In the market for a new car?  You may want to have a peek at Consumer Reports’ 2011 Annual Car Reliability Survey, which ranks the best and worst vehicles by brand.

In the survey, which appears in the December issue of Consumer Reports magazine, Japanese automakers are the big winners, with their brands earning the top nine spots on the list.

Leading the pack is Toyota’s Scion. Other top performers include Lexus, Acura, Mazda, Honda, Toyota, Infiniti, Subaru and Nissan. Of the 91 Japanese models for which Consumer Reports has sufficient data, 96 per cent received ratings of Average or Much Better than Average in predicted reliability.

For Ford, however, the news wasn’t so good. The American automaker dropped a full 10 spots from last year, from 10th place to No. 20 out of 28 brands. Ford’s poor performance in 2011 is attributed to a below average reliability ranking for three new models: the Explorer, Fiesta and Focus.

A few other survey highlights:

— Chrysler’s Jeep moved up seven spots to become the most reliable U.S. brand.

— Many hybrids are found to be extremely reliable. Top models in the survey are the Lexus CT 200h and Honda CR-Z. The Toyota Prius was also ranked among the top models, rebounding from brake problems that plagued the current design.

— Heavy-duty, three-quarter-ton pickups are among the most problematic vehicles. With the exception of the turbodiesel Ford F-250, they all scored below average.

And at the very bottom of the list? The Jaguar XF was found least reliable in the survey, and Porsche didn’t perform much better, appearing second from the bottom.

Consumer Reports’ annual survey is based on responses on 1.3 million vehicles owned or leased to subscribers of the publication. The data covers models up to 10 years old and is used by Consumer Reports to predict the reliability of 2012 models. Vehicles are then rated on a scale of Much Better Than Average, Better Than Average, Average, Worse Than Average and Much Worse Than Average.

Want to find out more? Watch this clip from Consumer Reports:

Additional Sources: MSN; New York Times

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