American Cars More Reliable than European Cars for First Time in 24 Years

USA Today are carrying a story on the 2004 Consumer Reports Auto Issue, which is out today. The main focus of their article is the fact that, for the first time in 24 years, US manufactured cars have been reported as more reliable than their European counterparts, however, it is this section that MINI owners will be most interested in:

‘The popular BMW Mini Cooper also had worse-than-average reliability, but Mini spokesman Andrew Cutler says that’s because Mini owners are more passionate about their vehicles and, therefore, more likely to report problems.

“When someone is passionate about their car, they have a tendency to be very savvy, and they will be more in tune to what goes wrong with their car,” Cutler says.’

Despite this, the MINI Cooper was one of many European cars owners said they would buy again, in contrast only three American models were named as cars their owners would buy again.

Full USA Today Article