Which German car brand is the most reliable?
German car brands are among the most desirable and renowned for their combination of luxury, technology and driving pleasure. Mention should also be made of their excellent engineering know-how, followed by designs that stand the test of time.
Reliability, on the other hand, is an area in which there's still plenty of room for improvement, and maintenance and parts costs tend to be higher than the industry average. For used car buyers, this is the flip side of the coin when shopping for Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche, not to mention Volkswagen.
Which of these brands can be considered the most reliable? It's always difficult to answer such a question, given that each vehicle is unique and has its own maintenance history, but we can turn to the reliability studies that exist.
Every year, J.D. Power compiles a brand ranking based on three-year-old models and problems reported by owners via a survey. Its most recent ranking (models of the year 2021) places Porsche and BMW among the best, Mercedes-Benz slightly below the industry average, and Audi and Volkswagen among the worst brands. A similar observation can be made for the three previous years.
Porsche and BMW, in order, are also the highest-ranking German companies in the ranking of the most reliable brands by the American magazine Consumer Reports, again based on owner responses. The other three fail to make the grade, with Mercedes-Benz coming second last overall.
But that's mostly for new or recent vehicles. According to its reliability rankings for used vehicles between 5 and 10 years old, published last August, BMW (7th) and Mercedes-Benz (10th) are in the top 10. Volkswagen and Audi are lower, while Porsche is absent for some unknown reason.
Finally, reliability often means loyalty. Many people buy back a vehicle from the same brand because they're satisfied and don't have too many problems. In this respect, J.D. Power recently told us that Porsche is the luxury car brand with the most loyal customers: 57.5% have traded in theirs for a new one in the last year.
