A British survey bringing out the dirty laundry on the best and worst brands and cars for reliability in their market suggests equality between a budget make and a luxury performer.

 ‘WILL it let me down?’: That’s the salient question being asked by an ever-increasing count of car buyers.

International thought is that, in some major markets – oh, alright, North America mainly – just over half of new vehicle consumers put reliability as the defining factor in their decision-making process. Indicating that, above all else, drivers demand vehicles that won't cost them the Earth in terms of repairs and other maintenance concerns. 

Now, to data released today out of the United Kingdom from this year’s reliability survey conducted by a highly-regarded publication.

What Car? has long been conducting annual surveys to determine the UK’s most and least reliable new and used cars.

The latest outcomes come from assessment of feedback from more than 16,000 car owners. Analysis of this has given the mag and website enough information to nominate the most dependable 178 models and 30 brands, from nearly new cars to those aged up to five years old. 

This year, a record six models – all but of which is still being sold in New Zealand or has been - achieved a score of 100 percent.  

These were the current versions of the Audi TT (which has now left the local scene), Mazda CX-3, Mini Convertible and Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross, the Honda HR-V and one model that is not represented here, the previous-generation Sandero from Renault-owned budget brand Dacia, whose single product here – the Duster SUV – is sold with the parent’s branding.

At brand level, Lexus and Dacia models were hailed as the most dependable for new and used buyers, while Fiat and Land Rover achieved the lowest scores.  

Lexus gained an overall rating of 98.7 percent and none of its vehicles scored lower than 98.4 percent. Dacia also impressed with a 97.3 percent overall rating; What Car? cites this as being demonstration that you don’t have to break the bank to buy a dependable model.

In contrast, Fiat had the least reliable cars, gaining an 82.0 percent rating from owners, while Land Rover and Ford were second and third worst for reliability.

Hybrids were rated as the most durable type of car, with an average class reliability score of 96.9 percent. The best performing hybrid was the Lexus NX (2014 – present), which managed a 99.8 percent score, while hybrid variants of the BMW X5 (2018 – present) were rated least reliable, with 89.7 percent.

Luxury SUVs performed the worst in the study, achieving an average class rating of 88.8 percent, although the Porsche Macan (2014 – present) bucked the trend, managing a creditable 97.9 percent. The Land Rover Discovery (2017 – present) received the lowest score in this class with a 72.1 percent result.

Owners were asked whether their car had gone wrong in the past 12 months, how long repairs took and how much they cost, with the overall score expressed as a percentage. 

Of the 16,328 drivers surveyed, 20 percent had experienced a fault with their car in the past year, with 85 percent of faults repaired free of charge. For seven percent of drivers, the repairs cost between the equivalent of $NZ200 and $1000, while two percent had to pay more than $3000 to get their car back on the road.

A third of cars remained driveable and were fixed within a day, while 25 percent could be driven but took more than a week to repair. 

Top 10 most reliable brands (cars up to five years old): Lexus 98.7 percent; Dacia 97.3; Suzuki 97.1; Hyundai 97.1; Toyota 97; Mini 97; Mitsubishi 96.9; Mazda 95.9; Kia 95.8; MG 95.7. 

 Bottom 10 most reliable brands (cars up to five years old): Fiat 82 percent; Land Rover 82.5; Ford 86.2; Nissan 86.2; Alfa Romeo 86.5; Porsche; 89.4; Mercedes Benz 89.6; Vauxhall 89.6.

Reliability results by vehicle classes (cars up to five years old).

Hybrid cars, 96.9 percent class reliability rating: Most reliable, Lexus NX (2014-present) 99.8 percent; least reliable BMW X5 (2018-present) 89.7 percent.

Small SUVs, 95.2 percent class reliability rating: Most reliable, Honda HR-V (2015-2020, 100 percent, Mazda CX-3 (2016-present) 100 percent; least reliable Peugeot 2008 (2013-2019) 81.8 percent.

MPVs 93.7 percent class reliability rating: Most reliable, BMW 2 Series Active Tourer (2014-present) 98.8 percent; least reliable, Volkswagen Touran (2015-present) 74.1 percent.

Family SUVs, 93.6 class reliability rating: Most reliable, Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (2017-present) 100 percent; least reliable Range Rover Evoque, 2011-2019 77.1 percent.

Large SUVs, 93.6 class reliability rating: Most reliable, BMW X3 petrol (2018-present 97.7 percent; least reliable Nissan X-Trail (2016-present) 59.7 percent.

Family cars, 93 percent class reliability rating: Most reliable, BMW 1-Series petrol (2011-2019) 98.7 percent; least reliable, Mercedes-Benz A-Class (2018-present) 84.4 percent.

Electric cars, 92.9 percent class reliability rating: Most reliable, Nissan Leaf (2011-2018) 98.6 percent; least reliable, Jaguar I-Pace (2018-present) 86.3 percent.

Coupes, convertibles and sports cars, 92.8 percent class reliability rating: Most reliable, Audi TT (2014-present) 100 percent, Mini Convertible (2016-present) 100 percent; least reliable Porsche 718 Cayman (2015-present) 73.5 percent.

Executive cars, 92.8 percent class reliability: Most reliable, Skoda Superb petrol (2015-present) 99.2 percent; least reliable, Mercedes Benz C-Class (2014-present) 80.9 percent.

Small cars, 91.9 percent class reliability rating: Most reliable, Dacia Sandero (2013-2020) 100 percent; least reliable, Ford Fiesta (2017-present) 74.9 percent.

Luxury cars, 90.4 percent class reliability rating: Most reliable, BMW 5-Series petrol (2017-present) 96.9 percent; least reliable, Audi A6 (2011-2018) 82.1 percent.

Luxury SUVs, 88.8 percent class reliability rating: Most reliable, Porsche Macan petrol (2014-present) 97.9 percent; least reliable, Land Rover Discovery (2017-present) 72.1 percent.