The verdict is in: smartphone connectivity creates more issues in today’s vehicle than any other system. This is according to J.D. Power’s 2025 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study, which says Apple CarPlay and Android Auto created half of the problems raised by car owners in this year’s report. Overall reliability also continues to decline and currently sits at its worst level since 2009. The Vehicle Dependability Study examines three-year-old vehicles, which correlates directly to the organization’s 2022 Initial Quality Study showing the same trend.
Why are vehicles built in the early 2020s seeing more reliability issues? According to J.D. Power’s experts, this is a continued fallout from the staffing and supply chain issues seen during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In light of this, choosing your vehicle with dependability in mind is more important than ever. We’ve analyzed these results as well as additional data to bring you this list of the best SUVs for reliability you can buy in Canada in 2025. Each of these vehicles comes with all-wheel drive (AWD) or four-wheel drive (4WD) as an available or standard feature unless noted. Several of them are built right here in Canada, which we’ve pointed out in our descriptions below
The Most Reliable SUVs in Canada for 2025
- Methodology
- 2025 J.D. Power U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study
- 2025 Consumer Reports Results
- Hybrids are the most reliable vehicle type
- BMW X3/X4
- Buick Enclave/GMC Acadia
- Chevrolet Blazer
- Chevrolet Tahoe
- Lexus RX
- Lexus NX
- Mazda CX-5
- Subaru Forester
- Toyota RAV4
- Honourable mentions: A few stand-out models
- Less Reliable Brands
Methodology
To come up with this ranking, we consulted both the 2025 J.D. Power U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study and the list of the most reliable vehicles in 2024 from Consumer Reports. Check the bottom of the list for a look at the least reliable SUVs on the market today.
Note that the Consumer Reports data covers a wide range of model years but doesn’t examine new vehicles since they don’t yet have sufficient data collected to consider their reliability. Similarly, the J.D. Power survey is conducted specifically on three-year-old vehicles that would be used cars today. For this reason, you won’t find the newest cars on this list. This doesn’t mean new vehicles won’t prove to be reliable down the line as used SUVs, only that we don’t yet know how these new models will perform over the long term.
2025 J.D. Power U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study
Although J.D. Power’s study takes place in the U.S. market, its results also apply to Canada since vehicles sold here are very similar. As a brand, Lexus continues to hold the top spot overall in J.D. Power’s 2025 study. While Toyota continues to perform well on the mainstream side, both Buick and Mazda sit higher in this year’s results. The four General Motors brands — Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac — all land within the top six. The Korean brands, which dominated J.D. Power’s ranking just three years ago, continued to see losses this year with both Hyundai and Genesis landing below the industry average and Kia also falling outside the top 10. While Honda has seen significant improvements and now scores above the industry average, its luxury counterpart Acura sits within the bottom 10 brands. This is why models like the Honda CR-V, Honda Pilot, and Acura RDX don’t appear on this list.
2025 Consumer Reports Results
Interestingly, Consumer Reports tells a different story. In its 2025 reliability data, it places Subaru above all others, a brand J.D. Power rates as below average. In fact, the only Subaru model with below-average reliability according to Consumer Reports is the Solterra EV, which is a rebadged version of the Toyota bZ4X. The latter model dinged Toyota’s results according to the publication, as did below-average ratings for the Tacoma and Tundra pick-up trucks. Consumer Reports puts both Honda and Acura in the top five of its overall brand rankings.
Hybrids are the most reliable vehicle type
Both J.D. Power and Consumer Reports rank hybrid vehicles as the most reliable powertrain type, followed closely by gas-powered vehicles. This is great news for buyers who prioritize fuel economy. Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are improving in their dependability according to Consumer Reports, while owners of plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) report the most problems.
