Buick landed in the middle of the pack among the 34 automotive brands evaluated by Consumer Reports for its 2024 rankings, but despite its placement, the Tri-Shield was rated as the top-performing among all domestic brands.
In order to be included in CR‘s brand rankings, the publication has to have tested at least two current models from a given automaker. Rankings are based on the brand’s average Overall Score, which is a combination of road test scores, predicted reliability and owner satisfaction data, along with safety for all of the models from each manufacturer.
Overall, Buick slotted in 13th, thanks to its 69-point score. Its road test score was 79 points, while its predicted reliability and owner satisfaction were both rated as average. This result placed it directly ahead of Cadillac, whose score of 68 placed it in in 14th, while the next-best domestic brand was Ford in 17th with 65 points.
As for the rest of the domestic field: Tesla slotted in 18th (65), Lincoln wound up 21st (63), Chevy was 22nd (62), Chrysler was 24th (62), Dodge ranked 25th (61), Rivian came in 30th (55), GMC was 31st (53), and Jeep rounded out the field dead last, coming in 34th (46). For comparison, the highest-ranked brand overall was BMW with a score of 82, followed by Subaru and Porsche, each with 80 points.
As for what makes Buick a good buy amongst homegrown brands, its vehicles were recently recognized as being among the least costly to own over a 10-year period, with overall maintenance costs averaging $3,355. The Tri-Shield’s popularity is steadily on the rise, with 70 percent of its 2023 sales coming from buyers who are new to the brand, with perceived quality as a major driving force behind its improved sales, underlining its new “Exceptional by design” tagline.
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Comments
You’re never as great, or as bad, as the media says you are…
Consumer Reports always favors foreign made vehicles over domestic. Since only the Enclave is made in the US vs. the remainder of the Buick lineup made in South Korea & China, thus their score.
Maybe the American manufacturers just aren’t as good. I wish it wasn’t true, but you can’t just blame CR.
Like anything in our lives, start with yourself and see what role you have in your own misfortune to do better. You can’t blame others on everything going wrong with your life.
GM had it all way back when. Those days are gone – and Chinese competition is about to blow up the domestic car makers permanently. Build a better mousetrap and price it reasonably.
The problem with the American brands is they had it too good for too long. Up until the 70s they practically held monopolies with no competition until the Japanese and Germans came in. But now its been 40 years. You’d think a new generation of management would now see the importance of staying competitive and I do believe it has gotten better for brands like GM and Ford (compared to the 90s and 2000s), but its hard for me to buy into the excuse that “oh we are bound to our shareholders.” The Japanese and Germans are also publicly traded companies and I would argue BYD, 60% of the shareholders are American (including Berkshire Hathaway, Vanguard, BlackRock, Dimensional Fund Advisors, Li Lu, etc.). So I don’t buy the excuse the Americans have for poor performance being “unreasonable American shareholders.” Its solely incompetent and poor management in the executive floor.
Unfortunately Ford and gm are woke social organizations that happen to build vehicles. They pander to every fringe group there is while shipping jobs to Mexico and China.
The only way that the Chinese will destroy the auto industry in this nation (including the transplants) is if the government lets them in. A nice 100% tariff for each Chinese- built vehicle (no matter the country of origin) should do the trick. If the Chinese want to retaliate with tarriffs of their own let them. Considering the trade deficit, they have a lot more to loose than we do. The only way for American automakers- or the Japanese, Koreans, etc- to compete with the Chinese is to pay slave labor wages like they do. Sorry, I do not think $3 an hour to work in a factory will have many takers in this country.
I would say you are wrong with the backup argument that Americans only care about cheap products and not principles of not buying from a manufacturer of a country whose government openly labels us as their enemy but last night I was reading an article on the best selling televisions in the US and half the market share is taken up by Samsung at a whopping 33%, followed by LG and then Vizio. The remainder of the rankings is Sony, then Hisense, TCL, then other brands like Sanyo, Toshiba, Philips, and Sharp. So you may be onto something that when it comes to expensive goods like televisions or cars, Americans may be considering where the manufacturer is based from and there is the possibility Americans may not take to Chinese cars very easily. Polestar despite it being masked as a Volvo product is doing horrendously when it comes to sales numbers in the US. And it shows in a recent article here that Geely may just take over the remaining shares from Volvo.
85ZingoGTR then why do people buy cheaper Hyundai products that mechanics I have talked to say stay by something else they are a Korean company that’s what people don’t get oh it’s built here that doesn’t matter the money goes back to Korea or China me I buy GM and maintain them the best I can no problems so far
Because South Korea is an ally and has a free trade agreement with the US. Its a country that doesn’t openly label us as their enemy like North Korea or China does and has actually acted as a great friend to us. And Koreans actually do make excellent stuff. Right now, the Koreans are key in helping American and EU manufacturers mitigate the risk of being too dependent on China for battery supply chains and chips. Because as you know, after their extreme COVID lockdowns and recent aggression towards Taiwan and other neighbors, China’s government has proven to the world they can’t be fully trusted and the need to mitigate the risk is real. The EU is already feeling the consequences of depending on a renegade Russia for their energy needs.
