There’s good reason for it, too, considering a reliable SUV can save you thousands over the course of vehicle ownership and helps to keep stress headaches at bay.
While practicality, fuel economy and driving comfort are relatively easy to research before you make your purchase, something like reliability is more difficult to gauge.
With that in mind, we’re going to take a look at ten of the most reliable SUVs in Australia and give you some tips to help research vehicle reliability when you’re ready to upgrade to a new car.
How to Determine Vehicle Reliability
For this article, we’re going to skip over anecdotal evidence and go straight to a well-recognised name that maps out reliability with the help of tens of thousands of owner surveys.
This comes in the form of the latest 2024 edition of the J.D. Power Vehicle Dependability Study, which uses feedback directly from thousands of vehicle owners and maps out their responses.
Reliability is indicated by a respective score of problems-per-100 vehicles, with a lower score being favourable for potential owners, as these have experienced fewer problems per 100 vehicles.
Another great way to explore the reliability of any make or model you’re interested in purchasing is to search for specific ownership forums and product review pages.
While many issues can be isolated to one, or a small batch of vehicles, keep an eye out for multiple reports surrounding a specific issue that may indicate a wider trend.
What are the Ten Most Reliable Manufacturers in Australia?
With the help of the latest J.D. Power Vehicle Dependability Study, we can see that Lexus has topped the overall rankings, while parent company Toyota has topped the charts for mainstream brands.
- Lexus (135 PP100 vehicles)
- Toyota (147 PP100 vehicles)
- Porsche (174 PP100 vehicles)
- Mazda (175 PP100 vehicles)
- Kia (185 PP100 vehicles)
- BMW (190 PP100 vehicles)
- Hyundai (198 PP100 vehicles)
- Subaru (198 PP100 vehicles)
- Nissan (199 PP100 vehicles)
What are the Ten Most Reliable SUVs in Australia?
While the science isn’t perfect here, we’ve mapped out the ten most reliable SUVs on sale in Australia using some of the best-selling models from the best-ranking manufacturers.
The idea here is that a manufacturer will likely have their production lines and quality control measured dialed-in best for its most popular models to maintain a solid reputation.
With that in mind, we present you with our list of the ten most reliable SUVs you can find on sale here in Australia in 2024.
- Lexus NX
- Toyota RAV4
- Porsche Macan
- Mazda CX-5
- Kia Sorento
- BMW X5
- Hyundai Tucson
- Subaru Forester
- Nissan X-Trail
- Genesis GV80
Ten More Reliable SUVs That We Love
While numbers can tell you a lot about vehicle reliability, there are some extra members we’d like to add to the list, gained from time in the industry and talking with owners about their experiences.
These vehicles include family-friendly SUVs like the:
- Honda CR-V
- Suzuki Vitara
- Subaru Outback
- Toyota LandCruiser Prado
- Mazda CX-3
- Mitsubishi Outlander
- Ford Everest
- Kia Sportage
- Lexus RX
- Isuzu MU-X
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Request a quoteFAQ: What is the Most Reliable SUV Manufacturer?
It’s widely believed that SUVs from Toyota are some of the most consistently reliable vehicles on the market due to the company’s solid build quality, materials used and attention paid to quality control measures. Toyota is joined by a number of Japanese rivals on the list, alongside Mazda, Subaru and Nissan.
FAQ: Which SUV is Safest in a Crash?
According to ANCAP, SUVs like the Tesla Model Y, Lexus NX, Kia EV9, Mercedes-Benz EQE and the Lexus RZ are some of the safest SUVs in the event of a crash due to their recent testing under more stringent ANCAP protocols.
FAQ: What is the Safest & Most Reliable Car Brand?
While it’s near impossible to give one manufacturer and model the outright award for the safest and most reliable car brand, Lexus, Toyota, Hyundai, Genesis, Kia, Mazda, Mitsubishi and Nissan are all outstanding options in both respects.
