Avoid these twenty one unreliable used cars

In its two thousand sixteen Annual Auto Issue, Consumer Reports highlighted over one hundred used vehicles with below-average reliability issues.

But twenty one vehicles delivered a level of reliability that Consumer Reports considers much worse than average – they were named the “Worst of the Worst’’. CR recommends consumers not bother with these vehicles at all.

Jake Fisher, director of auto testing for CR, said the magazine looked at input from subscribers on over 740,000 vehicles from two thousand six to two thousand fifteen model years. According to Fisher, these are vehicles that frequently present motorists with problems.

“These are problems that required the vehicle to be immobilized and brought to a dealership or a mechanic for repair,’’ said Fisher in a phone interview with Boston.com.

“We’re not talking about things like brake pads wearing out, we’re not talking about the way the infotainment system works, the car’s rail, or the size of the cup holders. These are true things that broke,’’ he said.

Fisher also points out that while the vehicles listed here suggest poor reliability, they can also supply a strong spectacle. In fact, two of the vehicles that were highlighted for poor reliability – the two thousand fifteen BMW five Series and the two thousand fifteen Tesla Model S – received Consumer Reports’s “Recommended’’ label last year.

But in light of fresh data that suggests a pattern of reliability issues, Fisher says these vehicles no longer qualify for the “Recommended’’ badge.

Last year, Consumer Reports reviewers were so amazed with the Tesla Model S that it was proclaimed the best-performing car the magazine had ever reviewed. But after reviewing 1,400 survey responses from Model S owners, the magazine determined the Model S had worse-than-average reliability problems and the Model S lost its “Recommended’’ label.

Fisher said CR editors began to switch their opinion of the Model S after more vehicles were purchased by consumers which enhanced the sample size for reviews. As more consumers used the Model S, CR collected more data that suggested persistent reliability problems.

“To be clear, our judgment of the [Model S] has not switched in terms of how the car performs,’’ said Fisher. “But we cannot in good conscious recommend a vehicle with below-average reliability.’’

Here are the twenty one cars Consumer Reports says you should avoid on the used car market:

Correction: A previous version of the above gallery pictured a Volkswagen GLI instead of a Volkswagen GTI.

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