Consumer Reports (CR) says folks may be better off avoiding European brands if they want a luxury car, since the Euro names tend to have the highest repair and maintenance costs. But just to avoid any confusion, CR does recommend a number of European luxury cars on its own, including choices from Audi, BMW, and Porsche. For instance, the 2025 BMW X5 is the No. 1 ranked luxury midsize SUV in the country. And the Audi Q7, which just wants to be liked, checked in third place out of the 13 ranked luxury three-row SUVs. Moreover, CR’s top five luxury brands overall were BMW, Lexus, Porsche, Audi, and Infiniti, in that order.
Yet as mentioned, there’s no getting around those post-purchase costs. And Asian brands aren’t always better, which is why Steven Elek, who oversees auto data analytics for Consumer Reports, offers this strategy: “If you are considering a luxury model, it may be wise to purchase one from a domestic brand that may have lower maintenance and repair costs. For example, over 10 years, Mercedes-Benz models are more than double the cost to maintain and repair as those from Lincoln.”
In a related factoid, not a single Mercedes-Benz vehicle is recommended at all by Consumer Reports. Yet Mercedes-Benz isn’t at the very bottom of CR’s list for maintenance and repair expenses — that spot belongs to Land Rover, though it remains European more by tradition than ownership.
Consumer Reports’ auto brands with highest repair and maintenance costs
Consumer Reports looked at both short-term costs (during the first five years of ownership) and long-term costs (during years six through 10 of ownership), and ranked brands by overall expenses. As a result, Land Rover — among the car brands currently owned by India’s Tata Motors — had the highest 10-year costs of $17,450: $3,700 during the first five years and $13,750 for the next five years. Porsche had higher costs at year five, at $5,000, but saw owners pay out an average of $11,000 for years 6 through 10.
Mercedes-Benz then has the third-highest average costs, as owners can expect to be on the hook for $3,500/$9,600 in repair and maintenance charges during these time periods. Taken as a whole, these kinds of results can indicate another important point for consumers: Your maintenance and repair costs can “skyrocket” once the typical new-car warranty expires. Looking at Land Rover, for instance, expenses during the second five years were more than 3.7 times higher than during the first.
It’s also worth pointing out that Porsche’s high costs for repairs and maintenance are matched with pretty good rankings elsewhere. Four of its vehicles are recommended by Consumer Reports — Macan, Cayenne, Taycan, and 718 Boxster — and that’s four more than Mercedes-Benz and Land Rover combined. Additionally, Porsche was the No. 3 rated luxury brand, No. 4 among all brands, and No. 4 in overall customer satisfaction. For context, Mercedes-Benz and Land Rover were the 23rd- and 30th-ranked brands overall.
Consumer Reports’ auto brands with lowest repair and maintenance costs
Oddly enough, while Consumer Reports suggested Lincoln as a lux alternative to the Europeans, the publication seems to have skipped right over another upscale domestic brand with even lower expenses — Tesla. Yes, Tesla products have a distinctively Musk-y new-car smell, but their five-year maintenance and repair costs were tallied at just $730 by Consumer Reports, which indicated 10 years of expenses would come out to about $5,050 (with $4,320 for years 6 through 10).
Lincoln was very close behind, however, with owners averaging $850 in maintenance and repair costs during the first five years of ownership and $4,350 for the second, for a total outlay of $5,200. Plus, it was Buick that led the way for luxury brands in terms of lowest expenses for years six through 10, at $4,300. The only brand with lower costs for maintenance and repair during the second five-year period was Toyota — at $4,200.
Of course, here’s where things can get tricky, because it turns out that Consumer Reports doesn’t actually recommend any Lincolns for the 2025 model year. It does recommend the Buick Enclave — the first Buick with Super Cruise — as well as the Envista and Envision. If those aren’t lux enough, the traditional luxury brand with the next lowest maintenance and repair costs through five years is Cadillac ($1,175). However, expenses through the second five years ($4,895) and for the whole 10 years ($6,645) were lowest for Lexus among premium makes.
