Analysts have bad news for people who care about how reliable their cars are: on average, vehicles are getting less dependable. Incidents of problems have gone up by 5 percent year over year in the period from 90 days to three years of ownership according to J.D. Power’s 2024 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study. This increase, from 12% in 2023 to 17% in 2024, also marks an overall decline in reliability versus the firm’s Initial Quality Study performed on these same vehicles three years ago.
This hammers home the point that, more than ever, it’s important to do your research and choose a vehicle with proven reliability. One thing that hasn’t changed much is the brands that consistently come out on top: Toyota and Lexus consistently perform well in studies from J.D. Power and Consumer Reports. And several of the highest-ranking vehicles are built right here in Canada.
Since so many Canadians gravitate toward new SUVs these days, we’ve compiled this list of the most reliable SUVs in Canada in 2024 to help you focus your search. As has become typical in the Canadian market, every one of these SUVs comes with standard all-wheel drive (AWD) or four-wheel drive (4WD). If you’re looking for a ranking of the most reliable cars and trucks as well as SUVs, check out our separate guide to The Most Reliable Cars in Canada.
The Most Reliable SUVs in Canada for 2024
- Methodology
- 2024 J.D. Power U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study
- 2024 Consumer Reports Results
- Acura RDX
- BMW X5/X6
- Chevrolet Tahoe
- Lexus RX
- Lexus NX
- Porsche Cayenne
- Subaru Forester
- Toyota 4Runner
- Toyota Highlander/Toyota Highlander Hybrid
- Toyota RAV4
- Less Reliable Brands
Methodology
To come up with this ranking, we consulted both the 2024 J.D. Power U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study and the list of the most reliable vehicles in 2023 from Consumer Reports. Check the bottom of the list for a look at the least reliable SUVs on the market today.
Note that the Consumer Reports data covers a wide range of model years but doesn’t examine new vehicles since they don’t yet have sufficient data collected to consider their reliability. Similarly, the J.D. Power survey is conducted specifically on three-year-old vehicles that would be used cars today. For this reason, you won’t find new cars such as the Mazda CX-90 and Toyota Grand Highlander on this list. This doesn’t mean those vehicle won’t prove to be reliable down the line as used SUVs, only that we don’t yet know how these new models will perform over the long term.
2024 J.D. Power U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study
Although J.D. Power’s study takes place in the U.S. market, its results also apply to Canada since vehicles sold here are very similar. This year, Lexus remains ranked as the market’s most dependable brand, while the closely related Toyota brand lands in second place. Toyota also earns the honour of being among the three most-improved brands in 2024 for reliability, a title shared with Porsche and Mercedes-Benz. General Motors brands also perform well as Buick and Chevrolet land in two of the top five positions. By making an appearance in the top five, MINI also makes huge gains. In the upset category, the Korean brands have seen precipitous losses. Despite dominating J.D. Power’s rankings in recent years, only Kia lands in the top 10 in 2024 while Hyundai and Genesis fall below the industry average.
2024 Consumer Reports Results
For 2024, Toyota vehicles utterly dominate the list of the top 10 most reliable vehicles on the market today according to Consumer Reports. In fact, the brand only left room for three vehicles from other brands among the publication’s top 10. Two compact SUVs, the Acura RDX and Subaru Forester, as well as the mid-size BMW X5 join a field otherwise flooded with Toyota cars and SUVs. Consumer Reports also cites EVs, plug-in hybrids, and pick-up trucks as being among the least reliable vehicles while gasoline-powered and hybrid vehicles rank as the most dependable.
Acura RDX
The Acura RDX makes an appearance on the Consumer Reports list of the top 10 most reliable vehicles for 2024. It shares seventh place with the Toyota RAV4, a vehicle that’s often praised for its dependability. While Acura also scores well in the Consumer Reports ranking of most reliable brands by landing in the top 10, it’s worth noting J.D. Power doesn’t look on Honda’s luxury arm quite so positively. In fact, no Acura vehicle makes its segment’s top three in the latter’s survey, and the brands scores below the industry average in the 2024 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study’s.
BMW X5/X6
The BMW X5 SUV and its coupe-styled sibling, the BMW X6, are a pair of midsize luxury SUVs that share plenty of accolades in some of the most respected dependability studies in the automotive industry. With J.D. Power, the X5 makes the top three in the Upper Midsize Premium SUV category, and it also receives a fifth-place overall ranking with Consumer Reports. As for the X6, J.D. Power awards it best vehicle overall among Upper Midsize Premium SUVs. Both J.D. Power and Consumer Reports place BMW among their lists of the top 10 most reliable brands.
Chevrolet Tahoe
Reliable full-size SUVs are hard to come by, it seems. If size, towing capacity, comfortable ride, a spacious third row, and maximum cargo space are important to you, J.D. Power says you should look to the Chevrolet Tahoe as the only vehicle in its segment that performance at or above the industry average and therefore worthy of inclusion on its list. This is bolstered by the fact that Chevrolet ranks in J.D. Power’s list of the top five most reliable brands. (While Buick joins Chevy in the top 5, Cadillac and GMC appear further down the list.) It’s important to note, though that Consumer Reports doesn’t look as kindly on General Motors marques and places Chevy 20th of the 30 brands for which it provides rankings.
