As the old saying goes, there are some people who see a glass as half full, and some who see it as half empty. So when Consumer Reports (CR) publishes an article about which brands make the best cars, the “half empty” group will likely use the data to focus on which brands make the worst. But that info can actually be important to know for pessimists and optimists alike, since it can help them cross potential rides off of their shopping lists if they want a better chance at avoiding buyer’s remorse.

To come up with the ratings — which saw Alfa Romeo, Dodge, GMC, Land Rover, and Jeep bringing up the rear — CR looked at the average overall vehicle score of each brand’s entries, which takes into account performance, reliability, satisfaction, and safety. In addition, at least two of a given brand’s vehicles needed testing for that brand to be included here.

Consumer Reports also mentions that, in general, “For any brand, entirely new models tend to bring reliability risks.” The reverse is true, as well; consider Lincoln. Ford’s luxury division jumped 17 spots in the rankings “partly because its aging product line has become more reliable.” If you’re thinking about buying a specific vehicle, you should look at its own unique CR data. After all, it’s possible even a low-ranking brand can have a high-ranking vehicle — though not a single entry from the bottom five brands was recommended by the website for 2025.

Read more: These Are The Most Dangerous Cars Our Readers Have Driven

The Alfa Romeo Giulia had a worst-in-class overall rating

There can even be outliers among vehicles with low overall CR scores, like the 120,000-mile Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio up for sale earlier this year. That’s a lot of miles for a car ranked dead last for predicted reliability in its class for 2025. Drivers do tend to enjoy the Guilia when it’s out on the road. When we got our hands on one in 2023, we said the Giulia is better than you think, in part due to its superbly-tuned chassis and its powerful 2.0-liter turbo engine. On the other hand, it’s hard to measure reliability during a short-term road test.

Joining the Giulia with worst-in-class ratings was the 2026 Alfa Romeo Tonale compact SUV. It checked in with a lower overall score and a lower rating for predicted reliability than the nine other luxury entry-level SUVs in its CR segment. Moreover, this is a case where a few years in production hasn’t done much to boost reliability. The Tonale was based on what Consumer Reports called the same “aging platform” as “underwhelming” SUVs from Jeep and Dodge — which helps explain why those brands did so poorly on the list, as well. The only Alfa Romeo tested by CR that didn’t rank last in its segment was the Alfa Romeo Stelvio, which was only better than four other luxury compact SUVs.

Dodge got stung by poor results from the Hornet SUVs

Next up (or down, in this case) is another Stellantis brand: Dodge. Technically, this division had the same overall score as Alfa Romeo, and — as we just hinted — it has almost the same entry-level SUV as its Italian corporate cousin (and Jeep). The Dodge version, the Hornet, gets separate listings for its gas-only model and the plug-in hybrid. The former had noticeably lower scores than the latter, but neither one had great results. In a class of 29 compact SUVs, the plug-in Hornet was ranked 25th and the non-electrified Hornet placed 27th.

CR hadn’t fully tested the Dodge Durango or the Dodge Charger, but it does include a predicted reliability score in its quick-take review of the former. Unfortunately, Dodge’s long-running SUV was buried behind 14 other three-row midsizers in that measure. That kind of score probably won’t change anytime soon, either, as the next-generation Dodge Durango won’t debut until 2029 following the current car’s 19-year production run. It’s not all bad news for the SUV, however, as all 2026 Dodge Durangos have a Hemi — though shoppers in some states can only get models with the smaller 5.7-liter mill.

No GMC vehicles were recommended by CR

GMC promotes Professional Grade vehicles, but Consumer Reports wasn’t very impressed by them. CR gave GMC the same low overall score as Alfa Romeo and Dodge, and it withheld its recommendations from all GMC vehicles tested. What may be more surprising is that CR gave a small edge in overall scores to some of the Chevrolet versions of the GMC lineup. For instance, the Equinox and the Suburban had slightly better overall scores than the Terrain and the Yukon XL.

While those examples are only separated by a few points, the Chevrolet Traverse, for its part, had a significantly higher overall score than the GMC Acadia, buoyed by its predicted reliability being more than twice as high as its GMC counterpart. In fact, the Acadia’s predicted reliability trailed the scores of more than 20 other SUVs. Pickup-wise, the GMC Sierra 1500 and Canyon were ranked higher than the Chevy Silverado 1500 and Colorado — and the Ram 1500 — but they couldn’t catch up to either the Ford F-150 or the Ford Ranger.

In the end, GMC finished 29th overall out of 31 brands in the CR rankings, and 16th out of 17 when considering mainstream, non-luxury brands. Note that neither of GMC’s EVs were fully tested by CR when this list was published, although if you’re shopping for one, now may be a good time. Dealers had recently been selling brand-new 2024 Hummer EVs with discounts above $40,000.

Land Rover lives up to its poor reputation for reliability

Consumer Reports doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to describing Land Rover. After first nodding to its impressive history of providing off-road capability and luxurious cabins, the website says that Land Rover today maintains its reputation for building SUVs that break down “frequently and expensively.” Ouch. A peek at the CR numbers tells the story, with the brand sitting in last place among all other luxury competitors. Additionally, the Discovery Sport, Discovery, and Defender brought up the rear in their CR segments, and the Range Rover Evoque only managed to out-score the Discovery Sport in its segment.

CR further shines a spotlight on exactly how much keeping a Land Rover on the road could cost you. When the publication ranked brands by maintenance and repair costs over time, Land Rover was in last place once again. The Discover, Discovery Sport, and Evoque also were among the 10 cars 2025 buyers regret most, as measured by the percentage of people who sell their rides after owning them for a year or less.

People used to sort of expect this kind of finicky behavior from lux brands in the past. But automakers like BMW and Porsche have sold their share of expensive high-performance vehicles, and they respectively finished second and third overall in CR’s list of brands making the best cars of the year. Indeed, every single BMW and Porsche to be fully tested this year was recommended by CR, including 14 models from the former and four from the latter.

The Jeep Wrangler was the lowest-rated SUV overall

If there’s one brand that can compete with Land Rover for rugged off-road credibility, it’s Jeep — which is also the one brand that trailed Land Rover on the Consumer Reports list. Its 2026 Wrangler had the worst overall score of any current SUV tested by Consumer Reports. Needless to say, it went without a recommendation by CR, as did all of the other Jeep vehicles that were completely tested at this point in time.

Additional Jeep lowlights included last-place rankings for the Gladiator and Grand Cherokee 4xe in their segments, as well as second-to-last showings for the Grand Cherokee and Grand Cherokee L. As for the Jeep Compass, despite a redesign for 2026 that now lets you choose a hybrid or EV with up to 375 horsepower, it was rated 26th out of 29 compact SUVs. Regardless of what the new Compass can offer, Consumer Reports said that it still “falls short of its competition in just about every way.”

One somewhat bright spot was the Jeep Wagoneer, which made the podium in the large SUV category with a third-place overall finish — even with one of the segment’s worst scores for predicted reliability. The Grand Wagoneer fell just a bit behind its shorter variant in terms of overall score, but it shared the same grade for predicted reliability. Also, CR was in the process of testing the redesigned 2026 Cherokee when this article was published, and that SUV is usually the most reliable model among recent Jeeps.

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