Did you miss this one, john?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080807/ap_on_bi_ge/autos_dependability

NEW YORK - Lexus once again stands alone atop a closely watched
ranking of vehicle dependability after Buick slipped from the No. 1
spot it shared with the Japanese luxury brand last year, J.D. Power
and Associates said Thursday.

It's the 14th straight year Toyota Motor Corp.'s high-end brand has
held the top position in the annual study, which measures problems
experienced by the original owners of vehicles after three years.
Lexus had 120 problems per 100 vehicles, down from 145 last year.

"That's a pretty good track record," said Dave Sargent, J.D. Power's
vice president of automotive research. "They benefited to some degree
... where a couple of their very important models in their second year
on the market — the ES and the RX, which together account for over
two-thirds of lexus sales — both improved significantly."

Wow! Fourteen straight years, and the company's only been around since
1990. Mercedes and BMW have been around forever - you'd think they
could build a car as reliable as Lexus. Maybe someday they will!