http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35926104/ns/business-autos/

By Dan Strumpf
updated 1 hour, 15 minutes ago

NEW YORK - Porsche shot to the top of a closely watched study of long-term vehicle dependability, overtaking U.S. and Japanese rivals, J.D. Power and Associates said Thursday.
The German sports car brand took the No. 1 spot in the annual study, which gave it ninth place last year. Lincoln came in second, while Buick and Lexus tied for third. Mercury and Toyota rounded out the top five.
The annual study measures problems experienced by the original owners of vehicles after three years. In last year's study, Buick and Jaguar tied for fewest problems, but both brands lost ground to rivals this year.
Toyota, whose reputation has come under scrutiny in the face of massive recalls, fell two spots from its third-place standing last year. While average vehicle quality across the industry improved from last year's survey, Toyota's quality score fell slightly.
However, the Japanese nameplate still swept four segment awards, more than any other brand. Japanese rival Honda took three segment awards, while Ford Motor Co.'s Lincoln brand took two awards.
The industry average was 155 problems per 100 vehicles, J.D. Power said, or less than two problems per vehicle. That's a decline from 167 problems per 100 vehicles last year.
"The improvements in long-term dependability and component replacement rates are good news for both consumers and manufacturers," said David Sargent, vice president of global vehicle research for J.D. Power, in a statement.
J.D. Power's 2010 dependability study surveyed more than 52,000 original owners of 2007 model-year vehicles between October and December 2009. The results are watched closely by automakers and are often used in advertising. Owners' opinion of a car after three years can be a major influence on their opinion to buy that brand again.
The firm also releases an initial quality study, which measures problems in the first 90 days of ownership. That study usually comes out in June.

 

That's all fine and dandy for Porsche but seriously hardly any Porsche owners drive their vehicles as much as the other marques. If 80% of Porsche owners daily drove their cars perhaps we wouldn't see Porsche at #1.

Having said that though I'm glad I own a 997...hehe

As a side note my car has 50,000km on it now and I'm roughly putting on 1,500 per week so we'll see how the long-term reliability is...

 

great news for people with 2007 and up porsches

 

Thanks for posting that. I just printed a copy and put in the permanent file for my '07 997S. When I eventually go to sell it, I'll reference it in the ad.

 

thats actually a great idea, thanks.

 

I proudly participated in the J.D. Power 2010 new car survey so I guess you could say I had a hand in making Porsche #1. Now if anyone from Porsche AG is reading this and would like to thank me a 50% coupon for a 991 Turbo would be very nice. If you PM me I'll give you my address so you know where to send it.

 

Ditto

 

That's a great idea...making a link now...