The Most Reliable 3-Year-Old SUV You Can Buy, According to Consumer Reports
SUVs have become more and more popular over the past few decades, so much so that it seems the sedan market is shrinking due to lack of consumer interest. Modern SUVs are designed to combine practicality, luxury, and reliability into one beautifully-designed package, so much so that even I made the switch and bought a used Porsche Cayenne — and I’ve been pretty avidly disinterested in SUVs for several years. The sweet spot for buying a used SUV seems to be around three years, where the used car is old enough to lose the high sticker price of something brand new, and new enough to be within mostly the same generation as the latest model year.
Only one SUV made the list…
Consumer Reports has been my go-to for information regarding reliability scores, and they were kind enough to compile a list of SUVs from 2017 that had reliability ratings that stood out above the rest even years after production. I was surprised to see that only one SUVs made the list, and even more surprised to see what SUV they had chosen.
The Lexus NX has had a good track record for reliability, but people seemed to have some pretty mixed opinions on them overall. It’s surprising to see this car selected as the only one on the list, setting the precedent that it is Consumer Reports top pick, which might not be the case if you look into other cars that they rated for 2017.
Other options that weren’t mentioned
Just because the Lexus NX was the only SUV to make the list compiled by Consumer Reports doesn’t mean that was the only SUV they recommended for that model year. In fact, there are a number of other SUVs that I would have thought fit the bill just as well as the NX, if not better. Current Lexus NX owners have very clear mixed emotions about their cars, but that isn’t the case for all of the reliable options for 2017 SUVs.
The Lexus NX isn’t a bad car by any means, and while it does deserve its place on the list it could be just as easy to argue that a handful of other SUVs should have made the list right alongside it. It is clear from reviews that Consumer Reports does recommend several 2017 SUVs when you look at their individual scorings, but we can’t quite put our finger on why the Lexus NX was the top choice for the list.
