Honda and Toyota are two of the world’s most trusted vehicle brands. If you are looking to buy a new car, especially if it is a first car, reliability is probably top on your list of priorities. This Honda vs Toyota -reliability comparison will give you information to help you make a final, informed decision.
When you are shopping for a new car, you cannot consider one of the world’s top brands without considering one of its biggest competitors.
Toyota and Honda both score relatively highly when it comes to reliability. However, it takes a closer analysis to discover that Toyota actually tips the scale to carry the day when it comes to reliability.
How Reliability Is Determined: Customer Surveys and Reliability Index
There are two main ways used to determine how dependable a vehicle is. The first is the reliability index and the other is consumer reports.
Reliability index. This is a rating calculated after consideration of
- The number of times a car breaks down
- How much it costs to repair it
- Amount of time spent on repairs
A car could break down 5 or 6 times in a year but it costs you no more than $50 for all the repairs. This means the problems encountered are all minor. On the other hand a car could break down once in a year but it costs you $1,000 to have it fixed. These two major factors are considered to come up with the reliability index.
The lower the reliability index, the better the car. The higher it is, the less reliable the car.
How do top Honda and Toyota models compare in reliability in terms of reliability indexes?
Honda vs Toyota Reliability: Reliability Index Table
| Brand | Models | Reliability Index | Av. repair cost (pounds) |
| Toyota | iQ | 3 | 224 |
| Yaris | 22 | 186 | |
| Prius | 27 | 278 | |
| Auris | 43 | 350 | |
| Honda | Insight | 17 | 159 |
| Civic | 26 | 353 | |
| Accord | 28 | 381 | |
| CRV | 57 | 351 |
Source: reliability index by Warranty Direct
Toyota boasts of having one of their products in the top 3 in the list of 100 most reliable cars in the world. The Toyota iQ is a transverse engine which was marketed in only one generation for North America (2012 – 2015) where it was marketed as Scion iQ, Europe (2008 – 2015) and Japan (2008 – 2016).
The iQ posted an average of 224 pounds per year in repair costs. This is higher than the Yaris, whose annual average repair costs stands at 186 pounds but came in 22nd place in the reliability index.
The Prius, another hugely popular Toyota brand in North America and other parts of the world came in 27th place in the reliability index while the Auris took 43rd place. Both of these will cost you an average of 278 and 350 pounds in annual repairs respectively.
The highest ranking Honda model on our list is the Insight which will cost you an average of only 159 pounds in repair costs. It takes 17th place in the reliability index.
In 26th place is the Honda Civic which costs an average of 353 pounds in repairs annually. The final two Honda models on our list take positions 28 and 57. The Accord and CRV will cost you an average of 381 and 351 pounds in repairs annually.
Consumer Surveys
Professional market research companies generate these by conducting annual surveys. In these, owners of different brands and models are asked to note any problems they have had with their cars in the past year.
They are asked to give details of their vehicle brand, models and years and identify problems which could be considered serious. Seriousness is determined based on the cost of repair, downtime required for repair and safety compromises. They are also required to indicate if these problems were covered by warranty or not.
All this data is compiled and used to generate rankings of various vehicles.
How do Honda and Toyota compare in reliability in terms of Customer Surveys?
Honda vs Toyota Reliability: Customer Survey Table
| Honda | Toyota | |
| Consumer Reports most reliable brands for 2020 | 12/30 | 3/30 |
| J.D Power Vehicle Dependability Study 2020 | 18/32
( 139 PP100) |
5/32
(113 PP100) |
| WhatCar Vehicle Reliability Study 2019 | 10/31 | 2/31 |
Toyota takes a clear lead in this comparison. According to Consumer Report’s findings, Honda is ranked as the 12th most reliable car brand while Toyota takes third place, only beaten by Lexus and Mazda.
J.D Power puts Honda in position 18 out of a list of 32 brands. Toyota takes position 5 in the same list. This company includes details of the number of problems recorded per 100 cars. Here Honda records 139 problems per 100 and Toyota records 113 problems per 100.
Given that the industry average is 134 problems per 100 cars, Toyota is above average in reliability and Honda is below average.
WhatCar? A UK based magazine places Honda in position 10 in a list of 31 brands and Toyota is at an impressive position 2 in the same list. This survey considers vehicles which are 5 years old or less. For most brands, reliability rankings change after 7 years or so.
