Consumer Reports warns 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 others who see it half empty. So when Consumer Reports (CR) publishes an article about which brands make the best cars, the “half-empty” crowd will likely use the data to focus on the brands that make the worst cars. But this information can actually be important to know for pessimists and optimists alike, as it can help them cross potential races 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 entries’ overall average vehicle score, which takes into account performance, reliability, satisfaction and safety. Additionally, at least two of a given brand’s vehicles required testing for that brand to be included here.

Consumer Reports also notes that, in general, “For any brand, all-new models tend to pose reliability risks.” The reverse is also true; consider Lincoln. Ford’s luxury division climbed 17 places in the rankings “in part because its legacy product line became more reliable.” If you are considering buying a particular vehicle, you should look at its own unique CR data. After all, it’s possible for even a low-ranking brand to have a high-ranking vehicle – although no entry from the bottom five brands was recommended by the website for 2025.

Read more: These are the most dangerous cars our readers have driven

The Alfa Romeo Giulia had the worst overall rating in the class

There can even be outliers among vehicles with low overall CR scores, such as the 120,000-mile Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio that went on sale 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 Guilia 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.

The 2026 Alfa Romeo Tonale compact SUV joined the Giulia with worst-in-class ratings. It scored a lower overall score and a lower predicted reliability rating than the other nine entry-level luxury SUVs in its CR segment. Moreover, this is a case where several years of production did not do much to improve reliability. The Tonale was based on what Consumer Reports called the same “aging platform” as the “underperforming” SUVs from Jeep and Dodge — which helps explain why those brands fared so poorly on the list. The only Alfa Romeo tested by CR that didn’t rank last in its segment was the Alfa Romeo Stelvio, which was only better than four other compact luxury SUVs.

Dodge has been 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 I just suggested, has almost the same entry-level SUV as its Italian corporate cousin (and Jeep). Dodge’s version of the Hornet gets separate listings for its gasoline-only model and plug-in hybrid. The former had significantly lower scores than the latter, but neither had great results. In a class of 29 compact SUVs, the plug-in Hornet ranked 25th, and the non-electrified Hornet ranked 27th.

CR hadn’t fully tested the Dodge Durango or Dodge Charger, but included a predicted reliability score in its quick review of the former. Unfortunately, Dodge’s long-running SUV was buried behind 14 other midsize three-row vehicles in that measure. That kind of score probably won’t change anytime soon, as the next-generation Dodge Durango won’t debut until 2029, after 19 years of production for the current car. 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.

CR did not recommend any GMC vehicles

GMC touts professional-grade vehicles, but Consumer Reports wasn’t very impressed with them. CR gave GMC the same low overall score as Alfa Romeo and Dodge and declined its recommendations from all GMC vehicles tested. What may be more surprising is that the CR gave a small edge in the overall scores to some of the Chevrolet versions of the GMC line. For example, the Equinox and Suburban had slightly better overall scores than the Terrain and Yukon XL.

While these examples are separated by only a few points, the Chevrolet Traverse, in turn, had a significantly higher overall score than the GMC Acadia, bolstered by its estimated reliability being more than twice that of its GMC counterpart. In fact, the Acadia’s predicted reliability trailed the scores of more than 20 other SUVs. On the pickup side, the GMC Sierra 1500 and Canyon ranked higher than the Chevy Silverado 1500 and Colorado — and the Ram 1500 — but couldn’t catch up to either the Ford F-150 or Ford Ranger.

Finally, GMC finished 29th overall out of 31 brands in CR’s 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 were recently selling new 2024 Hummer electric vehicles with discounts of over $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 offering off-road capabilities and luxurious cabins, the website says Land Rover today maintains a reputation for building SUVs that break down “frequently and expensively.” You have A look at CR’s figures tells the story, with the brand coming last among all other luxury contenders. In addition, the Discovery Sport, Discovery and Defender brought the rear in their CR segments, and the Range Rover Evoque managed to surpass only the Discovery Sport in its segment.

CR further sheds light on how much it could cost you to keep a Land Rover on the road. When the publication ranked the brands by maintenance and repair costs over time, Land Rover was once again in last place. The Discover, 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 Rides after owning them for a year or less.

People used to kind of expect this kind of engaging behavior from luxury brands in the past. But automakers like BMW and Porsche sold their share of expensive high-performance vehicles and finished second and third respectively in CR’s ranking of the brands that make the best cars of the year. Indeed, every BMW and Porsche to 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 cred, it’s Jeep — which is also the only brand to follow Land Rover on the Consumer Reports list. Its 2026 Wrangler had the lowest overall score of any current SUV tested by Consumer Reports. Needless to say, it went without a recommendation from CR, as did every other Jeep vehicle that was fully tested at this point.

Additional Jeep highlights included the last-place finishes for the Gladiator and Grand Cherokee 4xe in their segments, as well as the latest presentations for the Grand Cherokee and Grand Cherokee L. As for the Jeep Compass, despite a 2026 redesign that now lets you choose a hybrid or an EV with up to 379 horsepower, the compact was 269 horsepower. SUVs. Regardless of what the new Compass has to offer, Consumer Reports said it still “doesn’t measure up to its competition in nearly every way.”

A somewhat bright spot was the Jeep Wagoneer, which took the podium in the large SUV category with a third-place finish – even with one of the segment’s worst scores for predicted reliability. The Grand Wagoneer lagged slightly behind its shorter variant in terms of overall score, but shared the same mark for predicted reliability. CR was also 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.

Do you want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest automated news delivered straight to your inbox and add us as your favorite Google search source.

Read the original article on Jalopnik.