J.D. Power and Associates has announced results of its 2012 Vehicle Dependability Study, and once again, Lexus was the most reliable of any nameplate. No surprise there, really. Toyota and Lexus have dominated quality-related studies for a long time.  What some might find surprising, however, is that the Lincoln MKZ tied the Lexus ES350 for most dependable entry-level premium car. Why is that surprising? Because another recent study by J.D. Power found that one in four people who avoid buying a Lincoln do so because of concerns about the brand’s reliability.  Is that unfair prejudice against a domestic manufacturer? Maybe, but more likely, it’s because perceptions are out of touch with reality. Lincoln ranks 7th out of 32 nameplates in the dependability study, higher than well-respected brands like Audi, BMW, Volkswagen and Nissan, all of which had lower-than-average dependability.  Lincoln’s not the only brand whose performance is out of whack with customer perceptions, said David Sargent, vice president of global automotive at J.D. Power. Over the past four years, models from Buick, Cadillac, Ford and Hyundai have achieved consistently strong levels of dependability, but still have relatively high proportions of new-vehicle buyers with concerns about reliability, he said.  U.S. carmakers – General Motors, in particular – have complained for years about the so-called “perception gap.” While they admit turning out some pretty unreliable cars in the past, they have made huge leaps in quality in the past decade or so, and today they argue their vehicles are a lot better than they get credit for.  The killer, if you’re one of these under-appreciated brands, though, is that 43 percent of new-vehicle buyers who avoided a particular model due to quality or reliability concerns say they based their opinions on conventional wisdom or common knowledge rather than personal experience, reviews, ratings or recommendations, according to the 2012 J.D. Power Avoider Study. Only 14 percent of people based their avoidance on prior ownership experience.  “People don’t necessarily base their decisions on research, but instead on tribal knowledge,” said Jon Osborn, research director at J.D. Power.  I was intrigued by this apparent disconnect and decided to dig a little further to try to identify cars that might be getting a bum rap. I looked at the top-scoring vehicles in J.D. Power’s dependability study, and compared the results to the worst-scoring brands in the avoider study. I also asked J.D. Power to compile a list of the most-improved vehicles on the dependability study between 2008 and 2012.  Unlike J.D. Power’s Initial Quality Study, which measures problems that occur in the first three months of ownership, the Vehicle Dependability Study measures how many problems show up three years down the road. So it’s a better indicator of how well cars hold up under normal usage.  Cars in this year’s dependability study, then, were sold in 2009, during the depths of the economic crisis. Cars in the 2008 study were sold in 2005, when the industry was booming.  The analysis suggests there are a lot of good cars on the market that might be worth a second look. The $22,000 Mitsubishi Galant, for example, isn’t typically on many shopping lists, but among midsized cars, a 2009 Galant is more reliable than a 2009 Toyota Camry. And you can get a good deal on a new one: the 2012 Galant is currently being offered with a $3,500 rebate or 0% financing.  Here’s another surprise, perhaps: a three-year-old Hyundai Genesis is rated more dependable than a three-year-old Mercedes E-class. Hyundai and its Korean sister company, Kia, have been steadily climbing up the quality surveys, and it’s beginning to show in long-term reliability now, too.  The point is this, says Osborn: “These days, all the dogs are out of the market, so you should go into vehicle consideration with an open mind. There are 240 vehicles on the market, and 30 more coming out. Do your homework. Don’t cross anybody off your list.”
Consumers often rely on tribal knowledge, rather than research or facts, to judge a car's reliability. That could be a mistake.