Thirty years under the hood teaches you things no magazine article ever could. You learn which engines last, which transmissions give up early, and which brands quietly stopped caring about quality while keeping up the appearance that everything is fine. Honestly, some of what I’ve seen in the past few years has genuinely shocked me.
The names on this list used to mean something. People bought these cars because they trusted the badge. Some of them were genuinely great at one point. So what happened? Let’s dive in.
1. Volkswagen: The Once-Proud German Brand That Hit Rock Bottom
Let’s be real – Volkswagen used to carry a certain mystique. The Golf, the Passat, the Beetle. Solid, sensible cars with a German engineering reputation that car buyers trusted for decades. That reputation, however, is now crumbling under the weight of hard data.
Volkswagen takes the cake for the worst brand when it comes to dependability, recording a shocking 285 problems per 100 cars in the JD Power 2025 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study. That is not a rounding error. That is a pattern. Volkswagen clearly has some issues at hand, with apparent build quality maladies and electronic gremlins tarnishing the brand’s reputation, and despite increasing its sales in the US market in 2024, clearly has its work cut out to swing the dependability scale back its way.
Compared to its size globally, VW is very small in America, selling 329,813 cars in the US last year, down by 13% from 2024. That kind of sales drop doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Surprisingly, the least reliable car brands are often expensive, with the likes of Rivian, Tesla, Volvo and Volkswagen on the list – making it clear that when it comes to reliability, you don’t always get what you pay for.
2. Jeep: Iconic Name, Increasingly Unreliable Reality
Few brands carry as much emotional weight as Jeep. The Wrangler is practically a symbol of American freedom. People love the idea of a Jeep. The problem is, the idea and the reality have been drifting apart for years.
The American Jeep brand took a big hit in the JD Power Dependability survey, recording 275 problems per 100 vehicles, and parent company Stellantis is already under the pump, facing declining sales and reduced profit margins due to a variety of factors, including some poor build quality. Think about that for a moment – more than two and a half problems per car, on average. Jeep is loved for its rugged vehicles, but reliability remains a concern, with owners frequently reporting transmission problems, faulty electronics, and issues with engine components, as the Wrangler and Cherokee models in particular rank low in dependability ratings.
Stellantis, which includes Jeep, RAM, and Chrysler, has experienced large recalls as well, with the Jeep Grand Cherokee seeing over 200,000 vehicles recalled for electrical faults, airbag issues, and backup camera failures. I’ve seen these cars come through my shop more often than I’d like to admit. The volume of electrical gremlins alone would make your head spin. The five lowest-scoring brands in Consumer Reports’ latest study are all domestic automakers: Chrysler, GMC, Jeep, Ram, and Rivian.
3. Mercedes-Benz: Luxury Pricing, Below-Average Reliability
This one is hard for me to say. I grew up with a deep respect for old Mercedes-Benz vehicles. A well-maintained 1980s W123 diesel could genuinely run forever. Those cars were overbuilt in the best possible way. Modern Mercedes? A completely different story.
JD Power’s survey indicates an average of 243 problems per 100 cars for the company that effectively invented the car. Mercedes-Benz had, for many decades, enjoyed a rock-solid reputation for its quality automobiles, but an apparent management decision in the nineties to increase profit margins by decreasing the quality of parts fitted to its cars seems to have turned the tide against the famed German company. You’re paying premium prices for a car that statistically underperforms in long-term dependability.
Mercedes-Benz continues to face complaints about its complex electronics, infotainment glitches, and costly repairs, and newer models, with their tech-heavy features, seem to have amplified these issues. It’s like buying a Swiss watch and finding out it needs a software update every two weeks. Certain models of all versions of the 2025 Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon have been recalled because the electronic stability program may display an incorrect warning light when there is a failure – and an incorrect warning light fails to alert the driver of critical safety information, increasing the risk of a crash.
4. Chevrolet: America’s Brand Is Struggling With Its Own Ambition
Here’s the thing about Chevrolet – it’s not that every single Chevy is bad. The Silverado has had its loyal fans for decades. Some of their older workhorse engines are genuinely legendary. The issue is what’s happened in recent model years, especially as GM has pushed aggressively into electrification and redesign cycles.
Chevrolet’s reliability has slipped in 2024, with common complaints about engine durability, transmission failures, and electrical issues, and popular models like the Silverado and Equinox see frequent trips to the repair shop. The numbers back this up from multiple sources. The Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain compact SUVs and the GMC Acadia midsized SUV, which were redesigned for the 2025 model year, have well-below-average reliability scores according to Consumer Reports.
