Tesla makes the least reliable used cars… but who comes first?

If you are looking for a used car, you know how important the smallest details are. Price, brand, mileage, condition… you’re probably thinking about everything at once, trying to find the perfect car that offers a mix of all these features. But here’s the most important factor you’re probably missing: reliability.

You don’t want to be sitting in your newly purchased used car first thing in the morning just for the damn thing to not ignite. Ouch. That’s where Consumer Reports’ (CR) reliability study for used cars comes in handy.

US Magazine ranks 26 car brands from ‘most’ to ‘least reliable’ cars that are five to 10 years old – in this case models from 2016 to 2021 from a survey of more than 140,000 vehicles – with Tesla in last place.

CR focuses on 20 potential “problem areas” and compares “a car’s number of problems to the average number of problems for cars of that model year” to measure reliability and generate a ranking. The magazine’s experts then determine a score by weighing the reported problems based on their severity.

Let’s take a look at this year’s list in its entirety. At the top we have the usual suspects of Lexus, Toyota and Mazda, which received an average reliability score of 77, 73 and 58 (out of 100) respectively. Honda (57) and Acura (53) follow closely and complete the top five.

That rating is roughly in line with CR’s new car reliability report, which ranked Toyota, Subaru, Lexus, Honda and BMW (in that order) in the top five. That’s good news if you’re looking for a used Japanese car. It’s much more likely that you won’t go wrong with that decision.

In the middle of the list you’ll find a number of popular European brands with scores around 50. The bottom of the list, meanwhile, is bombarded with American makers, with brands getting scores below 40.

Some car brands are missing, including Porsche, Infiniti, Mitsubishi and Fiat. That’s because there isn’t enough data to rank them.

There you will find brands like Jeep, Chrysler, GMC and Ram, but at the bottom of that pile is Tesla, with a terrible reliability score of 31.

You’re probably wondering: How can cars with so few moving parts (relatively speaking) have the highest number of owner complaints? From a car manufacturer known for its state-of-the-art technology, performance and wide network of charging stations that have made electric vehicles so damn accessible?

Well, Tesla’s reliability issues are nothing new: Suspension, electronics, and build quality issues are some of the most common issues Tesla owners face. But upon closer examination you realize what happened here. In the study, the Teslas reviewed were mainly early production runs of the Model S and Model

So in any case, this report reveals more about the period in which these Teslas were manufactured than about what Tesla is doing now. That difference becomes even clearer when you see how Tesla’s more recent models, such as the Model 3 and Model Y, have performed. CR’s own new car reliability survey placed Tesla in the top 10, with the Model Y even achieving an “excellent” score on par with well-known Japanese brands.

So what does this tell us? Well, if you were looking for a used Tesla from, say, 2016, it would probably give you more trouble than you expected – compared to a brand new electric car from the automaker. And the fact that used Teslas have lost value much faster than other electric vehicles also reflects Consumer Reports’ rankings.

It’s not just about Teslas – while rankings like these can give you a good overall idea of ​​brands’ reliability ratings, it would be more useful to look at individual car models and go from there.

Well, there you have it. Which car manufacturer would you trust if you were looking for a used car?

Source: Consumer Reports