Toyota Prius – Most Reliable 2009 Family Car

Consumers Reports published the annual reliability rankings concerning cars of all classes, with Scion xD and Mini Cooper Clubman leading the overall table. The study is regarded as a very important source of information for carmakers because they can easily influence car buyers but may also unveil certain aspects of their cars that might need to be improved in the upgraded models.The family car category is led by Toyota Prius and Kia Optima while the luxury car series shows that Infinity M35 and Lexus IS250 are the most reliable cars in their classes.Obviously, Toyota representatives were extremely pleased that Scion was voted the most reliable small car, even though the xD variant is quite a new model on the market.“Generally speaking, when a vehicle first launches, that’s when you’re more apt to have any issues that need to be worked out, and this is a vehicle that came right out of the gate and earned this praise right away,” Toyota spokesman Xavier Dominicis said according to MSNBC.American company Ford was also satisfied with the results, saying that becoming the leader of the category and challenging Toyota's models is one of the main goals for the carmaker. “Being neck and neck with Toyota and Honda is satisfying for us. We have our eye squarely on becoming the leader in the industry,” Mark Fields, Ford’s president of the Americas, stated.On the other hand, Chrysler was quite disappointing with the rankings as its models got the last place in both the sporty car, coupes & convertibles and wagon classes. “We do have pockets of success that demonstrates we can meet our customers’ expectations. The Dodge Caliber and Jeep Patriot were rated above average,” Chrysler spokeswoman Beverly Thacker said.Here are the best and the worst ratings for vehicles in each class, all of them provided by MSNBC:Small Car: