The March/April issue of Consumer Reports is out with its annual evaluation of new and used automobiles and their recommendations. CR has their own test track facility and lab. They also survey their membership about the cars the members own. It is the most comprehensive evaluations I know of, and I’ve come to respect their process.

While the new cars are tested and their members are surveyed, owners of older cars are surveyed, resulting in ratings that are model by model, as far back as 2018. And the weak areas are highlighted by year and by model.

For example, the 3 Series had problems in 2019 with engines, build quality and suspensions. In 2020, there was improvement in all three areas, but the brakes had issues. By 2023, almost all the problems had been resolved, but the in-car electronics became an area of concern. The guides are a great asset if you’re shopping for a used car. In the end, they suggest good used cars to buy and others to avoid.

BMW has traditionally not ranked well, mostly due to reliability issues. But over the last few years, our favorite car company has worked hard to improve the cars.

After surveying all models with sufficient data and rating the new models, an overall score is produced for each manufacturer with sufficient volume to make the statistics valid. There are 31 carmakers in all that are ranked.

For the second year in a row, BMW has been ranked second, behind only Subaru. And it is close, with both BMW and Subaru being rated 82. Third through fifth are, in order, Porsche, Honda and Toyota.

The worst five, from 26th through 31st, are Rivian, Alfa Romeo, Dodge, GMC, Land Rover and Jeep. No surprises there. The biggest surprise for me is BMW’s traditional rival, Mercedes-Benz, which is rated 23rd of 31. MB was also 23rd last year. For a sense of comparison with BMW’s overall score of 82, Mercedes got 64 and Jeep scored 48.

Consumer Reports also has a recommended rating for cars they feel they can recommend to consumers. Of 14 models tested, they recommended all 14 BMWs. Of 13 Mercedes tested, they recommended only one! It is pretty enlightening.

Pick up a copy of the March/April issue if you want to read more. The entire issue is about cars.