Lexus, Subaru, and Toyota took the top three spots in Consumer Reports’ newest annual brand reliability rankings, published December 4, 2025 — a top three that only partly overlaps with what J.D. Power’s own dependability study found just weeks earlier, and the gap comes down to what each company actually measures.

What Consumer Reports Found

Consumer Reports surveyed roughly 380,000 vehicles spanning model years 2000 through early 2026 for its latest rankings, tracking 17 to 20 trouble areas per vehicle depending on powertrain type and weighting them by severity to produce a 1-to-100 predicted-reliability score. Consumer Reports’ own rankings put Lexus on top, followed by Subaru, Toyota, Honda, and BMW. Tesla was the biggest mover, climbing eight spots to ninth place, while Mazda fell eight spots on the back of reliability problems in its CX-70 and CX-90 models. Chrysler, GMC, Jeep, Ram, and Rivian rounded out the bottom of the list. By region, Consumer Reports found Asian brands averaged a score of 56, European brands averaged 50, and domestic brands averaged just 41.

Where J.D. Power Landed Differently

J.D. Power’s 2026 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study, released February 12, 2026, measured something narrower by design: problems per 100 vehicles (PP100) reported by 33,268 original owners of 2023 model-year vehicles after three years of ownership, collected between December 2024 and November 2025. J.D. Power’s own release crowned Lexus the top premium brand for a fourth straight year at 151 problems per 100 vehicles, with Cadillac and Porsche rounding out the premium podium. In the mass-market segment, Buick topped the list for a second consecutive year at 160 PP100 — a brand that doesn’t crack Consumer Reports’ top five at all. Jason Norton, J.D. Power’s director of auto benchmarking, noted that software updates are supposed to improve ownership over time but that many owners still report integration problems with little perceived benefit.

The industry-wide average climbed to 204 problems per 100 vehicles, the highest since J.D. Power redesigned its study methodology in 2022.

Key Points

• Consumer Reports ranks Lexus, Subaru, Toyota, Honda, and BMW as its most reliable brands for 2026.
• J.D. Power’s separate study crowns Lexus the top premium brand and Buick the top mass-market brand.
• Consumer Reports surveys roughly 380,000 vehicles across 26 model years using owner-reported trouble areas.
• J.D. Power surveys owners of one specific model year (2023) after exactly three years of ownership.
• Tesla improved eight spots in Consumer Reports’ rankings; Mazda dropped eight.

Why the Two Studies Diverge

The mismatch isn’t a contradiction so much as two different instruments measuring different things. Consumer Reports builds a forward-looking prediction by pooling owner data across a vehicle’s full model history, which rewards brands with a long track record of consistency. J.D. Power measures actual complaints from one specific ownership cohort at one specific point in time — three years in — which can reward or punish a brand based on a single model year’s quirks, especially around infotainment and driver-assistance software glitches that owners increasingly report as “problems” even when nothing mechanical has failed. Buick’s strong J.D. Power showing next to its absence from Consumer Reports’ top tier is the clearest example of how much methodology, not just build quality, shapes which brand gets called “most reliable” in any given year.