Honda named UK’s most reliable car brand for eighth consecutive year

The Japanese car maker topped a list of 38 brands based on 50,000 live Warranty Direct policies on three- to eight-year-old vehicles.

Asian manufacturers filled nine of the top 11 places in the survey, with eight of those based in Japan.

Suzuki ranked second behind Honda, while Hyundai and Subaru tied for third. Toyota and Lexus filled positions five and six respectively ahead of the best-ranked non-Asian brand, Chevrolet.

Mitsubishi, Ford and Mazda rounded out the top 10 in that order, with Nissan completing the Asian domination.

Despite historically having a sketchy reputation for reliability, French manufacturers Citroen (13^th), Peugeot (15^th) and Renault (23^rd) outperformed Germany’s mainstream premium trio, BMW (26^th), Mercedes-Benz (30^th) and Audi (31^st).

Somewhat surprisingly, three high-end brands were rated the least reliable, with Bentley claiming the wooden spoon ahead of Land Rover and Porsche. The survey found 86 per cent of Bentleys suffered a problem each year, making it the least dependable car brand in the UK.

What Car? editor-in-chief Chas Hallett said the manufacturers at the bottom end of the table could learn from their Japanese counterparts.

“Reliability is one of the key attributes that buyers look for when looking to make a used purchase, so manufacturers that can demonstrate that quality will always fare well,” Hallett said.

“Honda’s success in the reliability stakes is down to low failure rates, and when cars do go wrong they’re easy and cheap to fix.”