subject: The Most Reliable New Cars [print this page] When thinking about buying a new car, the last thing on your mind is likely to be will it break down. It's a new car - of course it's going to be reliable. Even with today's rigorous testing and quality assurance however, new cars still have problems. So which are the most reliable, which car can you drive off the showroom with no worries?
A recent survey by consumer magazine "Which" tested 26,000 cars that were less than three years old and found the Kia Picanto to be the most reliable purchase. The Picanto, built in Korea and costing only 6,500 was the most unlikely to let you down, earning a top score of 98 percent reliability. The Japanese manufacturers proved to be the most reliable overall taking seven of the top ten slots. The Mazda 3 came in second, followed by Dahatsu's Sirion and the Honda Insight in fourth. Volkswagen and Mercedes flew the flag for the European producers with the eighth and ninth positions respectively.
Despite problems earlier in the year, Toyota, who had to recall 180,000 cars to check accelerator pedals achieved a remarkable sixth place with 96.1% for the IQ while the Pruis hybrid scored 95.4% giving it seventh position.
Bringing up the bottom of the table that featured results from 147 cars was the Land Rover Discovery 6. Although always being encouraged buying patriotically this may not necessarily be the best course as the Land Rovers and a Jaguar made the bottom ten, along with Ford Focus CC and the VW Eros.
Besides the looks and the feel of the car it is good to consider the quality of manufacturing of the car types you would consider buying. For reliability, the Japanese and Korean superminis are your best buys, and it seems that the larger more costly cars can leave you even further out of pocket.
