German Automakers Rank at Bottom in UK Reliability Survery

UK company Warranty Direct has completed a study to find what are the most and least reliable automotive brands by rate of engine failures in the nation. The results are somewhat surprising. Automotive giant VolkswagenVolkswagenGermany, 1938 > present98 models
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Group had two brands in the bottom ten of the list. Japanese brands top the reliability charts. 

The study isolated engine failures that would result in the car being undrivable and in significant repair costs. For instance, the highest quotes for an engine replacement came from Land RoverLand RoverUnited Kingdom, 1978 > present15 models
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. Warranty Direct was quoted £12,998.46 for a Range Rover VogueLand Rover Range Rover 3....United Kingdom, 2010 > present2 photos
and £14,853.60 for a Range Rover SportLand Rover Range Rover SportUnited Kingdom, 2005 > 201330 versions
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. 

The leaders in the survey were HondaHondaJapan, 1948 > present102 models
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and ToyotaToyotaJapan, 1937 > present155 models
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, but all of the top six had failure rates of less than one percent. European brands MercedesMercedes-BenzGermany, 1924 > present197 models
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, JaguarJaguarUnited Kingdom, 1922 > present53 models
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and VolvoVolvoSweden, 1927 > present49 models
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were among the most reliable. 

At the bottom, MGMGUnited Kingdom, 1924 > present37 models
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RoverRoverUnited Kingdom, 1904 > 200523 models
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was the least reliable brand surveyed with an engine failure in 7.88% of its cars. However, AudiAudiGermany, 1909 > present83 models
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was the second worst with a 3.71% failure rate. Of the worst brands, four of them came from Germany. 

The data was collected from 50,000 claims submitted to Warranty Direct of 3-10-year-old cars. The surveyors controlled for the quantity of cars on the road by expressing the statistics in percentages and would not include a brand in the survey unless it met a certain threshold of vehicles. Brands like MG Rover with more, older vehicles on the road would still likely be skewed for more faults.

For brands with lots of cars on the road, this survey can show general trends in reliability. While it is hard to draw any conclusions about MG Rover from this list because its cars are likely older than the others, it seems plausible to say that the average used FordFordUnited Kingdom, 1909 > present33 models
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will be more reliable than the average used RenaultRenaultFrance, 1898 > present189 models
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.