Customer Loyalty
Still in the quest for a final opinion on the more reliable vehicle brand of the two, we look at an often forgotten aspect. Customer loyalty speaks just as loud as or louder than vehicle sales. It says a lot about an owner’s overall satisfaction with the vehicle.
You could purchase a particular vehicle brand because you want to try something new, because you are sufficiently persuaded by the advertising or because a friend of yours has something similar and you like it.
It is another thing to go out deliberately looking for a new car and opt to buy the brand you had previously. It simply says you were more than just satisfied with this brand’s reliability, performance or cost. You were delighted and that is why you want another one just like it.
Here we look at car brands with most loyal customers. After reviewing JD power data we got a glimpse of the share of drivers who bought or leased vehicles of the same brand as their previous one. The data considered includes June 2018 to May 2019.
Honda vs Toyota reliability: Sales and loyalty percentage table
| Toyota | Honda | |
| 2019 sales (worldwide) | 10.74 million units | 5.3 million units |
| Loyalty percentage | 59.5% | 57.7% |
| Overall quality score | 8/10 | 8/10 |
Toyota and Honda take 2nd and 3rd place in a USA Today’s listing of brands with the most loyal customers. From this we can conclude that out of the 10.74 million Toyota units sold in 2019, 59.5% of these were repeat buyers.
Customers who previously owned the same or other models of the same brand and chose to stick with it. Others may have owned Toyotas at some point in the past but chose to return to the brand.
For Honda, we can conclude that 57.7% of the 5.3 million units sold in the same year were customers choosing to remain loyal to the brand. Both brands received an overall quality score of 80%.
Where customer loyalty is concerned, these two brands came hot on the heels of Subaru which had a loyalty rating of 61.5% but still fell short in terms of overall quality score for which it got 70%.
Model Specific Major Repair Complaints
Honda Civic Vs Toyota Yaris
Honda complaints
The Honda Civic has featured prominently in the list of most popular cars in the U.S over the last 10 years or so. It has a good reputation for its reliability and durability available at a fair price. All vehicles encounter some repair problems which are often discovered when customers make complains. Some repair problems found in the model include
- Oil dilution. When oil is diluted, it causes an artificial rise in oil levels, triggers warning lights to come on and causes a terrible smell. In some cases, engines misfire or stall due to oil dilution.
This then brings up questions around long term damage because the oil cannot provide as much protection to the engine as it should.
- Vibrating brakes. Another common problem in Hondas is vibration when braking. This problem was found to be experienced at about 95,000 miles. The reason behind it was found to be a warped front brake rotors. For some vehicles this can be repaired and in others it requires rotor replacement.
Toyota complaints
The Toyota Yaris has an impressively low reliability index and lower than average annual repair costs. The main repair complaints about this model appear to be the axle and suspension. These account for 30.7% of all its repair needs. Other common problems are
- Gearbox changing challenges. These are with the manual gearbox and were found to be caused by the syncromesh.
- Failure of rear wheel bearing. There is no real mechanical problem found here. These bearings are simply prone to premature wear.
- Air conditioning problems. These are as a result of problems with the compressor.
Conclusion
When it comes to top vehicle brands like Toyota and Honda, there are die-hard fans of both everywhere. Some people swear by Honda and have good reason to do so while others will drive nothing but Toyota. They can all give you a not-so –short list of why.
That said, if reliability is what you are looking for, Toyota carries the day. The manufacturer has made it clear that this is their number one priority, even before performance and aesthetics. Over the years, Honda has made it clear that they are going for performance, even if it sometimes comes at the expense of reliability.
FAQs
Why have Honda reliability rankings steadily declined over the last few years?
For tens of years, Honda and Toyota stood side by side as two of the most reliable vehicle brands in the market. In recent years, Honda has steadily fallen in its ranking for reliability and risen in its ranking for performance due to a deliberate shift in focus from reliability to superior performance.
What are the most expensive Toyota car repairs?
Transmission problems, air bag replacements and perhaps suspension problems are some issues to worry about regarding costs. If you have a Hybrid car, batter replacement is also a wallet breaker. However, it you have an active warranty these will most likely be covered there.
