Consumer reports and JD powers are both jokes. Both of them focus on issues within the first year or so of ownership. The real test of quality is how long the thing lasts, and there are quite a few million mile mercedes diesels running around. When's the last time you saw a Ford or Chevy with a million miles? I'm guessing never.
CR and JD powers give similar weight in their ratings if the seat heater quits working or the transmission goes out. Of course, in the real world one's a very minor annoyance and the other will render the vehicle unusable. German vehicles also tend to require more expensive scheduled maintenance and any unscheduled maintenance is more expensive also. That blown transmission at 20K miles on a chevy might cost $1200 to fix, but that german car's seat heater might cost the same thing. There are also a lot more gadgets on german cars, they like all the electronic gadgets and those things go out more often, on the chevy they don't exist so they can't break.
The problem with CR and JD powers in my mind is that what they call reliability isn't what I consider reliability. I don't care if the radio goes out after two months, I'll take it in and get it fixed under warranty. I care if the vehicle holds together over 200,000 miles and I trust the germans to build a vehicle that will do that better than GM or Ford. Jap cars are another matter which is why there are two toyotas and one honda in my driveway. Two of those three jap cars were built in america by americans. However, they were designed with a philosophy of quality instead of the cost centered philosophy of U.S. car companies.
