Top 10 Reliable Brands
January 30, 2007 by Alborz Fallah
There was a time when European cars were the most reliable cars money could buy, these days though, the Europeans might be the innovators and still leading the technology in cars, but when it comes to reliability, the Japanese have won the game hands down, even the Koreans are doing better than some of the European / American brands.
| Manufacturer | Incident Rate | |
| 1 | Mazda | 8.04 |
| 2 | Honda | 8.90 |
| 3 | Toyota | 15.78 |
| 4 | Mitsubishi | 17.04 |
| 5 | Kia | 17.39 |
| 6 | Subaru | 18.46 |
| 7 | Nissan | 18.86 |
| 8 | Lexus | 20.05 |
| 9 | Mini | 21.90 |
| 10 | Citroen | 25.98 |
The world’s biggest surveys that investigates the reliability of more than 450,000 cars aged from three to nine years old was carried out by Warranty Direct, an independent automotive warranty specialist company. The survey looked into the reliability of vehicles from 33 manufacturers in daily use in the USA and the UK.
The company then drew up a ‘Reliability League Table’ showing the number of mechanical failures reported for every 100 vehicles covered by its warranty policies.
Interesting to note there that apart from Mini, Kia and Citroen, all other manufacturers in the top 10 are Japanese. Surprisingly though, Kia was rated number five with a score of 17.39%, which is a fantastic score as it puts the Korean manufacturer over such names as Subaru and Nissan. What is even more interesting though is that Hyundai, Kia’s parent company is not listed in the top 10!
Other manufacturers which performed relatively poorly in the list include
- Porsche (27.48%)
- BMW (28.64)
- Mercedes (29.90%)
- Audi (36.74%)
- Land Rover (44.21%)
- Jeep (46.35 %)
I guess the Jeep Warranty Complaint we recently covered sheds some light on that! Its interesting to note though, that if you buy a Jeep or a Land Rover there is nearly 50% chance that something will go wrong and it will require warranty work.
Print it: 
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See, you should have bought a Mazda like I did. Lowest incident rate (apart from the self inflicted kind…) and a nice car to boot!
I know you’ll get back to me with all the “FWD cars suck” and “AWD cars are the dux nuts!” but meh…
Mazda3 SP23 FTW!
Hehe, Actually I am convincing the folks to buy a Mazda 3, they are great cars to get around in, but they are not sports cars :D … well… I’d take a last generation RX-7 anyday, I’d even consider an RX-8 (both rear wheel drive).. but the Mazda 3 (SP23/MPS) just doesn’t do it for me, too much torque steer.
Funny how all the European cars are so far down the list
It doesn’t surprise me at all that the european brands are way off from the Japanese in terms of quality/reliability.
Interesting to see Mazda and Honda being placed in front of Toyota.
Zoom Zoom!
Yep,
Toyota is still up there, but I think the more they cut corners to increase sales the more reliability will drop,
The Yaris is a good example of a car which has had a make over by the plastic police.
how do old Jags go on problems
“There was a time when European cars were the most reliable cars money could buy,”
when was this?
Perhaps in 1895 when Benz built the first car?
European cars may not be as reliable initially, but they are often more durable. Look at the over 20 year old cars on the road and the Euros will be proportionately better represented. VW is a case in point with quite a few niggling minor problems in the first few years of ownership but long service life from engines and gearboxes (and rustproof bodies in the later cars).
wow, those results are…..astounding
mazda and honda are quite literally half that of those that follow them? imagine looking at those results more accurately on a bar graph, anyone would dismiss it as nonsense.
according to this, a lexus (somewhat well known for their reliability) is less reliable than a kia? whats more disturbing is toyota is supposed to be even more reliable and they are lexus!
my father had a land rover discovery, and put it through its paces at least every few days driving in the outback, taking trips betweem kalgoolie and perth. had it for a good 10 years, serviced regularly and everything was fine right up until he sold it. had the fantastic BMW engine in it too, was soo tough
this report just doesent seem to make sense to me.
Just remember that if you are stupid enough to buy a mazda, when it has a problem, mazda will have no idea how to fix it.
Then they will lie to you or try to make out it’s your fault.
If anyone here wants a 1 year old mazda 3 let me know, I’ll gladly sell it to you.
And where does Suzuki come in @??? I have bought a new Suzuki Jimny and the biggest problem was the dealer installed bonnet and weather deflectors, absolute rubbish…. Although they had written on them under Suzuki ‘Made In Australia’, need i say more????
To Nigel,
Too bad you got the “rotten apple”, but in terms of all around service, quality, reliability, Mazda has got them all beat. Try taking your Mazda 3 to another dealer to have it serviced. Maybe you’ll have better luck with them.
I had a 1997 Ford Laser (made by Mazda) for 10 years – serviced myself (most dealers overcharge) 160,000km never had a problem – 1 set of new tyres – set front brake pads sold privately (the paintwork was as new) My Mazda SP23 6 speed manual with stability control is 12 months old – brilliant no problems and never get less than 8L / 100km on a run about 7.5
I have had many other cars but reliability is from Japan – same with electronics
^
Agreed :)
Kia? No way. I work as a mechanic and trust me it can’t be true.
I thought Honda is better then a Mazda lol
I’ve been looking for 6 months now at cars. Because of the petrol thing, I’ve gone from looking at 2Lt cars to less than that.
