Britain’s most and least reliable cars have been revealed in the 2022 What Car? Reliability Survey, held in association with MotorEasy.
Feedback from 24,927 car owners on 248 models and 32 brands was analysed by the country’s leading consumer champion and new car buying platform, What Car?, to find the most dependable vehicles.
Four models achieved a perfect 100% score: the current versions of the Hyundai Tucson and Mini Convertible and the used-only Kia Soul (2014-2019) and Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (2017-2021).
At brand level, Lexus was named as the most dependable with an overall score of 98.4%, followed by Toyota on 97.2%; five of the 10 highest scoring models belong to those two brands.
On the other hand, Stellantis Group had five of the least reliable models listed in the bottom ten, Jeep has the least reliable cars according to owners, gaining a rating of only 77.0%. Land Rover and Fiat were second and third worst for reliability, although Land Rover’s sister brand Jaguar fared a little better.
Hybrids are the type of car to choose if your priority is reliability. Cars in this class scored an average of 95.4% and they took first place in four of the other 11 categories. By contrast, electric cars averaged 90.9%, making them the third least dependable class, ahead of only luxury cars and luxury SUVs.
The survey asked owners of cars aged up to five years old whether their car had gone wrong in the past two years, how long repairs took and how much they cost, with these factors determining the score.
Of the 24,927 drivers surveyed, 21% had experienced a fault with their car and, although 83% of faults were repaired free of charge, 9% cost between £101 and £500, and an unlucky 2% paid more than £1500.
Although 37% of cars could still be driven and were fixed within a day, 26% took more than a week to repair.
What Car? editor Steve Huntingford said, “Everyone is feeling the pinch right now, so unexpected car repair bills are the last thing any of us need. The secret to keeping motoring costs down is to select the make and model of your new or used car carefully. Pick a dependable one and you should have no nasty surprises.
“And you don’t have to break the bank to buy a reliable car, because some of the highest scoring brands sell some of the most affordable models.”
Top 10 most reliable brands (cars up to five years old)
Bottom 10 brands (cars up to five years old)
Top 10 most reliable models
Bottom 10 least reliable models
To see all of the 2022 What Car? Reliability Survey results, visit: whatcar.com/news/2022-what-car-reliability-survey/n23397
