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14 Aug 2012

The most reliable cars on UK roads are Hondas

What Car? has produced the results of it's annual reliability survey.  They used Warranty Direct information to deduce the most reliable in terms of failure rate, average repair cost and average miles driven to produce a reliability index.  The cars in question were between 3 and 10 years old.  It is fair to say there are some shocks.

The top 10 most reliable manufacturers are:


  1. Honda
  2. Toyota
  3. Lexus
  4. Suzuki
  5. Subaru
  6. Hyundai
  7. Mazda
  8. Mitsubishi
  9. Chevrolet
  10. Nissan

The shocks start with the Germans.  Where are they?  The highest, VW, is in joint 20th.  Porsche is also joint 20th.  BMW is in 24th place and Audi 26th.  Mercedes is all the way down in 29th and is two places below Rover - with their comedy K-series engines lasting about 10,000 miles before a head gasket change.

Next shock is Jaguar who in the period in question - 2002 to 2009 - were regularly topping customer satisfaction surveys.  Jaguar are in joint 27th with Rover.  Land Rover are 36th - one place below Alfa Romeo.

We know of Mercedes issues with their 1990s cars, especially the under-engineered W210 rust-bucket, but the general impression was that post 2002 Mercedes had pulled their socks up and had started to deliver reliable cars.

Jaguar's complete turn around in terms of engineering and design came about perhaps a little too late for this survey.  The XJ of 2009 being the biggest game changer for them only just creeps into the 2002-2010 period encapsulated.

But BMW, VW and Audi should hang their heads in shame.  None have a reputation for tardiness and all came into the period in question with a good reputation.  Maybe they should take a look at how much their dealers charge for servicing and repair - because this does have an impact on the survey.  And VW, Audi and BMW dealers charge way over the odds for this kind of work.

Here's the rest of the list:

11. Kia
12. Ford
12. Skoda
14. Citroen
15=. Peugeot
15=. Daewoo
15=. Smart
18. Mini
19. Fiat
20=. Seat
20=. Volkswagen
20=. Volvo
20=. Porsche
24. Vauxhall
25. BMW
26. Audi
27=. Rover
27=. Jaguar
29. Mercedes
30. MG
31=. Saab
31=. Chrysler
31=. Renault
31=. Jeep
35. Alfa Romeo
36. Land Rover

You can look up your own car in the full results of the survey here.