Honda & Toyota have proved yet again to be the UK's most reliable cars with Lexus in third spot. In fact virtually all the top ten are from Japanese manufacturers (though not necessarily built in Japan). Honda have a 10% failure rating within 3 years and Toyota have a 17% rating, which whilst good, is significantly higher than Honda. Are Toyota slipping in the reliability stakes here? The surprise placing was #9 which went to Chevrolet! OK, here in the UK most Chevys are rebadged weird Japanese things but a significant number are some of the smaller US models too, just with European engines. In contrast, the GM European subsidiary Opel/Vauxhall came in 24th place, which is no surprise as I now wouldn't touch one of their cars with a barge pole. What Car? Reliability Survey 2012 - Introduction - What Car? The bottom 5 manufacturers are no surprise either, Chrysler, Renault, Jeep, Alfa Romeo and lastly Land Rover. What's that Aussie joke go like? A Land Rover can take you anywhere, a Land Cruiser gets you back. A Land Rover has a 70% change that it's going to break down on you! Erm, no thanks.
Uhm. Chevrolet is mostly rebadged Daewoo which is South Korean, not Japanese. 9th. is quite good considering past rankings. Seeing Volkwagen and Fiat middle pack, however, shows that this survey might hide som flaws.
Thanks, GrumpyCabbie. I'd read about this elsewhere - it's worth noting that the survey covers used cars which are 3-10 years old. And yes, most Chevrolets in Britain are Korean: I suspect that if they were American Chevys, they'd be down at the Chrysler end of the table. So, apart from the eight Japanese entries in the top ten, the other two (Hyundai and "Chevrolet"/Daewoo) are Korean. And Kia is 11th. The data comes from Warranty Direct, a warranty-extension company. And I think Kia and Hyundai offer five-year in-house warranties, so the Korean cars covered by Warranty Direct and covered in this survey would be older than those from other brands. All of this is impressive: I remember when Korean cars were horrible. But that's because I'm old. It's not just Land Rover. Last year, Mercedes did a PR stunt, driving G Wagens along the Canning Stock Route in Australia. Six of the seven cars died. Spares had to be flown in. Mercedes PR Stunt Backfires: G-Wagen Convoy Stranded In The Outback | AutoGuide.com News It doesn't say it in this article, but I remember seeing it on local TV when it happened. A load of the crew had to be rescued....... by LandCruisers.
Based on what we've gotten as rebadges here, I'd disagreed with that. I learned to drive in Chevies and Buicks. While I didn't care for the Chevies, I don't recall them being pits o' problems. Things may have been different if we had some of their smaller cars, but those were the size classes GM was most likely to use a rebadged Asian for. The Toyota rebadges were good, and the Suzuki ones have their fans. The Daewoos just seem the cheapest made. The HHR hasn't been as problem free as the GMs I grew up with, so, with the popularity of smaller cars in Europe, the small American models of the past may pull down their rankings hypothetically.
