UK Worst for Car Reliability

Jaguar has felt more pressure after itself and Land Rover came second and third from bottom in a survey of vehicle reliability and cost of repair.

Off-road specialist Jeep recorded worse results in the study of 30,000 vehicles from 27 leading manufacturers.

There was good news for the Far East, which remained number one for reliability in the analysis by independent automotive warranty firm, Warranty Direct.

Warranty Direct’s annual Reliability Index studies the number of faults a car suffers alongside the actual cost of repairing them. With an average of 46,500 miles, the majority of the vehicles under the spotlight were entering into the fourth and fifth years of ownership. The average repair bill stood at £321.82 – a fall of 10 per cent over the last 12 months.

Mazda retained poll position, which it has held for four consecutive years, with Honda and Hyundai pushing Ford to second and third places, respectively. At number five, Spain’s Seat made its first appearance as the highest placed European manufacturer.

Jaguar rival BMW climbed nine places to number seven, despite recording labour rates of £100 plus per hour to carry out remedial work. Mercedes fell marginally to 12th with Audi in 21st place.

Alongside BMW, only four other manufacturers improved their positions in the 2004 index – Honda and Rover climbed one place each, with German car maker VW and Korea’s Hyundai, both up three places.

Renault was the worst performing volume carmaker at number 19 with a below average £287 cost of repair, and what analysts are calling “a lowly frequency of failure of over 38 per cent.”

“A car suffering a breakdown is just half the problem for the owner. To get it back on the road, they have to fund the cost of the repair. Motorists invariably fail to consider the two together,” explains Duncan McClure Fisher of Warranty Direct.

“The Far East is still home to the most reliable and cost effective, manufacturers in the World. Encouragingly, despite the lowly positions of Land Rover and Jaguar, British workers are well represented in the top ten with Honda, Toyota and Peugeot all building models at plants over here.”