BMW X3/X4
The BMW X3 SUV and its coupe-styled sibling, the BMW X4, are a pair of compact luxury SUVs that share plenty of accolades in some of the most respected dependability studies in the automotive industry. With J.D. Power, the X3 and X4 take two of the top three positions in the Compact Premium SUV category. Both J.D. Power and Consumer Reports place BMW among their lists of the top 10 most reliable automakers. Note that a new generation of X3 launched for the 2025 model year and the X4 is being discontinued, while J.D. Power’s analysis applies to third-generation models from 2022.
Buick Enclave/GMC Acadia
The Buick Enclave three-row midsize SUV and its sibling, the GMC Acadia, are both solid bets for practicality and reliability according to J.D. Power. The Acadia takes top spot in the Upper Midsize SUV segment for 2025, while the Enclave is positioned in the top three of that same category. Buick ranks as the number one mainstream brand in 2025 reliability ratings, and GMC also lands within the top 10. Consumer Reports doesn’t look upon GM brands quite as favourably, though. Buick is tops in its brand ranking among GM marques in 11th position, while GMC is third-last in 20th position. New generations of the Acadia and Enclave launched for the 2024 and 2025 model years respectively. Since J.D. Power’s dependability study applies to three-year-old vehicles, these recognitions apply to model year 2022 vehicles from the previous generation.
Chevrolet Blazer
J.D. Power gives glowing marks to the Chevy Blazer, which has been sold in its current crossover SUV format in North America since the 2019 model year. The Blazer has made several appearances in J.D. Power’s U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study, most notably as the winner in the Midsize SUV category in 2023. After dropping off the list in 2024, the Blazer appears again in 2025 as one of the top three most reliable midsize SUVs on the market. It’s important to note, though, that Consumer Reports disagrees. The publication ranks Chevrolet 16th among the 22 brands it assessed this year and places the Blazer in the bottom half of Chevy’s line-up for reliability.
Chevrolet Tahoe
Reliable full-size SUVs are hard to come by, it seems. The fifth-generation Chevrolet Tahoe launched for the 2021 model year, and in the 2024 and 2025 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Studies — which apply to 2021 and 2022 model years — the outfit says it’s the only large SUV reliable enough to deserve recognition. This means that if size, towing capacity, comfortable ride, a spacious interior, and maximum cargo space are important to you, the Chevy Tahoe is a solid bet. Bolstering this is Chevrolet’s sixth-place ranking in J.D. Power’s list of the most reliable brands. Again, though, Consumer Reports disagrees, both on Chevy’s reliability as a brand and the Tahoe’s relative reliability within its lineup.
Lexus RX
While the Canadian-built premium mid-size Lexus RX doesn’t make J.D. Power’s top three in its category in 2025, we still feel very comfortable with naming it here given the overall praise Lexus receives as a brand. J.D. Power names Lexus the best brand overall for dependability for third year in a row. And while the RX doesn’t get a specific callout in the Consumer Reports top 10, the publication places Lexus second overall on its list of most reliable brands. The RX Hybrid is the version to get according to Consumer Reports, which ranks it significantly better than the gas-powered version. In short, a Lexus RX is a tough choice to beat for people who value practicality and a smooth ride and tend to keep their vehicles for a long time.
Lexus NX
If you’re looking for a Lexus but want something smaller than the mid-size RX, look no further than the Lexus NX. Like the RX, the Canadian-built NX also comes with brand recognition from both J.D. Power and Consumer Reports naming Lexus the most and second-most reliable on the market respectively. Interestingly, both the Lexus NX and NX Hybrid appear on the Consumer Reports list of the top 10 most reliable vehicles overall, with the gas powertrain gaining a slight edge. It is important to note, though, that J.D. Power’s data applies to the 2022 model year, the first in which the NX was assembled in Cambridge, Ontario, and this year it loses its recognition as being one of the top compact premium SUVs for reliability after topping that category for the past three years.