Also, Hyundais are cheaper? Not since the mid 2000s my friend. Sure they come value packed but so do GM cars. I don’t find them cheap at all and the same goes for KIAs. I was reading somewhere the Telluride is the least discounted SUV in its category.
Tom I have had many GM vehicles they where all great cars the only one I ever got stuck in was a 26 year old 1996 Chevy Blazer I mean that thing still ran pretty good for its age…no consumer reports is biased everything American no matter how good it’s rating is by other companies gets marked below the Japanese and now the junk expensive to fix European cars . Also consumer reports doesn’t take into account that cars need regular maintenance that a lot of people skimp on like transmission service, antifreeze changes, tune ups when due. A Toyota will break if you don’t maintain it American quality is better then it’s been in years and Chinese cars we already have those the Buick envision, the Chevy Equinox was part developed in China there are others I can’t think of . This is my opinion there is nothing wrong with my life I like my Chevy Equinox and Buick enclave…they start right up every time 👍👌
I believe the American car manufacturers, due to arrogance, didn’t respond well to the influx of foreign makes. While the US was building trash vehicles for longer than 20yrs, the Japanese, and German car manufacturers were building a repor with the American consumer, by building better running, and more dependable vehicles. That said, anyone can make a great vehicle if they really wanted to! The Americans are far better now, but it took them far too long to get it together. Some folks will never buy American again!
The smart thing for GM to do now is focus on new customers with fresh products. Which is what it seems like they are doing with Buick, EVs, and cars like the Trax and Envista.
Me personally, I haven’t had a GM in the family since we sold out 1987 Buick Century in 96 (my old man traded in for a then brand new Nissan Pathfinder). I have however, naturally, as a car person, eyed GM over the years and found their cars more and more appealing as the company emerged from bankruptcy. I now have a 2022 XT5 after years of owning Japanese cars and absolutely love it. Its been reliable, rides like a dream, and in its gorgeous color combination of dark moon blue metallic with the sedona tan leather interior just makes me smile every time I look at her. The Japanese, aside from Mazda, just don’t have anything I find interesting or appealing anymore and have become more appliance like than ever. Toyotas have become taxicabs and good luck finding a Lexus considering they don’t honor factory pre-ordering. Hondas are ok but nothing special to them and much like Toyota, are becoming like taxicabs, Nissans reliability tanked after merging with Renault and their styling is…blah, and Subarus are nice but their CVTs just ruin the brand for me. So all I have to like now are the Americans which are delivering nice and attractive products and the Koreans.
I also am having a much better experience with customer service with GM than my Toyota. I had to wait on the heated seat chips due to the chip shortage in my Caddy and I got called in and kept in the loop immediately once they were available. I also had to bring it in to get the weather seal in my sunroof replaced after noticing it improperly installed when I gave it its first wash and they gave me a loaner and within a week the issue was resolved. They really wanted my first in a while experience with a GM product to be exceptional and it has worked. I plan to look at GM to replace my Rav4 eventually with either an Equinox or Terrain. As for my Toyota, I literally took my Toyota in the other day for a recall to be addressed and once I pulled into the dealer I don’t even get a good morning. I get a “Have you bought the car from us before?” To which I responded “Why? Would you treat me differently if I said I didn’t?”
Consumer reports, AGAIN, shows how irrelevant and out of touch they are with reality. It’s based on opinions from people that pay to give them. Anyone that’s puts relevance into anything CR says deserves their ignorance.
PLEASE PLEASE do not take V6 out of Buick Enclave I have a 2023 and it’s a great SUV and also talking about a CVT. Transmission now every one knows thats another mistake the enclave is just perfect the way it is and going with a 4 cyl and CVT TRANSMISSION IS GOING TO KILL THE VEHICLE
I’ve had a number of Equinoxes going back to 2015.Have a Buick Envision now,I love it.And a really good dealer who has been responsive and responsible in treating me and issues the car has had.It rides so much better than anything in its class,except perhaps for a Mazda; which I could never embrace because of their dinky tech outlay.
Lou the 4 cylinder yes CVT no ths CVT was the base for the equinox it won’t work in a big vehicle they said 228hp for cylinder and and 8 speed automatic transmission sounds good to me we have the 9 speed transmission it’s basically the same just missing a gear. I own a 4 cylinder turbo vehicle and I can’t praise it enough it’s miles better then my old V6 .