Guess Who Wins Auto Reliability Award

GREENBELT, Md. (WUSA) -- Who would have thunk it? Guess who is tied for number for auto reliability, according to JD Power.

Jaguar and Buick made more people happy three years after buying their cars than any other auto company in the world.

Jaguar's new status has even salespeople now willing to laugh about the old saw that you couldn't buy just one Jaguar, you had to buy two. "So that one goes in the shop, you have another to drive," says Paul Mitchell at Manhattan Jaguar in Rockville. "That was the history, but it's changed. The car has improved in every aspect."

At a dead quiet Capitol Buick in Greenbelt, the news was even sweeter. Buick was tied for number one overall -- and the Buick LaCross was the top mid size car.

The ratings are based on people who have owned the cars for three years. For every 100 Buicks and Jaguars, customers found 122 problems. "The perception is that we're still back in the stone ages," says Capitol Buick owner Daniel Jobe. "JD Power helps us get the word out that we actually have product equal to anybody else in the marketplace."

Not that everyone agrees. Consumer Reports reliability ratings puts Buick at number 18, and Jaguar doesn't even make the list.
But Triple A thinks JD Power is right. "This is real, this is quality," says Jeffrey Boone of AAA MidAtlantic. "If I were to buy a new vehicle for myself, and I drive 30-thousand miles a year -- I love the Buick Lacrosse."

Now if they can just get some folks in the showroom. "I love it," says William Jones, checking at cars at Capitol. "I've been a foreign car driver. But I'm an American. Now is the time for me to buy American."

Lexus, Toyota, and Mercury rounded out the top five, in that order. At the bottom of the ratings: Mazda, Isuzu, Land Rover, Volkswagen and Suzuki.