Titbit: Top 20 most reliable car brands mid-2012

This table is for the UK and is based on the number of ‘significant mechanical failures’ resulting in a breakdown for each brand.

It will be no surprise to anyone that Honda and Toyota are 1 and 2. They have been for about five years.

Good old ever reliable Subaru retains its 5th position.

Hyundai have now made into the Top 10.

For anyone looking for BMW, Audi, or Mercedes-Benz they are down at 25, 26, and 29.

There are two interesting comments associated with this article (which is linked to by the table at left). The first is:

Warranty Direct boss Duncan McClure Fisher says cars are becoming increasingly complex, with lots of electronic gadgets, especially on executive models. "Owners of these cars pay over the odds for the premium badge, but our study shows they could also be paying over the odds just to keep the car on the road," he says.

The second item of interest is a linked article titled “New cars less reliable than old ones”. When you go to this article the secondary headline is “Some new cars are 10 percent more likely to break down than the previous models”. This is a bit disturbing because you would think that as computer engineering comes into play that the reliability of cars would be improving. Seems not.

BBC’s Top Gear programme have also published a Most Reliable Cars on the Planet list. I am not sure of the source of their data but their Top 10 most reliable cars on the planet are:

1. Scion
2. Honda.
3. Toyota.
4. Nissan.
5. Acura.
6. Mitsubishi.
7. Lexus.
8. Hyundai.
9. Porsche.
10. Ford Mercury.

Scion is a actually a Toyota brand, so that sort of puts Toyota at No. 1 and, if you include the Lexus, gives Toyota three slots in the Top Gear Top 10. Acura is a Honda brand so that gives Honda two slots.

The interesting entry here is Nissan at No. 4.

And no Subaru in Top Gear’s Top 10!