the sunroof, every once in a while the roof senses something halfway and go back to open all the way again till I press the button second time to close all the way. I have over 60K miles on it with zero problems ever since I had the car over a year now. So, hopefully I will keep this vehicle for a very long time till the wheels start falling off of it.
More than likely, I will get another GM vehicle, hopefully a Cadillac. In all honesty, I am not a GM fanboy but am a car enthusiast in general and to any automaker I will be open to buy any of their products if the product appeal to me and pass my expectations. I will not buy VW again which is the only brand I will not go back to because I don't know what their true definition is, meaning a bread-n-butter automaker with high maintenance and repair costs 3/4ths. the price of the German luxury brands does not make much sense as an ownership is concerned. Previous generation VWs had that luxury car exterior looks but now, they are bland and cheap looking with a identity crisis IMO. However, I do like the fact that with the timing chain, you don't have to replace of the life of any GM vehicle is reason enough alone to stay with GM.
Here's why GM stinks.
My $100,000 former GM halo car, the XLR will be totaled by the insurance company if a headlight or tail light is broken in an accident. GM has ZERO of them for available for purchase.
My $60,000 2013 Avalanche with 20,000 miles on it has a completely rusted frame. My 2003 Envoy with 120,000 miles has a better looking frame.
GM has quit caring about it's customers, and just wants to shovel cars out the door.
Anyone thinking of buying a possible $170,000 Mid Engine Halo car should remember these things. GM will not support it beyond the last warranty date. Period.
David B.
That's no different than anybody else. Manufacturers are responsible to support products for 7 years. After that, it depends on parts volume and is up to their discretion. That applies to Ford or Mercedes Benz and everybody else.
As products are now changing more quickly, expect this period to be reduced in the future.
Make friends with your local junk yards if you have old cars.
Mercedes has brand new parts for 70 year old cars. In stock.
It's not like "every other company" to not stock parts.
If you want to play in the sand box with Mercedes, you better do what they do, or better.
If you think that you can get everything for all Mercedes going back 70 years, you are in for a big surprise.
Sure they have "some parts" and will custom make some at a very healthy margin for certain models. For electronics on many cars, you're SOL. I needed some special bolts (yield to break) for my supercharger on my 2008 E55 and they were discontinued in North America. Tried to get them from Europe but either unavailable or they won't ship. After hours of research, had to settle for what was available. I've been told that some of the electronics is either discontinued or about to be.
Ever wonder why you rarely see old Mercs or even BMWs? (other than the cheap low end models)
BTW, GM isn't even close to being a serious competitor to MB. Take a look at the product range and market share in each segment. MB is a world brand while GM is now basically US and China.
Cadillac barely has 1.5% of the world luxury market and that's being very optimistic.
GM doesn't want to compete with luxury brands. GM simply wants to sell the public the highest price Chevrolet they can period.
So you're saying GM has been lying for the last 20 years every time they talk about competing with them? LOL
Yes, I never said Mercedes has every part, I realize they don't even come close.
The point is Mercedes themselves run a warehouse for very old parts. GM does not.
Again I will start by saying I AM a GM guy, 37 years now. And YES that's what I'm saying. OK GM lovers like myself, you CAN NOT have it both ways. Either GM-Cadillac is doing a TERRIBLE job of making decisions, OR they are not trying to compete. PEOPLE you can't thumbs down the FACTS, it doesn't work that way.
If GM-Cadillac WAS truly trying to compete they would INVEST IN A LONG TERM PLAN. You can NOT compete with the LEADERS OF THE WORLD in luxury and NOT INVEST. It simply can NOT be done. And STICK WITH THE LONG TERM PLAN. You can NOT quit every four years and start over. AND A CHEVROLLAC is NOT going to compete.
Say its Mercedes your trying to beat. THE BEST OR NOTHING. READ it THE BEST OR NOTHING. The BEST. Mercedes is TRYING. Sure we ALL have already agreed everyone has an opinion and Mercedes does NOT hit a home run every day all day long. However there is NO question they are the WORLD LEADER in this game.
GM is simply trying to sell a GM vehicle at the largest profit. GM could care less about CADILLAC, or any other BRAND of GM. GM IS GM. GM is NOT Cadillac. GM is developing MASS vehicles to the market, selling them to the dealers, and letting the dealers handle the rest. AND THE MONEY PEOPLE ARE IN CHARGE. The MONEY people, NOT the DREAMERS and DESIGNERS, or the ENGINEERS.
