Land Rover named Britain’s least reliable used car brand by What Car?

The most and least reliable used car brands have been revealed in a new study by What Car?.

Land Rover sits at the bottom of the table, while Suzuki was found to offer used car buyers the greatest reliability.

Lexus and Toyota ranked as the second and third most reliable brands, respectively. Fellow Japanese car maker Honda placed fourth. 

Feedback from 16,328 car owners in the UK was assessed, focusing on models aged between six and 15 years old. The data includes 27 brands and 139 different models. 

Three models achieved a perfect reliability rating of 100%: the current versions of the Ford Mondeo and Suzuki Vitara and the previous-generation Nissan Leaf. 

The Vitara spearheaded victory for Suzuki in the brand rankings, too, pushing the brand above dependability stalwarts Lexus and Toyota with an overall rating of 97.0%. At the other end of the chart, Citroën and Land Rover received the lowest scores of 71.8% and 65.3% respectively. 

What Car? editor Steve Huntingford said: “Used car prices have been pushed up by increased demand caused by the computer chip shortage and other new car supply issues.

“With many models costing a third more than they did a year ago, it’s more important than ever to pick a dependable model that won’t land you with a constant stream of expensive repair bills. The What Car? Used Car Reliability Survey can help buyers pinpoint the best brands and models to spend their money on.”

The study comes as the used market is experiencing significant growth and demand due to new car sales being affected by the ongoing microchip shortage. 

Electric and hybrid models were rated as the most dependable, with an average class reliability score of 92.2%. Tesla’s Model S was identified as the most troublesome EV.

For the survey, owners were asked if their vehicle had gone wrong in the past 12 months, how long repairs took and how much they cost, with the overall score expressed as a percentage.

Of those surveyed, 26% had experienced a fault, with just 15% of faults repaired free of charge. Although 56% of repair bills were less than £500, 6% of owners had to pay out more than £1500 to get their cars put right. 

A recent reliability survey of cars up to five years old showed Fiat to be the least reliable brand, while Lexus was named the most reliable.

Most reliable brands (cars aged six to 15 years old): 

Least reliable brands (cars aged six to 15 years old):