How reliable is your car?
The top UK car magazine Whatcar conducted a huge survey last year of over 38,000 cars, using information provided by warranty direct to build up a picture of overall reliability for car manufacturers and models. As you would expect, the Japanese manufacturers performed really well but there were a few suprises - particularly from so called “premium” brands.
Lets take a quick look at the good, the bad and the downright ugly!
Most reliable manufacturer for UK supplied cars is Honda, with Lexus, Mini, Nissan and Toyota being the best of the rest. Oh dear, apart from the obvious result from Lexus no premium brands to be seen. Have we not been told by premium marques like Mercedes, Porsche, Landrover and Jaguar that their cars are of the highest quality and engineered to last a lifetime etc etc? Obviously the hard data from this survey of 26 manufacturers and 38,000 cars seems to suggest otherwise!
Just how reliable are the premium marques?
Well, the least reliable of the 26 manufacturers represented in the survey is Landrover. If we use Honda as a benchmark just to demonstrate how truly awful the results from Landrover are, 5.2% of Honda vehicles on average required warranty repairs, whereas 48.1% of Landrovers needed attention! Wow many Landrover vehicles are in the £30-40,000+ price range so definitely a premium price - but a premium product? Obviously not. What about Mercedes then, a brand renowned for legendary build quality and over engineering - well at least they used to be, over 30% of mercedes vehicles required warranty claims. In other words, if you buy a mercedes you have a 1 in 3 chance of breaking down! BMW fared a bit better with a claim rate of 28%, whereas Jaguar and Porsche are even worse with claim rates of 32%.
So the moral of the story is, if you want a top quality car - buy a Japanese hatchback! You no longer have to feel envious of those guys in the big Merc’s, Beemers and Landrovers while you are driving in your Honda Civic - just give them a smug, satisfied smile!