Mercedes, Audi and BMW did NOT win this battle in the USA over night. It took YEARS. Years of CONSISTANTLY building on AVERAGE a better mousetrap. Not EVERY one is or was better but on AVERAGE YES THEY ARE BETTER. IT IS A FACT. Why is Cadillac trying to compete with them. Do ANY of you people know history, they were ALL, and I mean ALL trying to compete with Cadillac once.
GM is NOT trying to compete. GM is trying to sell the NOT 1% a luxury vehicle because there are more of them, but at the same time not trying to loose the 1%ers they have still left. This is why you have a BASE Cadillac, LOW power with NO STANDARD options. You are trying to sell a dreamer a Cadillac, or simply someone who doesn't care one bit, a vehicle that looks cool in there eyes.
You LOL. Because the REAL luxury LEADERS are LOL all the way to the BANK.
Hire this guy, hire that guy, move here, move there, put this person in charge of this guy, put that person in charge of that guy, hire this new marketing person, hire that marketing person. WHATEVER. There are literally a TON of Cadillac owners having troubles with the Cadillacs they own, THE CUSTOMER, and GM IS DOING NOTHING. LOL alright how are those Cadillac sales numbers going. LOL alright.
GM-Cadillac, start building a QUALITY vehicle, not ALL will be great, AND when you get the ones that are NOT great FIX them for the CUSTOMER and the CUSTOMER WILL buy another. LOL
to mr gm stinks when you mention your problems ---back a few years Toyota was replacing their truck frames because they were rusting ---just saying
Ill start by again saying I AM A GM GUY. So I won't go as far as GM stinks. BUT, and I'll say it again BUT, GM CUSTOMER SERVICE STINKS. Tom G in your own words TOYOTA WAS REPLACING THEIR TRUCK FRAMES. That should be enough said BUT , again BUT, I still don't think most here get it. I think we have ALL established that ALL vehicle brands have troubles from time to time BUT, again BUT, OTHER BRANDS FIX THE KNOWN FAULTY DESIGNS AND FAULTY PARTS. And again just for you, probably not ALL troubles from every other brands are dealt with BUT, and again BUT, ******MOST***** are. Look at Cadillac CUE screens, every day you can read Cadillac forums and people are having troubles or they are delaminating, BUT GM-Cadillac is doing NOTHING.
Honda's first Civics imported in the 70s exploded with rust years out of warranty. Guess what Honda did? They offered everyone with the problem Repair or cash. GM has NEVER done something like that, even after known issues like poor paint in certain years, frames that were never coated properly, and let's not even talk about the last 15 years of their trucks rear brake lines rusting through, that they never fixed through multiple model year updates.
Since we live in a GM town, my wife convinced me 8 years ago to give GM, specifically Buick, another try. We have 6 cars between 2008 Honda to a 2014 Chevy. Two older Toyotas as well. There is no doubt in my mind that GM quality has NOT improved since the 1980s when I first started to purchase them. Even worst, fleet wide defects (i.e. 2.4 oil consumption) are not honored, unlike Honda/Toyota, and when force GM will skirt around warranty repairs such as issuing a recall for cars only under 40,000 miles when the problem has existed on models over 5 years old (which would average over 70,000 miles). GM has poor engineering and even worse does not stand behind their products when defects are glaringly obvious. Each Buick/GM has a least 4 repairs, that should be covered by a recall, that GM has skirted/refuses to take responsibility for. If fixed at a GM dealer, these repairs for each car approach the cost of the vehicle. In the meantime, my three Toyotas/Hondas contine to be trouble free, despite having double the mileage. Run away from any GM (including Buick) product unless you have an excessive amount of cash that you wish to donate to GM shareholders. I prefer to use this money for several vacations to Tahiti.
SO totally discusted w GM. 2nd generation, grew up in a GM town, worked in GM foundry, 3 dealerships, 30 yrs as an engineer, assembly & manufacturing plants, bought many Chevys. Involved w GM from >50 market share, thru bankruptcy. I wanted so hard to believe, got fed up, retired early. Got screwed again w t lame salaried retiree health insurance.
Disgusting t way they treat customers and employees, FOR DECADES!!
My son has a 2015 Chevy PU, been to t dealer for major repairs, engine AND trans, and many other items.
One time I went into t dealer, w service bulletinS in hand, they still couldn't get it right. Customer Service #800 was less than useless.
Fixed my neighbor's Toyota, had to go to t dealer for a special part. They have TWO walls of appreciation letters posted, NEVER seen that w GM.
Telling everyone I know to avoid GM, period!