Car reliability by brand ?

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Mandrake
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Car reliability by brand ?

Post by Mandrake »

Came across this article:

http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/car ... s-warranty

Of course the usual suspects (Japanese) came top of the list for reliability. Love them or hate them, you can't deny Japanese cars are reliable... (I've owned an 88 Honda Accord before and while it rusted a lot it was reliable as anything in other regards and never let me down)

Interesting to note that the big three German brands came in at 27, 28 and 29th most reliable - way lower than the reliability perceived by the general public, who put them in the top 10. It's always been my feeling that the German brands are not nearly as reliable as perceived.

Citroen actually came slightly ahead at 26, while Peugeot came 11th ??!

Some unanswered questions in my mind - how can Citroen come 26th and Peugeot 11th when they are basically the same cars ? Any Citroen and Peugeot made in the last 20 years or so share the same engines, gearboxes and electrical systems, pretty much, which I imagine would be the biggest source of breakdowns... Could the difference in breakdown reliability be due to Suspension ? :? Or could it be that Citroen's might tend to be treated as a cheap "banger" by more owners and not maintained as well ?

Numbers were gathered based on "the number of reported faults or breakdowns". What "reported faults" means, I'm not sure. Reported to who ? Does that include small things like for example a radio fault, faulty window winder etc reported to a dealer when under warranty ? What about small faults outside warranty repaired at the owners own cost at an indy ?

I suspect the figures are heavily biased towards "breakdowns", for example AA callouts for stranded cars etc... So does that mean a car that doesn't "break down" very often would be listed as very reliable, even if lots of small faults (like electrical accessories) that didn't cause the car to "break down" kept happening ?
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Re: Car reliability by brand ?

Post by Stickyfinger »

Don't forget Dealers and their "work" quality, it may effect the reliability records of the cars
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Re: Car reliability by brand ?

Post by Gibbo2286 »

Stickyfinger wrote:Don't forget Dealers and their "work" quality, it may effect the reliability records of the cars
You shouldn't discount rubbish owners either.
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Re: Car reliability by brand ?

Post by Peter.N. »

Strangely enough I have a C5 and a 406, both with almost identical mechanics, the 406 has never put a foot wrong in 60,000 miles, the C5 on the other hand has broken down several times in about 20k.

Peter
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