What Car? and Warranty Direct have released details of their annual used car reliability survey and for the seventh year running Honda tops the bill with only a 10 per cent failure rate. Honda is not the only Japanese marque to star, as the top ten is dominated by Far East brands. Only Hyundai and Chevrolet manage to sneak in.
While Japanese makes dominate the top 10 most reliable manufacturers, the research, based on 50,000 Warranty Direct policies on cars between three and ten years old, shows that many more expensive brands will actually let you down more often.
Premium marques Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar are languishing in the bottom 10, with fellow executive maker Audi little better. Land Rover is the UK's least reliable manufacturer, with a shocking 71% of cars breaking down at least once every year.
Explaining this, Warranty Direct's managing director, Duncan McClure Fisher, said: "Cars have become increasingly complex, with lots of gadgetry on board, especially on executive models, where buyers expect more and more bang for their buck. Owners of these cars pay over the odds for the premium badge, but our study shows they could also be paying over the odds just to keep the car on the road."
Considering the state of the roads in the UK it is unsurprising that axle and suspension woes are the most common fault reported by the motoring public, accounting for 28.56 per cent of all breakdowns handled by Warranty Direct. Electrical gremlins are the second most likely cause of an unwanted garage bill, with 24.3 per cent of drivers reporting problems.
"It's a balancing act for used car buyers," says McClure. "You can get cars that break down less often, but have higher repair bills, or you can buy a car that won't cost you much when it fails, such as a Renault, but lumbers you with more than a 50% chance of doing so. The one thing you do appear to be able to rely upon is buying Japanese."
The winners:1 Honda
2 Toyota
3 Lexus
4 Suzuki
5 Subaru
6 Hyundai
7 Mazda
8 Mitsubishi
9 Chevrolet
10 Nissan
The losers
1 Rover
2 Jaguar
3 Mercedes-Benz
4 MG
5 Saab
6 Chrysler
7 Renault
8 Jeep
9 Alfa Romeo
10 Land Rover
Paul Healy - 27 Jul 2012