Oranges Not Lemons
A car that goes from A-B every day without breaking down has got to be considered as a usefully reliable vehicle. Servicing has to be done on any vehicle to keep it safe and functioning at its best. Regular servicing also ensures that the car will last a whole lot longer and be reliable for an extended period of time. So, assuming that the manufacturers servicing has been carried out and the WOF checks done, when it comes to reliability, which makes and models of motorcar seem to be stand out performers? Let’s take a look.
Now, how could I go about gathering a useful wodge of information on this topic? On line… of course! ‘Gizmag’ was a useful site to find information relating to the reliability of cars in the last decade. The best place to find useful data was actually via a UK insurance company that took care of automotive warranty. As a privately owned insurance intermediary, Warranty Direct, were able to collect lots of data about warranty issues. These warranty issues are not so easy to prise out of the car manufacturers themselves, so with the help of Warranty Direct, a reliability index – an independent comparison of frequency of failure across the 55,000 vehicles the company insured proved very helpful. Take a look at the reliability index here.
You’ll muse over the interesting outcomes!
The Warranty Direct Top 100 Most Reliable Used Cars Of 1996-2006 (data from UK):
1 Honda Accord 2 Subaru Forester 3 Mazda MX-5 4 Mitsubishi Carisma 5 Toyota Yaris 6 Honda Civic 7 Nissan Almera 8 Honda CR-V 9 Toyota RAV4 10 Nissan Micra 11 Lexus IS 200 12 Mazda 626 13 Jaguar X-Type 14 Toyota Landcruiser 15 Volvo S/V40 16 MINI (BMW) 17 Suzuki Vitara 18 Mazda 323 19 Toyota Carina E 20 Saab 9-5 21 Lexus LS400 22 Ford Ka 23 Rover 45 24 Hyundai Lantra 25 Mercedes SLK 26 Citroen Xsara 27 Ford Cougar 28 Subaru Impreza 29 Skoda Octavia 30 Audi A4 31 Nissan Primera 32 Toyota Avensis 33 Volvo 850 34 Vauxhall Corsa 35 Seat Toledo 36 Volkswagen Golf 37 Daewoo Lanos 38 Fiat Brava 39 Hyundai Coupe 40 Mitsubishi Shogun 41 Rover 25 42 Mercedes CLK 43 Fiat Marea 44 Ford Focus 45 Peugeot 106 46 MG TF 47 BMW Z3 48 Hyundai Accent 49 Volkswagen Polo 50 Fiat Punto 51 Vauxhall Zafira 52 Mercedes C-class 53 Volvo S60 54 Toyota MR2 55 Mazda Xedos 6 56 Ford Puma 57 Vauxhall Astra 58 Vauxhall Omega 59 Chrysler Neon 60 Audi A2 61 Ford Fiesta 62 Ford Mondeo 63 Vauxhall Corsa 64 Citroen Saxo 65 BMW 3 Series 66 Vauxhall Vectra 67 Isuzu Trooper 68 Mercedes M-Class 69 Subaru Legacy 70 Rover 400 71 Fiat Ulysse 72 Mercedes E-Class 73 Renault Clio 74 Toyota Celica 75 Peugeot 306 76 Peugeot 406 77 Volvo S70 78 Rover 75 79 Daewoo Matiz 80 Peugeot 206 81 Mazda MX-3 82 Vauxhall Tigra 83 Seat Ibiza 84 Peugeot 106 85 Renault Megane 86 Peugeot 406 87 Saab 9-3 88 Audi A3 89 BMW X5 90 Mercedes S-class 91 Toyota Corolla 92 Seat Alhambra 93 BMW 5-series 94 Daewoo Nubira 95 Alfa Romeo 145 96 Saab 900 97 Mazda MX-6 98 Jaguar S-Type 99 Daewoo Leganza 100 Porsche Boxster