Who wouldn't desire (rather than merely want) a reliable car? Well, according to this year’s What Car? Reliability Survey, which compiles data from almost 25,000 Brits on how their car has treated them, the answer is… most of us.
The results for cars up to five years old were as perplexing as they were predictable, but what was most stark was just how badly the brands that are generally considered to be the most desirable – aspirational, even – fared.
Of the upper end or premium marques beyond overall victor Lexus, BMW did best, taking a mediocre 16th place out of 32 brands ranked. Following were Volvo (17th), Porsche and Tesla (equal 19th), Audi (21st), Volkswagen (22nd), Mercedes-Benz (equal 23rd with Vauxhall), Alfa Romeo (29th), Land Rover (31st) and Jeep (32nd).
Yes, there were other mainstream brands mixed in the outer reaches of respectability, but the subpar results of supposedly desirable brands wasn’t so much a trend as a fact.
Why so? Is the money that they direct at whizzy marketing subtracted from the development budget? Do they work on the principle that premium buyers will check out of a lease deal before most of the problems strike, leaving a healthy aftersales business down the line? Is it because their cars have more features and therefore more complexity? Or is it reverse psychology, with buyers of the priciest cars having higher expectations and a greater propensity to demand fixes?
The top 10 was equally fascinating. Up front, as always, were Lexus and Toyota, whose metronomic consistency in such polls is so certain that it now seems to be not only taken for granted but perversely even sometimes used to attack them as boring. Who knew sitting at the side of the road for hours cursing your vanity was such an exciting way to live?
And if your soul can’t be stirred by owning a Toyota or Lexus, why not a Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Suzuki, Kia, MG, Mazda or Dacia, which (in that order) make up nine of the top 10 from the survey? At the risk of irritating them all in a moment of triumph, the only manufacturers that ooze any sort of true, raw appeal in the top 10 are Lexus and Mini, which sits in an impressive equal third.
It’s a topsy-turvy situation in a topsy-turvy world. The automotive continent is more colourful for it, and of course reliability will only ever be one consideration when you are buying a new car. But I wonder, too, as recession strikes and global change accelerates, if the higher-end brands might need to stop counting the cash and pause for thought.
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Conclusions:
a. Rich people buy premium European cars that prefer technology over reliability. Their wealth allows them to buy at least two, for redundancy. Rich people who drive long distances buy Lexus.
b. Recommendation: Buy Japanese or South Korean
c. Chinese manufacturers are on a similar path as the South Korean
d. Stellantis is a conglomerate of many car manufacturers, none is interested in reliability
Most important!!
Drive carefully!!
Autocar has a part to play but won't - never mentions reliability issues any "premium" brands it gushes over - JLR, BMW, Merc etc but is happy to point out, with the usual cliches, problems with Fiats, Alfas et al. Never once, to my knowledge, brought up all the global lawsuits VW group had for its DSG transmissions. Too scared to risk losing advertising revenue.