Mazda's quality has risen rapidly in recent years and is now only matched by Toyota and Lexus according to Consumer Reports. Rather, as reported by vehicle owners themselves, since it is owner reports that determine the ranking of brands by quality at Consumer Reports, not the opinions of its staff members.

In its most recent rankings, Mazda is third behind Toyota and Lexus. Based on owner reported data, Mazda has climbed up nine spots in the rankings of brands by overall quality, while BMW and Audi both declined by three each. BMW's X3 dragged down the brand according to Consumer Reports data. The pricey crossover had problems with both its cooling system and also its seats. Consumer Reports credits Mazda's jump in quality to improvements made to the CX-9 and Miata.

This latest news jives well with our sample size of one owner and Torque News contributor who ditched her 2014 BMW for a new 2018 Mazda CX-5 recently. You can read her report titled, European vs. Japanese Cars: Why I switched From BMW X3 to 2018 Mazda CX-5 here. In her overview of the issues that drove her away from BMW and towards a more reliable brand, Dr. Tuncer specifically mentioned the coolant leak issue and how the dealer dealt with that problem. Tuncer said that the way her BMW dealer poured tap water into the coolant reservoir in direct violation of the instructions in the BMW manual "left me not trusting the car."

According to Consumer Reports' new rankings, Mazda moved up the most among all brands and Buick moved down the most. Another brand that did well in the new rankings is Subaru, who moved to the fourth position overall. The top half-dozen brands are all manufacturers headquartered in Asia.

The new data that revealed this quality ranking was the result of over 500,000 owner surveys. Consumer Reports is a subscription-only publication, but its press releases are often made public to non-members. You can see the full report at this link.