Car Reliability Ratings 2010 - The 10 Most Reliable Convertibles at 4 Different Age Intervals

Convertibles are fun cars to drive. Many people, teenagers to middle-agers, await the first warm day of spring to take a spin through the country, to downtown, or on an outing. And a chance encounter with friends in the city or suburbs will result in a lively and carefree conversation lasting minutes to hours.

In this article, I list the 10 most reliable of these transports to fun from the fast lanes of modern life. I do this for each of four different age intervals, followed by a list of those most consistently reliable convertibles that appear in each of the preceding four 4-year age intervals.

For the age interval 0-to-4 years, the 10 best convertibles, together with their 2010 Car Reliability GPA for this age range, are:

Toyota Motor Corporation's Lexus SC, with a 2010 GPA of a perfect 4.00,
The V6 Toyota Camry Solara convertible, with a 2010 GPA of 4.00,
The Honda S2000, with a 2010 GPA of 4.00,
The 4-cylinder Toyota Camry Solara convertible, with a 2010 GPA of 3.67,
Toyota's Lexus IS300, IS350 convertible, with a 2010 GPA of a perfect 3.50,

The V6 Ford Mustang convertible, with a 2010 GPA of 3.00,
The Mazda MX-5 Miata, with a 2010 GPA of 3.00,
The Mitsubishi Eclipse convertible, with a 2010 GPA of 3.00,
The Nissan Z convertible, with a 2010 GPA of 3.00,
The Porsche 911 convertible, with a 2010 GPA of 3.00.

Of these 10 most reliable convertibles, Toyota Motor Corporation accounts for 4 and Honda Motor Company, Ford Motor Company, Mazda Motor Corporation, Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, Nissan Motor Company, and Porsche AG each account for one.

For the age interval 2-to-6 years, the 10 (13 by tie) best convertibles, together with their 2010 Car Reliability GPA for this age range, are:

Toyota Motor Corporation's Lexus SC, with a 2010 GPA of a perfect 4.00,
The 4-cylinder Toyota Camry Solara convertible, with a 2010 GPA of 4.00,
The V6 Toyota Camry Solara convertible, with a 2010 GPA of 4.00,
The Honda S2000, with a 2010 GPA of 4.00,
Toyota's Lexus IS300, IS350 convertible, with a 2010 GPA of a perfect 3.50,
The Mazda MX-5 Miata, with a 2010 GPA of 3.25,
The V8 Ford Mustang convertible, with a 2010 GPA of 3.00,
The Mitsubishi Eclipse convertible, with a 2010 GPA of 3.00,
The Porsche 911 convertible, with a 2010 GPA of 2.67,
The rear-wheel-drive BMW 325i, 328i convertible, with a 2010 GPA of 2.50,

The BMW Z3, Z4, with a 2010 GPA of 2.50,
The V6 Ford Mustang convertible, with a 2010 GPA of 2.50,
The Volvo C70 convertible, with a 2010 GPA of 2.50.

Of these 13 most reliable convertibles, Toyota accounts for 4, Ford and BMW AG each account for 2, and Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Porsche AG, and Volvo each account for one.

For the age interval 4-to-8 years, the 10 best convertibles, together with their 2010 Car Reliability GPA for this age range, are:

Toyota Motor Corporation's Lexus SC, with a 2010 GPA of a perfect 4.00,
The V6 Toyota Camry Solara convertible, with a 2010 GPA of 4.00,
The Honda S2000, with a 2010 GPA of 4.00,
Toyota's Lexus IS300, IS350 convertible, with a 2010 GPA of 3.75,
The 4-cylinder Toyota Camry Solara convertible, with a 2010 GPA of 3.75,

The Mazda MX-5 Miata, with a 2010 GPA of 3.75,
The BMW Z3, Z4, with a 2010 GPA of 3.00,
The V8 Ford Mustang convertible, with a 2010 GPA of 3.00,
The Volvo C70, with a 2010 GPA of 3.00,
General Motors Corporation's Chevrolet Corvette convertible, with a 2010 GPA of 2.75.

It should be noted that General Motors' Chevrolet Corvette has a GPA of only 1.50 for the most recent 4-year age range.

Of these 10 most reliable convertibles, Toyota accounts for 4 and Honda, Mazda, Ford, BMW AG, Volvo, and General Motors Corporation each account for one.

For the age interval 6-to-10 years, the 10 (12 by tie) best convertibles, together with their 2010 Car Reliability GPA for this age range, are:

Toyota Motor Corporation's Lexus SC, with a 2010 GPA of a perfect 4.00,
The Honda S2000, with a 4.00,
The Mazda MX-5 Miata, with a 3.75,
Toyota's Lexus IS300, IS350 convertible, with a 3.67,
The 4-cylinder Toyota Camry Solara convertible, with a 3.25,

The BMW Z3, Z4, with a 3.25,
General Motors Corporation's Chevrolet Corvette convertible, with a 3.00,
The Jaguar XK Series convertible, with a 3.00,
The V8 Ford Mustang convertible, with a 2.75,
The Mercedes-Benz SL, with a 2.50,

The Mercedes-Benz SLK, with a 2.50,
The Porsche 911, with a 2.50.

