It's no secret that CR is Japanese biased and have been since the 70's. I agree with Scraper I don't believe that today's cars in general vary that greatly statically in reliability whole. I have and still own some of the cars on CR don't buy list and have never had a problem with them and I a have had some that were highly recommended and were the biggest pile I have ever owned. I have come to believe a lot of it is just in the luck of the draw as to whether the car is going to be reliable or not.