Mazda CX-5
Mazda made some significant gains in J.D. Power’s dependability study in 2025. The brand gains five spots to place third overall, and two Mazda SUVs ranked among the top three within their categories after none were recognized in 2024. The Mazda CX-5 continues to be an important model for the Japanese brand. It’s a more city-oriented SUV, as opposed to the more off-road positioned CX-50 that launched in 2023. Consumer Reports also looks favourably on the Mazda CX-5, placing Mazda in a tie for fifth overall as a brand and the CX-5 as its most reliable SUV.
Subaru Forester
Consumer Reports says Subaru is the most dependable automotive brand in 2025. The Subaru Forester compact SUV contributes to this as it receives a ranking of well above average from Consumer Reports for its reliability as a model. On the other hand, Subaru doesn’t come out quite so favourably in J.D. Power’s 2025 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study. There, Subaru ranks below average, and the Forester doesn’t place among the top three in the Compact SUV category. (The Subaru Crosstrek does, though, and it ranks well with Consumer Reports, too. If you’re shopping for a subcompact SUV, the Crosstrek is therefore also worth considering.)
Toyota RAV4
Toyota will sell every single RAV4 it builds for Canada for plenty of reasons — count advanced safety features and user-friendly infotainment systems among them — so it’s great to see its dependability as a factor as well. J.D. Power ranks the Canadian-built Toyota RAV4 as the most dependable compact SUV on the market and doubles this down with Toyota’s top-five ranking as a brand for overall reliability. The RAV4 receives accolades from Consumer Reports as well, where its gas version is also listed with the top reliability score overall. The hybrid and plug-in hybrid forms join the gas-powered RAV4 to take three of the top 10 spots overall. The RAV4 is also one of only two SUVs to make the Consumer Reports list this year. (The related Lexus NX, listed above, is the other SUV to get the nod.) According to Consumer Reports, Toyota ranks third overall for reliability as a brand. Interestingly, the fuel-efficient Toyota RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid bucks the trend among PHEVs by ranking better than the RAV4 Hybrid SUV in the publication’s top 10 most reliable vehicles for 2025.
Honourable mentions: A few stand-out models
The 2025 J.D. Power U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study had some interesting anomalies. There are a few vehicles that rank well within their respective categories despite coming from brands that perform below average in overall reliability. The Mercedes-Benz GLC ranks as the top Compact Premium SUV while Mercedes falls in the bottom 10 among brands. The front-wheel drive (FWD)-only Nissan Kicks is named the most reliable in the Small SUV category, while Nissan’s brand performance is middling. (Note this study applies to 2022 models, meaning it applies to the model that was renamed Nissan Kicks Play in Canada for the 2025 model year.) Similarly, the Nissan Murano took top spot among midsize SUVs. There are a handful of discontinued models that rank well with J.D. Power, including the Mazda CX-9, Cadillac XT5, and Cadillac XT6, which are potentially worth seeking out on the used car market. A few long-time awarded models didn’t receive a nod from J.D. Power this year, including the Toyota Highlander, Toyota 4Runner, Kia Sorento, Hyundai Santa Fe, and Jeep Grand Cherokee. None of these models or brands receive a stand-out ranking from Consumer Reports.
Less Reliable Brands
Some brands have less-than-stellar rankings with both J.D. Power and Consumer Reports for dependability in 2025. Volkswagen ranks last with J.D. Power as a brand this year, while Consumer Reports lists it 18th out of the 22 brands it studied this year. Jeep lands in third-last and fourth-last place respectively in the two publications, while Volvo trends toward the bottom half in each study. Tesla also receive middling rankings, though its position has improved somewhat in recent years.
Consumer Reports puts Rivian in last place for dependability in 2025, a brand that is too new to appear in J.D. Power’s studies so far. On the other hand, Consumer Reports left out numerous brands due to a lack of data in 2025, including Chrysler, Mitsubishi, and Land Rover, which all rank within the bottom 10 according to J.D. Power along with Ram, Acura, and Audi.