Car Brands - Worst Brands of MY 1986

The Least Reliable and Durable Car Brands of Model Year 1986 by CR's 1992 List of Used Cars to Avoid

This page lists the worst car brands of model year 1986 by two measures, both of which employ Consumer Reports' list of Used Cars to Avoid. Both measures use the 1986 models on the 1992 list of Cars to Avoid, when the 1986 cars were about 5 ½ years old. 

1986's Worst Car Brands by Share of CR's 1992 list of 1986 Cars to Avoid

The 10 worst car brands of 1986 by share of CR's 1992 list of 1986 Cars to Avoid are listed below, together with their corresponding shares.

  • Chevrolet line, accounting for 25.4% of 1986 Cars to Avoid in 1992
  • Ford line, accounting for 22.2%
  • Dodge line, accounting for 12.7%
  • Pontiac line (now defunct), accounting for 7.9%
  • Oldsmobile line (now defunct), accounting for 7.9%
  • Buick line, accounting for 6.3%
  • Jeep line, accounting for 3.2%
  • Subaru line, accounting for 3.2%
  • Mercury line (now defunct), accounting for 3.2%
  • Plymouth line (now defunct), accounting for 3.2%
The Ford brand leads the list of the worst in model years 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 (a tie with Chevrolet), 1991, 1992, and 1994.
 
The Chevrolet brand leads the list of the worst in model years 1985, 1986, 1990 (a tie with Ford), 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, and 2006.
 
Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Geo, GMC, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, and Saturn are lines of General Motors Corporation. Geo, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, and Saturn are defunct lines of General Motors Corporation.
 
Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, and Merkur are lines of Ford Motor Company. Mercury and Merkur are defunct lines of Ford Motor Company.
 
Chrysler, Dodge, Eagle, Jeep, and Plymouth are lines of Chrysler Corporation/Chrysler Group/Chrysler LLC. Eagle and Plymouth are defunct. Eagle and Jeep became brands of Chrysler Corporation in 1987, when it acquired American Motors Corporation.
 
The brands that account for the remaining 4% of 1986 cars on CR's 1992 list are Cadillac, Hyundai, and Jaguar.

This is a bar graph of the brand shares of the worst cars of 1986 by CR’s 1992 list of 1986 Used Cars to Avoid. Chart by James Benjamin Bleeker, 20 March 2012.

The following bar graph depicts each brand's share of the 1986 Used Cars to Avoid in 1992 at an approximate age of 5 ½ years.
 
Of these brands, the Subaru and Hyundai lines have shown considerable improvement. The Subaru line has a 2011 overall Reliability GPA that places it seventh, and the Hyundai line places tenth. The Hyundai line was the only non-Japanese brand to place in the Top 10 in 2011.
 
1986's Worst Car Brands by Prevalence of Brand's 1986 Cars to Avoid Among All of Its Rated Cars in 1992

For this quality measure, we divide the brand's number of 1986 models on CR's 1992 list of Used Cars to Avoid by the number of its 1986 models rated in CR's April 1992 Reliability Tables. This computation is done with the intent to garner a rough estimate as to how likely a brand's models will be among the Cars to Avoid at about 5 ½ years.

The 10 worst 1986 brands by this quality measure are, in descending order (worst first):

  • Jeep line, with a quotient of 1.00 based on 2 rated models
  • Hyundai line, with a quotient of 1.00 based on 1 rated model
  • Jaguar line, with a quotient of 1.00 based on 1 rated model
  • Chevrolet line, with a quotient of 0.67 on 24 rated models
  • Ford line, with a quotient of 0.67 on 21 rated models
  • Pontiac line (now defunct), with a quotient of 0.63 on 8 rated models
  • Dodge line, with a quotient of 0.57 on 14 rated models
  • Oldsmobile line (now defunct), with a quotient of 0.56 on 9 rated models
  • Subaru line, with a quotient of 0.40 on 5 rated models
  • Buick line, with a quotient of 0.36 on 11 rated models
All of the brand quotients for model year 1986 are depicted in the following bar graph, with worst first.

This s a bar graph of 1986’s worst car brands by dividing the number of the brand’s 1986 Cars to Avoid in 1992 by all of its 1986 rated cars in Consumer Reports’ April 1992 Reliability Tables. Chart by James Benjamin Bleeker, 20 March 2012.

The Nova, a rebadge of the Corolla, is not included in the above computations.
 
Note: A comma or dash between cylinder counts, engine sizes, or drivelines doubles entry count in CR's April 1992 list of 1986 Cars to Avoid.
 
Worthy of special mention is that Hyundai went from one of the worst lines in 1986 to one of the six best of 2006.
 
Additional Resources

Best Car Brands by CR's List of Used Cars to Avoid: 1985  1986  1987  1988  1989  1990  1991  1992  1993  1994  1995  1996  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006 

Worst Car Brands by CR's List of Used Cars to Avoid:  1985  1986  1987  1988  1989  1990  1991  1992  1993  1994  1995  1996  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006

Best Car Makers by CR's List of Used Cars to Avoid: 1985  1986  1987  1988  1989  1990  1991  1992  1993  1994  1995  1996  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006

Worst Car Makers by CR's List of Used Cars to Avoid:  1985  1986  1987  1988  1989  1990  1991  1992  1993  1994  1995  1996  1997  1998  1999  2000  2001  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006

The Best Cars of Each Model Year by Reliability-Durability GPA: 1975  1976  1977  1978  1979  1980  1981  1982  1983  1984  1985  1986  ...  2004  2005

The Worst Cars of Each Model Year by Reliability-Durability GPA: 1980  1981  1982  1983  1984  1985  1986  ...  2004  2005 

The Best Car Brands of Each Model Year by Reliability-Durability GPA: 1985  1986 ...  2004  2005

The Worst Car Brands of Each Model Year by Reliability-Durability GPA: 1985  1986 ...  2004  2005

The Best Car Manufacturers of Each Model Year by Reliability-Durability GPA: 1985  1986 ...  2004  2005

The Worst Car Manufacturers of Each Model Year by Reliability-Durability GPA: 1985  1986 ...  2004  2005

For additional car quality information, visit www.AutoOnInfo.net and CarsOnInfo.net.

In particular, for additional durability information, see:

http://www.AutoOnInfo.net/SharesOfHighMileageVehicles.aspx 
http://CarsOnInfo.net/ToyotaAgeEquivalents.aspx 
http://CarsOnInfo.net/ToyotaMileageEquivalents.aspx 
http://CarsOnInfo.net/Top25OfAutoonInfosHighMileageRoster.aspx

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