TrueDelta: Prius is still the most reliable car; Jaguar XF improves but still has the most problems

 The Jaguar XF wins awards for its performance and its
 looks, but it needs frequent electrical repairs.

Tracking closely with the reliability survey results it released last fall, TrueDelta.com said owners of the Toyota Prius hybrid still reported the fewest unscheduled dealer visits of any new car. 

The 2008 Prius averaged four dealer trips per 100 vehicles last year. In contrast, the worst-performing new vehicle in the survey -- the 2009 Jaguar XF -- required 141 dealer trips per 100 vehicles.

The average 2008-model car needed about 50 trips for repairs per 100 vehicles -- a 50 percent chance of needing work within 12 months -- TrueDelta said.

Most of the XF's issues were minor but persistent minor electrical problems, TrueDelta said, and the average owner of the $50,000 luxury sports sedan will go to the dealer at least once in a year. 

The XF's reliability did improve slightly since the fall results, when it required 159 trips for 100 vehicles in the 12 previous months. TrueDelta updates its reliability results four times per year, but each time three quarters of that data is shared with the past report.

Neck-and-neck for last place in the TrueDelta reliability results for new cars is the 2009 Dodge Journey midsize crossover. Noises from the steering system are a common problem on that vehicle, TrueDelta said.

Besides the Prius, the hybrid version of the Toyota Camry also posted a strong showing in the TrueDelta survey, with 9 reported dealer trips per 100 vehicles. Previous generations of the Scion xB and Subaru Impreza economy cars were also among the most reliable.

Another Chrysler product -- its three near-identical 2001 minivans -- was the worst in the survey overall.

A few cars did better than the Prius and others were worse than the Chrysler minivans, but the sample sizes from those results are too small to be fully trusted, TrueDelta said.

TrueDelta also pointed out it was the first organization to have reliability data on the new 2009 Hyundai Genesis, the luxury car that won the North American Car of the Year award and was featured prominently in Super Bowl advertising. Despite the complexities of luxury cars and the first-year glitches common among all manufacturers, TrueDelta said, the Genesis's problem rate of 43 dealer trips per 100 vehicles, about average among 2009 models.

In a press release, TrueDelta founder Michael Karesh said TrueDelta's reliability results did not all follow the accepted idea that Japanese cars are always more reliable than their competitors.

"One thing is clear: it is no longer valid to infer a car model’s reliability from its nationality, or even its brand," Karesh said.

In comparison to the oft-cited Consumer Reports reliability survey, participants in the TrueDelta research "panel" sign up and provide the year, make, and model of their cars once, and are surveyed throughout the year. TrueDelta says this reduces the problem of people only filling out the reliability surveys when they have a complaint to report and allows for information to be fresher.

Also unlike Consumer Reports, TrueDelta provides numerical data and a listing of each problem that occurred in a surveyed vehicle.

But also unlike Consumer Reports, TrueDelta does not have data on 1.4 million cars. 40,000 cars are registered in the TrueDelta panel, allowing the organization to report reliability data on only a relative handful of cars, whereas Consumer Reports reports data on almost every year-make-model combination going back 10 years. TrueDelta also reports reliability based on smaller minimum sample size than Consumer Reports. 

TrueDelta data can neither confirm nor deny Consumer Reports data that calls the Scion xD subcompact hatchback the most reliable new vehicle, as only 18 owners responded to the TrueDelta survey. And Consumer Reports offers no data on the Jaguar XF because they conducted their most recent survey just as the car was going on sale. 

Sign up to participate in the TrueDelta reliability survey on their web site. You'll need to spend only a few minutes per year answering e-mail surveys, and car buyers will be able to benefit from the information you provide.