Genesis, Hyundai and Kia top 2022 J.D. Power Vehicle Dependability Study
Toyota and Buick round out the top five brands while Porsche's 911 is once again the most reliable individual model.
Having a car that you can depend on to get you to work is absolutely essential for most people, and while new vehicles, in general, have far less serious mechanical problems than they used to, things still go wrong. To try and help you find which cars are the most reliable, J.D. Power has released its Vehicle Dependability Study, and this year's results debuted Thursday.
To come to its conclusions, the folks at J.D. Power survey the owners of three-year-old vehicles to see what kinds of issues they've experienced with their cars and in which of nine possible categories they encountered them. It's pretty straightforward, but the results are interesting all the same.
For 2022, three of the top four most dependable marques are Korean, which makes sense given their typically high placement in another J.D. Power study, the Initial Quality Study. Hyundai , Kia and Genesis all regularly rank fairly highly in owner satisfaction ratings too, so this shouldn't come as too much of a surprise. The rest of the top five is rounded out by Buick and Toyota .
The most reliable individual model, however, doesn't come from any of those brands. Somewhat unsurprisingly, given its previous showing in these surveys, it's the venerable Porsche 911 that proves the most reliable car after three years of ownership. Given Porsche's reputation for build quality and the 911's flagship status and mature production line, it makes sense.
Other interesting points to pull out from J.D. Power's study include the fact that even after years of being a standard feature on cars at all price points, infotainment systems continue to be the biggest problem-causer for owners. Of course, I'd rather have a wonky infotainment screen than an engine that blows up after a couple of years of regular use.
Also, owners of luxury cars have more problems, on average, than do buyers of mass-market vehicles. More gadgets seem to equal more problems.
