Consumer Reports Is Warning Car Buyers To Think Long And Hard Before Buying From These Automakers

As the old saying goes, there are some people who see the glass half full, and some who see it half empty. So when Consumer Reports (CR) publishes an article about which brands make the best cars, the “half-empty” group is likely to use the data to focus on which brands make the worst. But that information can actually be important to know for pessimists and optimists alike, as it can help them cross potential rides off their shopping lists if they want a better chance of avoiding buyer’s remorse.

To come up with the ratings — which saw Alfa Romeo, Dodge, GMC, Land Rover, and Jeep bring up the rear — CR looked at each brand’s overall average entry vehicle score, which takes into account performance, reliability, satisfaction and safety. In addition, at least two of the vehicles of a given brand needed testing for that brand to be included here.

Consumer Reports also mentions that, in general, “For any brand, completely new models tend to bring reliability risks.” The reverse is true, too; consider Lincoln. Ford’s luxury division jumped 17 places in the rankings “in part because its aging product line has become more reliable.” If you are thinking of buying a specific vehicle, you should look at its own unique CR data. After all, it is possible that even a low-grade brand can have a high-grade vehicle – although not a single entry of the bottom five brands has been recommended by the website for 2025.

Read more: These Are The Most Dangerous Cars Our Readers Have Driven

The Alfa Romeo Giulia had an overall worst-in-class rating

There may even be outliers among vehicles with low overall CR scores, such as the 120,000-mile Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio sold earlier this year. That’s a lot of miles for a car ranked last for predicted reliability in its class for 2025. Drivers tend to enjoy the Gulia when it’s on the road. When we got our hands on one in 2023, we said the Giulia is better than you think, thanks in part to its superbly tuned chassis and powerful 2.0-litre turbo engine. On the other hand, it is difficult to measure reliability during a short-term road test.

Joining the Giulia with worst-in-class ratings was the 2026 Alfa Romeo Tonale compact SUV. It checked in with a lower overall score and a lower rating for predicted reliability than the other nine entry-level luxury SUVs in its CR segment. Furthermore, this is a case where a few years in production did little to boost reliability. The Tonale was based on what Consumer Reports called the same “aging platform” as “underwhelming” SUVs from Jeep and Dodge — which helps explain why those brands did so poorly on the list, too. The only Alfa Romeo tested by CR that was not ranked last in its segment was the Alfa Romeo Stelvio, which was only better than four other compact luxury SUVs.

Dodge got stung by poor results from the Hornet SUVs

Next up (or down, in this case) is another Stellantis brand: Dodge. Technically, this division had the same overall score as Alfa Romeo, and – as we just mentioned – has almost the same entry-level SUV as its Italian corporate cousin (and Jeep). The Dodge version, the Hornet, gets separate listings for its gas-only model and plug-in hybrid. The former had notably lower scores than the latter, but neither had great results. In a class of 29 compact SUVs, the plug-in Hornet was ranked 25th and the non-electrified Hornet 27th.

CR hasn’t fully tested the Dodge Durango or Dodge Charger, but includes a predicted reliability score in the former’s quick review. Unfortunately, Dodge’s long-term SUV was buried behind 14 other three-row midsizers in that measure. That kind of score probably won’t change anytime soon, either, as the next-generation Dodge Durango won’t debut until 2029 after the current car’s 19-year production run. It’s not all bad news for the SUV, though, as all 2026 Dodge Durangos have a Hemi — though buyers in some states can only get models with the smaller 5.7-liter mill.

No GMC vehicles were recommended by CR

GMC promotes Professional Grade vehicles, but Consumer Reports was not very impressed with them. CR gave GMC the same low overall score as Alfa Romeo and Dodge, and kept its recommendations out of all GMC vehicles tested. What may be more surprising is that CR gave a slight lead in the overall scores to some of the Chevrolet versions of the GMC lineup. For example, the Equinox and Suburban had slightly better overall scores than the Terrain and Yukon XL.

While those examples are separated by only a few points, the Chevrolet Traverse, in turn, had a much higher overall score than the GMC Acadia, bolstered by its predicted reliability that was more than double that of its GMC counterpart. In fact, the Acadia’s predicted reliability has reached the scores of more than 20 other SUVs. Pickup-wise, the GMC Sierra 1500 and Canyon were ranked higher than the Chevy Silverado 1500 and Colorado – and the Ram 1500 – but couldn’t keep up with either the Ford F-150 or the Ford Ranger.

In the end, GMC finished 29th overall out of 31 brands in the CR rankings, and 16th out of 17 when considering mainstream, non-luxury brands. Note that none of GMC’s EVs had been fully tested by CR when this list was published, though if you’re shopping for one, now might be a good time. Dealers have recently been selling brand new Hummer 2024 EVs at discounts above $40,000.

Land Rover lives up to its poor reputation for reliability

Consumer Reports pulls no punches when it comes to describing Land Rover. After first nodding to its impressive history of providing off-road capability and luxurious cabins, the website says Land Rover today maintains its reputation for building SUVs that break “often and expensively.” Ouch. A look at the CR numbers tells the story, with the brand in last place among all other luxury competitors. In addition, the Discovery Sport, Discovery, and Defender brought the rear in their CR segments, and the Range Rover Evoque only managed to score the Discovery Sport in its segment.

CR continues to focus on exactly how much it can cost you to keep a Land Rover on the road. When the publication ranked the brands according to maintenance and repair costs over time, Land Rover was again in last place. Discovery, Discovery Sport, and Evoque were also among the 10 cars that 2025 buyers regret the most, as measured by the percentage of people selling their cars after owning them for a year or less.

People have come to expect this kind of finicky behavior from lux brands in the past. But automakers like BMW and Porsche sold their share of expensive high-performance vehicles, respectively finishing second and third overall on CR’s list of brands that make the best cars of the year. Indeed, every single BMW and Porsche that will be fully tested this year has been recommended by CR, including 14 models from the former and four from the latter.

The Jeep Wrangler was the lowest rated SUV overall

If there’s one brand that can compete with Land Rover for rugged off-road credibility, it’s Jeep — which is also the one brand that edged out Land Rover on the Consumer Reports list. Its 2026 Wrangler had the worst overall score of any current SUV tested by Consumer Reports. Needless to say, it went without a recommendation from CR, as did all other Jeep vehicles that were fully tested at this time.

Additional Jeep lowlights included last-place rankings for the Gladiator and Grand Cherokee 4xe in their segments, as well as late showings for the Grand Cherokee and Grand Cherokee L. As for the Jeep Compass, despite a redesign for 2026 that now lets you choose a hybrid or EV with a compact rate of up to 379 from 2,260 horsepower. SUVs. Regardless of what the new Compass can offer, Consumer Reports said it still “falls short of its competition in almost every way.”

A somewhat strong spot was the Jeep Wagoneer, which made the podium in the large SUV category with a third-place overall finish — even with one of the segment’s worst scores for predicted reliability. The Grand Wagoneer fell slightly behind its shorter variant in terms of overall score, but shared the same grade for predicted reliability. Also, CR was in the process of testing the redesigned 2026 Cherokee when this article was published, and that SUV is usually the most reliable model among recent Jeeps.

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