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Lexus tops JD Power Vehicle Dependability Study again, Buick bests Toyota

It shouldn't surprise anyone, but Lexus has once again taken the top spot in JD Power's Vehicle Dependability Study. That'd be the Japanese luxury brand's fourth straight year at the top of table. The big news, though, is the rise of Buick. General Motor's near-premium brand beat out Toyota to take second place, with 110 problems per 100 vehicles compared to Toyota's 111 problems. Lexus owners only reported 89 problems per 100 vehicles. Besides Buick's three-position jump, Scion enjoyed a major improvement, jumping 13 positions from 2014. Ram and Mitsubishi made big gains, as well, moving up 11 and 10 positions, respectively. In terms of individual segments, GM and Toyota both excelled, taking home seven segment awards each. The study wasn't good news for all involved, though. A number of popular automakers finished below the industry average of 147 problems per 100 vehicles, including Subaru, (157PP100), Volkswagen (165PP100), Ford/Hyundai (188PP100 each) and Mini (193PP100). The biggest losers (by a tremendous margin, we might add) were Land Rover and Fiat, recording 258 and 273 problems per 100 vehicles. The next closest brand was Jeep, with 197PP100. While the Vehicle Dependability Study uses the same measurement system as the Initial Quality Survey, the two metrics analyze very different things. The VDS looks at problems experienced by original owners of model year 2012 vehicles over the past 12 months, while the oft-quoted IQS focuses on problems in the first 90 days of new-vehicle ownership. Like the IQS, though, the VDS has a rather broad definition of what a problem is. Because of that, a low score from JD Power is no guarantee of extreme unreliability, so much as just poor design. In this most recent study, the two most reported problems focused on Bluetooth connectivity and the voice-command systems. The former leaves plenty of room for user error due to poor design (particularly true of the Bluetooth systems on the low-scoring Fords, Volkswagens and Subarus), while the second is something JD Power has already confirmed as being universally terrible. That makes means that while these studies are important, they shouldn't be taken as gospel when it comes to automotive reliability. News Source: JD PowerImage Credit: Copyright 2015 Jeremy Korzeniewski / AOL Buick Fiat Ford GM Hyundai Jeep Land Rover Lexus MINI Mitsubishi RAM Scion Subaru Toyota Volkswagen Auto Repair Ownership study

What grownups drive (fast) | 2017 Subaru Forester 2.0XT Touring Review

If you look at the 2017 Forester XT Touring and don't notice the changes compared to the 2016 model, we won't blame you. They're subtle. The naturally aspirated models get a new front bumper that matches the surrounding body color, but the turbo model we drove still has the black gap in the middle. The grille gives up the wide mesh look for a pattern that subtly accentuates the Pleiades badge. Look into the updated Forester's eyes, though, and you might see a new spark of beauty, with a redesign that prominently features a surrounding strip of LEDs. There's also a new color; our test vehicle came in the new-for-2017 Sepia Bronze Metallic paint, a tasteful brown(-ish) that might let you get away with going longer between washes. On the inside, this Forester had the new Saddle Brown leather interior exclusive to the Touring trim. It's the rich sort of brown that reminds one of a rustic but well-appointed hunting lodge, where one would expect to catch a whiff of pipe tobacco and whiskey. It just smelled like a normal car, though, at least before we got in it. Touring spec also offers up a heated steering wheel and seats, the automotive equivalent to a chair in front of the fireplace. Most touch points are attended to with sturdy-feeling materials, and the most important one – the wheel­ – feels grippy and comfortable without being overwrought. The front seats are firm but comfortable, with an upright seating position. They're a bit reminiscent of those moderately expensive high-back office chairs, except in this case, the office rolls around with the seat. Sitting behind them isn't bad, either, as they're shaped in a way that carves out extra room for the knees. The door openings are large enough to make ingress and egress an easy task, which is a merciful thing, especially when wrestling a car seat into the back. As for our own rear-facing kid carrier, it fits in the Forester just fine, but, when clipped in the passenger side, means the front occupant is just one click closer to the dash than they'd be ideally. Their knees won't be crunched into the glove box, though (that's a position some of us have learned to live with in other cars with a rear-facing car seat installed). The view from the driver's seat is exceptional. Tall, wide windows let you keep track of everything that's going on around you. They also bring in a lot of light, and piloting the Forester is a bit like driving a greenhouse on wheels.

Just add power | 2017 Subaru Impreza First Drive

The phrase "all new" gets bandied about way more than it should in the automotive world. Depending on how lenient an automaker's marketing department is feeling at the time, refreshed fascias and a reshuffling of trim levels might earn a tired vehicle the all-new appellation. That's not what Subaru has done with its reborn Impreza compact. Everything from its wheels to its windows has been completely redesigned for 2017. With one glaring exception, the 2017 Subaru Impreza has benefited immensely from its rebirth. The chassis is stiffer, the steering is better, and the interior is larger than before. Like on most Subarus, standard all-wheel drive remains a key selling point. The only thing that's missing is more power. Subaru has gotten guff over the years for its exterior design, with vehicles being called everything from ugly (Baja) to odd (B9 Tribeca). The 2017 Impreza doesn't fit those descriptions. There's just enough surfacing pressed into its bodysides to attract the eye, and the burly flared-shoulder fenders add a muscular stance. Dead-on, the Impreza's face is a bit too nondescript – if it didn't wear a Subaru badge, you'd be forgiven for mistaking it for a Honda or Toyota – but it's not unattractive. The bug eyes of Imprezas past are now nothing more than a historical footnote. The Impreza is again available as either a sedan or, for $500 more, a hatchback. The trunk of the sedan measures 12.3 cubic feet. Obviously, the hatch offers more utility than the sedan, with 20.8 cubic feet of space behind the rear seats and a maximum of 55.3 cubes with the seats folded. That's more than the VW Golf's 52.7 and way more than the new Honda Civic hatchback's maximum of 46.2. The first thing we noticed from the driver's seat is how easy it is to see out of the 2017 Impreza. Visibility is excellent in every direction, and all that glass means the cabin feels light and airy. Large, easy-to-read speedometer and tachometer gauges sit front and center, but the rest of the information needed for the task of driving is spread across three different LCD screens. The first sits between the two gauges, and the second is atop the center stack. The third screen is the largest, measuring 6.5 inches on base 2.0i models and 8.0 inches in Sport and Limited trims.