The Least Reliable and Durable Car Brands of Model Year 1997 by CR's 2003 List of Used Cars to Avoid
This page lists the worst car brands of model year 1997 by two measures, both of which employ Consumer Reports' list of Used Cars to Avoid. Both measures use the 1997 models on the 2003 list of Cars to Avoid, when the 1997 cars were about 5 ½ years old. 1997's Worst Car Brands by Share of CR's 2003 list of 1997 Cars to Avoid The 10 (11 by tie) worst car brands of 1997 by share of CR's 2003 list of 1997 Cars to Avoid are listed below, together with their corresponding shares.
The Chevrolet brand leads the list of the worst in model years 1985, 1986, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, and 2006.
The brands that account for the remaining 10% of 1997 cars on CR's 2003 list are Isuzu, Volkswagen, Volvo, Buick, Honda, Mazda, and Mercury.
The following bar graph depicts each brand's share of the 1997 Used Cars to Avoid in 2003 at an approximate age of 5 ½ years. The Honda line makes the 1997 list of the worst due to its marketing of the Passport, a rebadge of a sport-utlity vehicle by Isuzu Motors Ltd, then an affiliate of General Motors Corporation.
Note that Ford's share of the worst of 1997 is small compared to Chevrolet's, even though it has more rated models.
1997's Worst Car Brands by Number of Brand's 1997 Cars to Avoid Divided by All of Its 1997 Cars Rated in 2003
For this quality measure, we divide the brand's number of 1997 models on CR's 2003 list of Used Cars to Avoid by the number of its 1997 models rated in CR's April 2003 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 (12 by tie) worst 1997 brands by this quality measure are, in descending order (worst first):
Note that all of the 10 Worst Brands by this prevalence measure have very high quotient values.
The brand quotients for model year 1997 are depicted in the following bar graph, with worst first. The Prizm, a rebadge of the Corolla, is not included in the above computations.
Note that the Ford brand's fraction is small relative to Chevrolet's.
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 For additional car quality information, visit www.AutoOnInfo.net and CarsOnInfo.net. In particular, for additional durability information, see:
www.CarQualityInfo.net: The car-quality website for the brighter-than-average North American consumer.
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