Buy Japanese or German, but never French

[Halb]

Nice little article about reliability in cars from 2011 MOTs.
http://www.lovemoney.com/news/cars-computers-and-s...

The UK's 15 most reliable car makes

Manufacturer	No. of tests	Pass rate
Lexus	5,735	88%
Suzuki	20,548	86%
Honda	71,203	85%
SAAB	12,801	84%
Toyota	89,616	83%
Audi	77,773	83%
smart	5,185	83%
Mercedes-Benz	56,786	83%
Land Rover	30,048	82%
SEAT	22,412	81%
Mazda	41,085	81%
Hyundai	22,072	81%
Volkswagen	140,994	81%
Skoda	30,193	81%
BMW	88,620	81%

Unlucky 13: the least reliable car makes
At the other end of the reliability scale lie these 'unlucky 13' car brands, all of which have average or below-average pass rates for first-time MoT Tests in 2011:

Manufacturer	No. of tests	Pass rate
Kia	25,875	80%
Nissan	60,967	80%
Ford	267,727	79%
Jaguar	16,125	79%
Mitsubishi	12,224	79%
Vauxhall	266,653	79%
Volvo	26,447	78%
FIAT	48,632	77%
Peugeot	98,345	77%
Chevrolet	14,588	76%
Citroen	76,320	76%
MINI	33,762	76%
Renault	70,821	76%

Based on brands with more than 5,000 MoT Tests in 2011.

[SirSamuelOfBuca]

my 22 yr old renault is very reliable! I only have to change the HG every other week ;'((((

[Benny Saltstein]

I thought smart cars were made in France.

[megamaniac]

What a load of bks,they could easily be fails for bulbs out,split wipers etc.Statistics not worth using as bog paper.

[Ozone]

I'm not a statistician but for double the amount and a 2% drop the Vauxhalls and Fords don't seem too bad compared to VW's

(I realise Vauxhall is a swear word on PH)

[S10 GTA]

megamaniac said:

What a load of bks,they could easily be fails for bulbs out,split wipers etc.Statistics not worth using as bog paper.

This. The cars down the bottom could be because a higher proportion of them are older and still on the road or are owned by people with less money, and therefore can't afford to do any work to them.

Edited by S10 GTA on Thursday 24th May 15:32

[Jamie VTS]

76% - 88% Most of those fails probably have nothing to do with the manufacturer but more the maintenence the owner has carried out.

[Caulkhead]

S10 GTA said:

megamaniac said:

What a load of bks,they could easily be fails for bulbs out,split wipers etc.Statistics not worth using as bog paper.

This.

Agreed. Reliability and MOT pass rate are different things. All the french cars might be failing on bald tyres as they're more fun to fling around than Lexi.

[fido]

Caulkhead said:

All the french cars might be failing on bald tyres as they're more fun to fling around than Lexi.

#
Whilst one might concur with the handling characteristics of French cars, that doesn't explain why they are in the same group as Vauxhalls.

[GroundEffect]

Benny Saltstein said:

I thought smart cars were made in France.

It's irrelevant where the car is manufactured. Fords are made in Spain and Germany (for European markets)...

[jimbo65]

Caulkhead said:

Agreed. Reliability and MOT pass rate are different things. All the french cars might be failing on bald tyres as they're more fun to fling around than Lexi.

I think it is represenatative as they tested almost 1/4 million French cars and to say they
all failed because of bald tyres and bulbs not working could be a touch simplistic.

[Oldred_V8S]

doogz said:

You realise MINI are German, and Mitsubishi and Nissan are Japanese?

So buy German or Japanese, because they're reliable. Apart from the manufacturers you've listed that aren't...

Yes but Nissan made the mistake of getting into bed with Renault. I'm sure their results would have been different had they not. I wouldn't mind betting it is Renault technology/build quality that has dragged them down.

[Halb]

doogz said:

You realise MINI are German, and Mitsubishi and Nissan are Japanese?

So buy German or Japanese, because they're reliable. Apart from the manufacturers you've listed that aren't...

You realise that I didn't write it?

[rhinochopig]

> 3/4 of all cars pass. That's bloody good IMO given the numpties that own them. I think modern manufacturers can be proud of that figure TBH, given how easy it is to fail on something spurious.

Contrast that with cars made in the 70s.

[CypherP]

To add to comments already made, a Swedish manufacturer (if you can call them that any longer) is also in the top 4.

[900T-R]

Have a look at TVR pass rates at www.honestjohn.co.uk. From those I would deduce that TVRs are significantly more reliable than most cars within the same age groups.





















[badoom-tish]



























Me, I'd assume they're being maintained rather than driven from MOT to MOT (and that testers are generally less aware of specific TVR weak areas - i.e. chassis outriggers that rot where you can't see them).

[valiant]

Meaningless.

Since when was an MOT a measure of a cars reliability?

You present the tester with a bald tyre and it fails - so that makes the car unreliable, does it?

As a previous poster says - as much use as bogroll.

[Halb]

doogz said:

What do you propose an MOT says about reliability?

If the car is in for it's MOT, it's a fair assumption to say it hasn't broken down.

Do you class things like worn suspension bushes, discs, pads, as unreliability?

When I chat to the writer, I'll ask him.

[V8mate]

I think that you have to factor typical owners (private or corporate) into these figures as they don't represent ALL MOTs, but just FIRST MOTs.

I'd suggest that in this day and age no car which has completed no more than average miles should fail its first MOT on anything other than consumables. And they are within the gift of the owner. Plenty of people use the MOT to tell them they need tyres etc, rather than inspecting the car themselves during intervening months.

The first MOT is a good way of finding out the minimum work necessary to sell the car on, for lease/fleet managers too.

[Torquey]

I'd say this is more a chart to show who gives a f*** about their car and who doesnt.