A survey of UK car owners has found that hybrid vehicles are more reliable than petrol and diesel models – and Land Rover and Renault are the least dependable brands you can buy.
Some 18,000 drivers reported back to What Car? about the motors they drive, with owners of both the Lexus CT 200h and Toyota Yaris Hybrid claiming their cars suffered not one fault in the last 12 months of driving.
However, other plug-in models proved less robust, with more than two in five Renault Zoe keepers stating that their electric vehicle had encountered problems this year.
Find out which brands rated best and worst in 2019 What Car? Reliability Survey.
Electric cars have proved more reliable in a major study of vehicle owners
The survey took into account driver feedback about 18,119 UK-registered cars, which had to be no more than five years old, so motorists could get an idea about which new and nearly-new vehicles will cause buyers the fewest headaches.
Electric vehicles and hybrids generally have the best average reliability rating of 96.1 per cent, which is better than the nine other classes in the survey.
The worst vehicle category for reliability was luxury SUVs at 86.5 per cent, weighed down by the relatively poor performance of the Range Rover (2013 – present) and Range Rover Velar (2017 – present).
In fact, almost half of Velar owners (48 per cent) said their car experienced a fault in the past 12 months, while 35 per cent of Range Rover owners had needed to visit a garage, with battery issues most common.
At the opposite end of the spectrum was the Lexus CT (2011 – present) and Toyota Yaris Hybrid (2011 – present), which both received a 100 per cent reliability ratings from owners.
However, the Renault Zoe (2013 – present) scored a lowly 82.3 per cent, which shows that not all electrified models can be counted on for fault-free motoring.
Both the Lexus CT200h (left) and Toyota Yaris Hybrid (right) received remarkable 100% dependability ratings in the 2019 What Car? Reliability Survey
Not all electrified models were totally dependable though, as proven by the Renault Zoe’s 82.3% reliability score from owners
Where your money is most likely to be safe is with a Japanese brand, which topped the manufacturer charts.
Lexus vehicles were found to be most reliable, with a 99.3 per cent rating, followed by Toyota and Suzuki.
In fact, Japanese and South Korean brands dominated the top 10 brand reliability rankings, occupying seven of the places.
And proving the dependability of electric vehicles, Tesla ranked fourth in the standings with the American company’s zero-emission cars getting an overall score of 96.9 per cent.
The worst brand for reliability was Land Rover, with an 81.3 per cent rating, just below Renault and Jeep.
Land Rover – particularly the Range Rover (pictured) – proved not all that reliable, coming bottom in the brand standings and two car categories
Japanese brands lived up to reputation with almost flawless reliability. Lexus came out on top
Tesla proved that electric car ownership is relatively problem free with the fourth highest brand score for dependability over the last 12 months
What Car?’s Reliability Survey asked owners whether their car had gone wrong in the past 12 months, how long repairs took and how much they had to pay to get their vehicle back on the road.
Of the 18,119 cars included in the study, a quarter (26 per cent) had suffered at least one fault, with the most common problem being a non-electrical engine issue.
Diesel drivers were more likely to have visited a garage than owners of other types of car, accounting for 58 per cent of all faults.
When it came to paying for repairs, 11 per cent of owners had to fork out between £101 and £200, while three per cent of repairs exceeded £1500.
Steve Huntingford, editor of What Car?, said: ‘With some models suffering a near-50 per cent failure rate, it shows how important it is for buyers do their research when purchasing their next car.’
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