Porsche’s mission to be the ultimate luxury brand has brought success after success. From the 718 Boxster/Cayman and Macan making “Car and Drivers Top 10” list for 2021, to the runaway sales success of the Taycan, and now Porsche can add another title to their cabinet of awards as they ranked second overall in J.D. Power’s Dependability study, with only Lexus scoring better.
How Does J.D. Power Ranking Work?
The J.D. Power dependability study surveys owners of vehicles that are now three years old and records the number of issues experienced by the owners in the preceding 12 months. The highest ranked company is the one with the lowest overall score. Lexus received a score of 81 PP100 with Porsche following closely at 86 PP100, which is up from their 2020 score of 104 PP100, which helped them overtake both Buick and Hyundai owned Genesis.
What Does This Mean For Me, A Porsche Owner?
The cars tested in the 2021 were all 2018 model years and shows an overall positive trend in vehicle reliability. What is interesting for Porsche owners is that the current crop of Porsche products, which all saw updates between 2016 and now, are definitely showing that Porsche’s are now more reliable than ever, and if the trends of the last few years are anything to go by, will only continue to get more reliable.
While this may not give an accurate depiction for brand new Porsche’s, those of us looking for a newer used Porsche, can take comfort in knowing that their decision to purchase a Porsche over other German luxury brands is justified and that they won’t be experiencing as many issues.
Porsche Looking Ahead
2022 will be an interesting year for Porsche in the JD Power study. It will be the first year in which the all-electric Taycan will contribute to Porsche’s score. It will also be the first year in which the 992 911 and third generation Cayenne will be ranked. This is significant because these are some of the first vehicles to feature Porsches Digital gauge cluster and supporting electronics.
New technologies are always a risk as no matter how thorough manufacturers are in testing these technologies, there is no way to simulate real life situations on a scale that matches the number of production models sold. J.D. Power did note that the most frequent complaint from vehicle owners is the inconsistent nature of how in car technologies perform, and if Porsche’s new onboard computing and infotainment systems aren’t to the grade of previous generations, we will surely see it reflected in next year’s scores.
Porsche will be hoping that they can maintain their second-place spot in next year’s rankings and will surely be eyeing up Lexus as they search for new ways to improve their product. Either way, as Porsche enthusiasts it surely is exciting to see Porsche constantly improving!