How Reliable Are Ford Mustangs? Here's What Consumer Reports Says

The Ford Mustang is a legendary muscle car that's popular for its performance, style, and, lately, its transformation into the all-electric Mach-E that just outsold the gas Mustang 2 to 1. Well, it turns out we should add "reliability" to that list of Mustang benefits — at least for the modern versions. After all, when the seventh-generation Mustang premiered in 2024, it earned some of Consumer Reports' best-ever predicted reliability results.

It's hard to see where the Mustang slipped up, too: As part of CR's reliability evaluation, it asked owners about specific Mustang problem areas, and they responded by giving the Mustang terrific scores in all categories. And yes, that included its in-car electronics, engine, transmission, body, and electrical accessories. CR generally provides info about a given car's rivals, too, and it obviously struggled here, naming the BMW 4 Series and the Mini Cooper — the latter perhaps being best described as behaving like a half-trained puppy. What's notable is that CR predicted the 2024 Mustang's reliability to be significantly higher than that of the BMW 4 Series and the Mini Cooper.

CR doesn't have detailed reliability data for the Mustang's more natural competitors, the Chevrolet Camaro or the Dodge Challenger, neither of which, to be clear, is now in production. Another slightly strange result was that, despite relatively minor changes, the 2025 Mustang didn't rate as highly as its 2024 predecessor.

The Mustang's 2025 updates included additions like dual-zone automatic climate control as standard equipment on some trims, adjusting availability of the B&O audio system, and the debut of a 60th-anniversary package limited-production model — none of which seems likely to affect the car's reliability. Yet when it came time to estimate how well it would hold up, CR didn't think the 2025 Mustang would be quite as reliable as the previous year's model. (CR does not provide owner-reported trouble spots for the 2025 Mustang).

As a whole, Ford ranked No. 13 among all brands for predicted reliability. Nor have recent Mustangs avoided Ford's recall woes: The 2025 model has been recalled three times, and the 2024 model 10 times.

That said, Ford's pony car still maintains a healthy advantage in reliability over its competitors, and there were some fresh faces for the Mustang to contend with. A pair of sporty luxury cars, the Lexus LC and RC, were on CR's similar-cars list in 2025, not that it mattered. The Mustang was expected to be more reliable than both luxe machines. Its lead over the Subaru WRX and BRZ — from the brand CR rated No. 1 in new-car reliability this year — was even larger. 

The Mustang also outpaced fast-moving favorites like the Honda Civic Si, Porsche 718 Cayman, and Volkswagen GTI. Looking ahead, though, Porsche is still committed to making an EV Cayman and Boxster, and it appears the next-gen GTI will be all-electric as well.

We already mentioned the dearth of CR data for the Camaro and Challenger, and the Mustang was in the same boat from 2020 through 2023 — overall reliability scores for these years are unavailable. J.D. Power can help some, as it called the Mustang's reliability "great" in 2020 and 2023, but didn't rate the car for 2021 or 2022 either.

Keep in mind that the Mustang's predicted reliability performance scores from CR data for the years 2012 through 2019 are on display, with those numbers indicating a sharp break with the car's more recent CR scores. Spotty ratings in categories such as power train, brakes, and build quality brought the reliability score down in some of those years, but we'll point out that the 2012 and 2016 versions, both a year after major redesigns, were again more reliable than their CR-selected rivals.

After that quick glance at older Mustangs, let's finish up with the 2025 Mustang Mach-E. It's a very different beast from the gas-powered muscle cars, and CR predicts the all-electric Mach-E SUV to have "about average reliability" — despite its three recalls. CR reliability data from 2024 isn't available, but for 2025, it ranked third in its class, behind the Nissan Ariya and Mini Countryman EV, but ahead of the Tesla Model Y, Honda Prologue, Chevrolet Blazer, and the Toyota bZ4X. The Toyota bZ, however, has been redesigned for 2026 with a longer range, better looks, but a still-confusing name.