There’s a special kind of dread that hits when your car makes a noise it’s never made before. You know the one. That grinding, clunking whine that translates straight into dollar signs.

I’ve bought a lot of cars over the years, and here’s what I’ve learned: Reliability isn’t a luxury feature. It’s the whole ballgame. A cheap car that lives at the mechanic isn’t cheap at all. It’s a money pit with wheels.

So when Carfax released a fresh ranking of the most dependable vehicles on the road, I paid attention. The company sifted through billions of records to find the cars, SUVs and trucks least likely to hit you with an unexpected repair.

Carfax looked at model years 2019 through 2023 — vehicles that have been around long enough to build a real repair history. Then it estimated each one’s odds of a surprise repair over a five-year period. Lower is better.

One pattern jumped right out. Paul Nadjarian, Carfax’s chief product officer, said the data shows “smaller, less complex vehicles tended to have fewer unexpected repairs.” Translation: Fewer bells and whistles means fewer things that can break.

Here are the nine that topped their categories.

1. Mitsubishi Mirage G4

The Mirage G4 is the sedan version of Mitsubishi’s famously bare-bones Mirage. It’s about as basic as a car gets — and that’s exactly why it made the list. Not much under the hood means not much to go wrong.

2. Kia Rio

No. 2 in the car category is the Kia Rio, a subcompact that landed among the most reliable cars Carfax tracked. The top cars carry roughly a 2% chance of a surprise repair over the next five years — less than half the 5.5% average for the segment.

The Rio was always about value, and Kia stopped selling it here after 2023. Find a clean used one and you’re getting cheap-to-own simplicity.

3. Toyota Camry

No surprise here. The Camry has been shorthand for dependability for decades, and Carfax’s numbers back it up. These same models show up on dependability lists year after year, so the Camry’s got plenty of company. Turns out “reliable” and “boring” aren’t insults. They’re compliments when repair season rolls around.

4. Honda CR-V

Topping the SUV category is the Honda CR-V. Carfax pegs the most reliable SUVs at under a 2.5% chance of a surprise repair — well under the 7.8% segment average. The CR-V has long been one of the safest bets in the compact SUV aisle.

5. Kia Sportage

Kia shows up again with the Sportage, another compact SUV that punches above its price. It’s roomier than the Rio, obviously, but it carries the same knack for keeping repair bills small.

Quick aside — most internet financial advice comes from people who weren’t alive during the last recession. I’ve been writing about money for more than 35 years. Want rock-solid advice? Sign up for the free Money Talks Newsletter. Takes 10 seconds. No fluff. No spam.

6. Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross

Rounding out the SUVs is the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross. Mitsubishi doesn’t grab the headlines Toyota and Honda do, but two of its models cracked this list. That’s a reminder the flashiest brands aren’t always the most dependable ones.

7. Ford Ranger

For trucks, the bar sits higher — these are working vehicles, after all. Even so, the most reliable trucks come in under a 5% chance of a surprise repair, versus a 9.1% segment average. The Ford Ranger is near the top of the pack, doing big-truck work without the big-truck headaches.

8. Nissan Frontier

The Nissan Frontier is another midsize workhorse. It went years without a major redesign, which sounds like a knock but usually isn’t. Older, proven designs tend to have the kinks worked out.

9. Toyota Tacoma

And of course, there’s the Toyota Tacoma. It’s famous for holding its value almost as stubbornly as it holds together. If you want a truck that’ll still be running — and still be worth something — years from now, it’s tough to beat.

A word before you buy

Now, a dose of skepticism. Carfax sells reliability data, so it’s got a dog in this fight. In 35 years of covering this stuff, I’ve learned that companies love to sell you certainty.

Carfax reports are a handy tool with real limits, and that’s worth remembering before you trust any single source on a used car.

No ranking replaces a pre-purchase inspection from a mechanic you trust, either. One afternoon and a hundred bucks can save you from a five-figure mistake.

Still, if you’re shopping and want the odds on your side, this list is a strong place to start. Pair it with the secrets car dealers hope you don’t know, and you’ll walk onto the lot a lot harder to fool.