My research has show apart from the warrenty, Mazda has the best Small car safety, Best petrol price and to me is the beat looking small car around. I have no idea why most small cars these days look so crap. It’s beyond me why they can’t make nice looking small cars. Mazda is my choice now and I’ll be getting a Brand New Neo when I can get the money together.. My biggest dislike of this car is the in dash Audio system. :(
I beleive that in a couple of years Mazda will most likely overtake Ford Holden and Toyota tobecome Australias most popular make of Car. Not only because they are far more reliable than Toyotas but they have by far better looking designs; have more features; are better value for money.
The likelihood of this occuring is even more likely when fule prices are expected to reach over $3 a litre within the next couple of years.
This will mean that suddenly owning a 4×4 is as popular as chlamidiya. As a result Toyotas overall lead will be reduced as a considerable % of their sales figures is made up of 4×4s…. and 1000s of current 4×4 owners will be forced to dump their landcruisers and Prados for which they will be lucky to get $15-20k at trade in; in favour of more fuel efficient more practical cars.. Like those in the Mazda range.
I beleieve one of the reasons Mazda has become so popular over the years is because they knew there was no real point in taking on the big boys such as Ford and Holden in the Large Family Car market – instead they focussed on what they are good; making smaller more compact cars which is why the Mazda 3 and mazda 6 are such a good cars
Unlike Toyota who is trying to be everything to everyone and spending millions of dollars entering new markets to try and fight against more well known established brands
Wingnut, aren’t you getting tired of your anti-Toyota Rhetoric?? I realize you and those brands you love so much been burnt by toyota, but please stop getting so emotional and spamming all the articles on here with your one eyed rubbish!! Do you even know the fuel consumption of a Toyota D4D diesel?
I’m not getting emotional or anything like that.
Just thought I’d see how you Toyota lovers liked it – that is if there was someone else making comments with no real point etc just simply and constantly criticising or denograting one particular make – that is all.
It appears that by me constantly making reference to Toyota and how their sales rely on 4×4s as well as how much Toyota is likely to suffer as fuel prices increase etc..
That you are apparently getting tired; annoyed of hearing it over and over again [adnauseum]….
Now you know how the rest of us feel
I mean as “real car enthusiasts” we should be able to realise that every make/model of car has its good and bad points even our beloved Holden Ford and Toyota…. we should then be able to discuss them in a civilised manner without resorting to personal insults or offensive language… we should also be able accept the fact that not everyone has the same opinion as you or I do.
Note – My last comment wasn’t directed specifically at You Tomas
It was more of an attempt to try and restore some “decorum” to this website and hopefully bring an end to the constant “school yard” bickering etc that has taken over the site [virtually since the start of the year] and resulted in discussions getting way off topic etc.. not to mention made this website less of an enjoyable place to be
I’m finding it hard to pic a car because the three I like most have the CD players built into the Dash. I looked into the cost of replacing the CD player in the dash of the mazda and it was $2000 then installation. They are getting greedy. The mazda spokes person I talked to said they are doing it to make you buy their parts. I want to be able to rip out the DC player and stick a Pioneer in there when I want to and not to be limited to the in built crap they have in these cars.
Mazda have lost my money. I’m looking into some other cars now, but the other two I like have the same thing..
Grrrr
i think its more to do with the type of people that drive the types of cars. Eg. you’d be fanging it in a porsche but obviously mazda drivers are careful and slow.
Hmmmmmmm, i consider myself to be a careful driver but im definitely not slow (always do max speed limit, then some if conditions allow) unlike more and more toyota drivers around here (mostly camry, corolla) who are slow but definitly not careful.
Anyways, guess all the toyota lovers here will be upset to have their perceptions about toyota bieng the most reliable brand shattered.
Hi all, Toyotas, mazdas, hondas, kias are like household kitchen appliances (bloody boring). Fords, holdens are #%!*&@ crap, bring back the nissan 200SX. By the way the data is getting out of date.
Most reliable car in Australia and most popular would have to be the Toyota Corolla these things seem to keep going for years and years and have no problems mechanically and are definately a car to buy for those who wish to use extra money they have for other activities rather than waste all your cash on your car, only problem about the corolla is the new ones after 2006 are getting abit too big in size to call a small car, check out the sedans and you will think its large!!
Corolla’s may be reliable but they do very little heavy work and are mostly driven by motoring nerds or old people that rarely drive over 80kmh!. I reckon an EGAS BA Falcon that does in some cases up to a million km’s (as taxis) are pretty bloody good, they also can tow lots of weight and are used by heaps of tradies, fleets, familys, cop cars, etc etc and has been produced in Victoria for nearly 50 years. I would rather the comfort and safety of the big ford over the rather boring shape of the corolla its a great little car but they are incapable of doing what a Falcon can, by the way an EGAS Falcon costs less to run than a Petrol corolla
This is a relatively old report now but the data collected is more than likely flawed as generally the more expensive the car, the more pedantic people become over minor problems.
Eg; If you’ve just spend 150K on a BMW you’re probably more likely to complain about minor issues such as squeaks, rattles, wind noise leaks, etc, far more than somebody who has purchased a KIA.
Also, the more expensive the car, generally the more complex it is and therefore the higher chance of things going wrong.
Overall, interesting figures but I don’t think they mean very much.
Ha, Subaru is the best car in my opinion. Screw the others. Symmetrical AWD ftw!