Lexus RX
J.D. Power’s praises for Lexus are especially high in 2024. It ranks the Lexus brand best overall for dependability, and the Canadian-built Lexus RX places first among Midsize Premium SUVs according to the 2024 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study. While the RX doesn’t get a specific callout in the Consumer Reports top 10, the publication also places Lexus at the top of its list of most reliable brands. In short, a Lexus RX is a tough choice to beat for people who tend to keep their vehicles for a long time. Note that while data from Consumer Reports covers a wide range of model years, J.D. Power’s survey focuses on three-year-old vehicles, meaning this distinction applies to the previous-generation RX with model years 2022 and earlier.
Lexus NX
If you’re looking for a Lexus but want something smaller than the mid-size RX, look no further than the Lexus NX. This luxury small SUV places first in its segment according to J.D. Power’s 2024 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study. Like the RX, it also comes with the recommendation from both J.D. Power and Consumer Reports naming Lexus as the brand producing the most reliable vehicles on the market. Like all vehicles, the NX’s accolades from J.D. Power apply to model years 2021 or earlier, meaning they don’t yet factor for the new generation of Lexus NX that is now built in Cambridge, Ontario.
Porsche Cayenne
Porsche sees a big boost in this year’s dependability studies: it places eighth among all brands according to Consumer Reports, sixth according to J.D. Power, and the latter organization called it out as being among the three brands that made the most gains for 2024. While it was a car that claimed J.D. Power’s title of best overall vehicle this year—the Porsche 718, to be precise—the Porsche Cayenne also receives a nod from the brand for being one of the top three Upper Midsize Premium SUVs. If you’re looking for a premium driving experience, the Cayenne is a solid choice.
Subaru Forester
Consumer Reports gives the Subaru Forester a very favourable top 10 ranking among most reliable vehicles you can buy in Canada in 2024. The publication ranks the Forester fifth overall and places the Subaru brand sixth among the 30 brands for which it provides data. On the other hand, Subaru doesn’t come out quite so favourably in J.D. Power’s survey. There isn’t a Subaru vehicle among any segment’s top three vehicles, and the organization’s results place Subaru below the industry average for brands.
Toyota 4Runner
The off-road friendly Toyota 4Runner has a legion of ardent fans thanks in part to a reputation for dependability that approaches legendary status. A new generation is launching in 2024, but previous model years come out on top in both J.D. Power and Consumer Reports lists of the most reliable vehicles. J.D. Power names the 4Runner the Best Midsize SUV for dependability overall in 2024, while Consumer Reports goes even further and places in a tie for the industry’s most reliable vehicle, an accolade it shares with another Toyota vehicle, the Camry Hybrid.
Toyota Highlander/Toyota Highlander Hybrid
When you’re shopping for a Toyota Highlander, you have the option of choosing from multiple trim levels with either a gas-powered or a hybrid powertrain. J.D. Power doesn’t make a distinction between them in its U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study in ranking the Toyota Highlander among the top three most dependable Upper Midsize SUVs. Consumer Reports does separate the gas and hybrid versions in its data, though, and calls out the Highlander Hybrid SUV by placing it in tenth position overall on its top 10 list of 2024’s most reliable vehicles, which is good news if you’re looking for better fuel economy.
Toyota RAV4
Toyota will sell every single RAV4 it builds for Canada for plenty of reasons—count great safety features and user-friendly infotainment among them—so it’s great to see dependability can be counted as one of them. J.D. Power lists the RAV4 as one of the top 3 most dependable compact SUVs, which can be doubled down against the Toyota brand’s title of most reliable mainstream brand overall. According to Consumer Reports, the RAV4 crossover is worthy of not one but two spots on its top 10 most reliable vehicles list. If you’re looking for a gas-powered RAV4, take comfort in knowing it’s tied for seventh place on the Consumer Reports top 10 list. And if you’re shopping for a plug-in hybrid for peak fuel efficiency, this becomes even more important: the publication places the Toyota RAV4 Prime in fourth place on its overall top 10, and it’s the only plug-in hybrid vehicle to get the nod.
Less Reliable Brands
According to both Consumer Reports and J.D. Power, Ford and Lincoln rank well below average for dependability. Jeep is another brand that doesn’t rank especially well: while it ties for the study average with J.D. Power and even gets a top-three segment mention with the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Consumer Reports ranks the brand 26 out of the 30 for which it has data.
Nissan places just below the industry average with both studies, while Volvo and Audi each appear toward the bottom of brand rankings. Because the Korean brands have dropped lower on these results, we’ve left vehicles such as the Hyundai Kona and Kia Sorento off our list for now.
While the Forester gets our thumbs-up thanks to its top-10 ranking with Consumer Reports, the inconsistent results for Subaru as a brand have us leaving the Subaru Crosstrek and Ascent to the side. And while Acura places well and Consumer Reports gives Honda an equivalent ranking, Honda doesn’t figure positively into J.D. Power’s results at all, which explains why the Honda CR-V and Honda Pilot not on this list.