Of these 12 most reliable convertibles, Toyota accounts for 3, Daimler AG accounts for 2, and Honda, Mazda, BMW AG, General Motors, Ford, Jaguar, and Porsche AG each account for one.

The consistently most reliable convertibles, those that are common to all four of the above age intervals, are:

Toyota Motor Corporation's Lexus SC, with a 2010 GPA of a perfect 4.00 over a 7-year data history,
The Honda S2000, with a 2010 GPA of a perfect 4.00 over a 8-year data history,
The 4-cylinder Toyota Camry Solara convertible,
Toyota's Lexus IS300, IS350 convertible,
The Mazda MX-5 Miata.

In addition, the V6 Toyota Camry Solara convertible has a 2010 GPA of a perfect 4.00 over a 5-year data history.

Car Reliability Ratings 2010 - The 20 Best 6-to-10-Year-Old Coupes, Sedans, and Hatchbacks

Each year the Consumer Union rates automobiles for infrequency of reported serious problems by model and model year. It rates a model, for each model year offering the requisite data, as "Much Better than Average," "Better than Average," "Average," "Worse than Average," and "Much Worse than Average." In 2010, it reported these ratings in the April 2010 issue of Consumer Reports, Consumer Reports: New Car Buying Guide: 2010, and Consumer Reports: Used Car Buying Guide: 2010.

In order to obtain a four-year reliability rating for a model, Consumer Union's model-year reliability ratings must first be converted to numerical values. To do this, the standard academic convention is followed. A letter grade of A and a grade point of 4.00 is ascribed to a "Much Better than Average" rating, a letter grade of B and a grade point of 3.00 is ascribed to a "Better than Average" rating, a letter grade of C and a grade point of 2.00 is ascribed to an "Average" rating, a letter grade of D and a grade point of 1.00 is ascribed to a "Worse than Average" rating, and a letter grade of F and a grade point of 0 is ascribed to a "Much Worse than Average" rating.

To compute a 2010 car reliability rating for 6-to-10-year-old convertibles, coupes, sedans, and hatchbacks, the average of each model's grade points for model years 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003 is taken. This 2010 car reliability rating provides the 2010 Car Reliability Grade Point Average (GPA) for 6-to-10-year-old vehicles.

From the foregoing, a 2010 Car Reliability GPA must fall between 0 and 4.00 or on one of the two end values, and a higher 2010 Car Reliability GPA for a model means a better multi-year reliability history.

With the 2010 Car Reliability GPAs for 6-to-10-year-old vehicles computed, the twenty best convertibles, coupes, sedans, and hatchbacks from the time period 2000 to 2003 may be set forth. The Best Twenty, Twenty-three by tie, are listed below, together with their corresponding 2010 Car Reliability GPA, and are ranked in descending order of reliability.

Toyota Motor Corporation's Lexus ES, an upscale sedan with a 2010 GPA of 4.00,
Toyota Motor Corporation's rear-wheel-drive Lexus GS, a luxury sedan with a 2010 GPA of 4.00,
Toyota Motor Corporation's Lexus LS, a flagship luxury sedan with a 2010 GPA of 4.00,
Toyota Motor Corporation's Lexus SC, a hard-top convertible with a 2010 GPA of 4.00,
The Toyota Avalon, a large sedan with a 2010 GPA of 4.00,

The Toyota Echo, a small sedan or 2-door hatchback with a 2010 GPA of 4.00,
The Toyota Prius, a 4-door hatchback hybrid with a 2010 GPA of 4.00,
Honda Motor Company's Acura RSX, a sporty 2-door hatchback with a 2010 GPA of 4.00,
The Honda Civic Sedan, with a 2010 GPA of 4.00,
The Honda S2000, a convertible with a 2010 GPA of 4.00,

The 4-cylinder Toyota Camry, a midsize sedan with a 2010 GPA of 3.75,
The Toyota Corolla, a small sedan with a 2010 GPA of 3.75,
The 4-cylinder Honda Accord, a midsize sedan with a 2010 GPA of 3.75,
The Mazda MX-5 Miata, a convertible with a 2010 GPA of 3.75,
Toyota Motor Corporation's Lexus IS300, IS350, a somewhat sporty upscale sedan or 4-door hatchback with a 2010 GPA of 3.67,

The Honda Civic Si, a sporty coupe or sedan with a 2010 GPA of 3.67,
The Toyota Celica, a sporty 2-door hatchback with a 2010 GPA of 3.50,
Honda Motor Company's Acura RL, a sedan with a 2010 GPA of 3.50,
The Honda Insight, a 2-door hatchback hybrid with a 2010 GPA of 3.50,
The 4-cylinder Toyota Camry Solara, a convertible or coupe with a 2010 GPA of 3.25,

The BMW Z3, Z4, a convertible with a 2010 GPA of 3.25,
Ford Motor Company's Lincoln Town Car, a large luxury sedan with a 2010 GPA of 3.25,
Nissan Motor Company's Infiniti I30, I35, an upscale sedan with a 2010 Car Reliability GPA of 3.25.

Of the twenty-three best, Toyota Motor Corporation accounts for 12, Honda Motor Company accounts for another 7, and Mazda Motor Corporation, BMW AG, Ford Motor Company, and Nissan Motor Company each account for one.