WAYNE, Mich. — Pick the more reliable car brand:

Buick or Mercedes? Chevy or Audi? Lincoln or Volvo? Ford or Volkswagen?

It's the American maker in every case, according to the latest J.D. Power and Associates durability study, an industry benchmark.

The achievement reflects two trends that are largely hidden behind Detroit's spate of bad financial news and fire-sale discounts: The reliability of American vehicles is up, and the reliability of European imports, especially German ones, is down.

Consumer Reports, the influential nonprofit product-test magazine, sees the same trend. "Domestic manufacturers are now in second place behind the Japanese" when it comes to reliability, spokesman Doug Love said. "European manufacturers currently are in third."

The magazine's editors reported yesterday that for the second straight year no European model had made its most-reliable list, which Japanese entries continue to dominate. Two American entries, the Chevy Monte Carlo and Mercury Mariner, made it. On the less demanding list of above-average reliability, U.S. makers had 11 new entries, compared with eight Asians and five Europeans. The findings are based on owners' reported experiences with more than 1 million vehicles.

Because reputations lag years behind performance, U.S. automakers are seeing little sales lift for their efforts, said Dan Gorrell, the vice president of Strategic Vision, a San Diego automotive marketing and consulting firm. For consumers who are looking for affordable cars they can count on, however, the shift has created some bargains.

"Most of the domestics are better than people think," said Jim Sanfilippo, the executive vice president of AMCI Inc. in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., an independent evaluator of U.S. and foreign vehicle quality for the auto industry. "At the same time, some imports are not as good as people think."