The Chevrolet Blazer EV, for instance, was so problematic that Chevrolet had to issue a temporary stop-sale for the 2024 model, and according to Edmunds, the company’s unit showed up to 23 fault codes upon proper diagnostics after driving it around for less than 2,000 miles during a long term road test. Twenty-three fault codes. On a brand-new car. That is not a hiccup. That is a systemic problem. Some drivers reported not being able to shift out of park, a complaint that led to over 40,000 Chevrolet Blazer EVs being recalled by General Motors.
5. Land Rover: Breathtaking to Look At, Brutal to Own
I’ve always thought Land Rover builds some of the most visually stunning vehicles on the road. A new Range Rover Sport in a dramatic color is genuinely beautiful. The problem is that beauty comes at a price – and I’m not just talking about the sticker.
Land Rover’s luxurious SUVs come with premium price tags, but they also bring frequent visits to the repair shop, proving that luxury doesn’t always mean reliable. In my experience, the Land Rovers that come into the shop tend to arrive with more problems than any other luxury brand – and the parts are never cheap. As of December 31st, 2024, Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC had experienced 21 recalls throughout the calendar year, affecting an estimated 123,194 people.
Jaguar Land Rover North America informed the NHTSA of its intent to perform a safety recall on certain 2024 model year Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, Discovery Sport, Range Rover Evoque, Range Rover Velar, and Defender vehicles imported into the United States. It’s hard to say for sure how much is growing pains versus genuine engineering decline, but the recall frequency tells its own story. The modern incarnation of the legendary Land Rover Defender is a technological marvel for sure, but with all the fancy computers and electronics and advanced air suspension system, the new Defender has also been under the pump in the dependability stakes.
6. Ram Trucks: Sales Giant With a Reliability Problem
Ram trucks sell in enormous numbers. People are clearly drawn to the aggressive styling, the powerful engine options, and the plush interiors that make the competition look plain. I get it. They’re impressive trucks to sit in. The question is what happens after a few years of real-world use.
Ram customers reported an average of 242 problems per 100 vehicles in the JD Power 2025 dependability survey, finishing in a joint 9th position in the bottom 10, while the industry average for all brands is 202 problems per 100. That gap matters. That’s the difference between a truck that asks for your attention every few months versus one that doesn’t. Around 320,000 Ram 1500 trucks were recalled due to brake system leaks, steering problems, and seatbelt reminder malfunctions.
A recall order affected certain 2019 and 2021 through 2024 Ram 1500 vehicles where a software glitch present in these vehicles can cause the ABS system to disable the electronic stability control system. A braking issue affecting over a million trucks is not a minor footnote. Even models that underwent updates instead of full redesigns have teething pains, which was the case with the Ram 1500 in Consumer Reports’ latest survey. The Ram legacy is real, but the current data is difficult to ignore.
7. Rivian: Cool, Innovative – and Remarkably Unreliable
Rivian is the newest entry on this list, and in some ways the most interesting case. The vehicles are genuinely exciting. They look adventurous, they perform impressively off-road, and their owners tend to love them passionately. Passion, however, does not fix a broken charging system at 11 PM in the middle of nowhere.
Consumer Reports ranked Rivian dead last in its predicted reliability rankings with a score of just 14 out of 100. In contrast, Subaru, Lexus, and Toyota were ranked as the brands with the highest predicted reliability, while fellow EV maker Tesla also received a low score of 36 out of 100. Fourteen out of a hundred. That is a number that should genuinely give pause to anyone considering a purchase. Rivian’s issues were not uncommon to some new EVs: problems with charging systems and electric motors, frustrations with in-cabin technology like the central touchscreen, climate system headaches and more.
Rivian’s direct-to-consumer model means it relies on a limited network of dedicated service centers that total fewer than 70 active locations in the continental U.S., with most facilities concentrated in the northeast, upper Midwest, and California, and only four locations throughout Texas. Getting service on a broken Rivian is not like getting service on a Honda. It can take weeks, and the nearest service center might be hundreds of miles away. Despite Rivian’s reliability issues, the brand has the highest owner satisfaction, according to Consumer Reports – which really tells you something about the kind of enthusiastic, forgiving buyer that tends to choose Rivian right now.
