Good News for GM as Buick Ranks at Top of New Automotive Reliability Survey

Buick and Jaguar shared first place for brands with the most-dependable vehicles in a study released today, ending Lexus's 14-year reign.

Buick climbed from sixth place last year in market research firm J.D. Power and Associates' Vehicle Dependability Study, and Jaguar soared from 10th. They were followed by Lexus, Toyota and Mercury in the survey of owners of 3-year-old vehicles.

“Buick's No. 1 ranking reflects General Motors' efforts to shake a reputation of poor dependability,” said David Sargent, J.D. Power's vice president of automotive research. "GM…has made a lot of strides recently," he said. "Maybe 10 or 15 years ago their vehicles weren't as reliable as some of the imports, but I think today they've virtually caught up."

Original owners of Buick and Jaguar models reported an average of 122 problems per 100 vehicles, four fewer than Lexus. In compiling the rankings, J.D. Power used surveys taken in October 2008 from more than 46,000 owners of 2006 model-year vehicles.