Buick Reliability 2026: J.D. Power and Consumer Reports Ratings by Model

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Buick has posted a surprisingly strong showing in reliability rankings: Consumer Reports placed the brand eighth overall for new-car reliability. J.D. Power tells a similar story — in its 2026 long-term dependability study, Buick ranked as the top mass-market brand in the U.S. for the second year running. But there’s one notable exception to that record: the new Enclave.

According to J.D. Power, the compact Encore GX scored 90 out of 100 for quality and reliability, the Envision scored 84, and the Envista scored 81. The three-row Enclave came in noticeably lower, at 72 points — a result the firm places only in the average category.

Consumer Reports also singles out the Enclave as the weak spot. For the 2026 model, the outlet predicts below-average reliability, based on real owner data from 2025 vehicles — the first model year after the redesign. Among the problems owners reported, CR specifically flags electrical system faults and cases of major transmission repairs.

Even so, the rankings shouldn’t be conflated directly. The J.D. Power Vehicle Dependability Study, where Buick topped the mass-market field, covers 2023 model-year vehicles after three years on the road — the sample included 33,268 owners. In other words, that result reflects Buick’s older vehicles, not a guarantee of the same reliability for the fully redesigned 2025–2026 Enclave.

So the overall picture for Buick really is a good one, but anyone shopping for an Enclave should look specifically at data on the new generation. A weak forecast doesn’t mean every vehicle will have problems, but early owner reports are already noticeably worse than for the brand’s other crossovers.