Achtung, Japan: BMW, VW reliability soars

EVERYBODY expects Toyota to top a reliability survey... but the Germans?

Yet it’s true! BMW and Volkswagen have crashed the top five (with the former from nowhere) in an independent US ranking of “check engine” repairs and costs tallied over a 12-month period by hitherto obscure automotive info experts CarMD.com.

In 163,000 incidents studied nationwide, the Bavarian trailed only Toyota (including Lexus) and Hyundai, while Honda slipped to fourth just ahead of VW (up from ninth).

Rounding out the rest are Nissan and Kia (each up a spot), GM and Ford (down four apiece, alarmingly), and Chrysler (staying even).

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