Ive just got sent this list off my mate. He works on all different makes of cars and the stories he has told me about VW Audis and Bmws.

Go on Ford. Ive always said VW and audi are over rated.

 

German shite. Lol. Makes me laugh when people say they build good cars.

 

Hardly a surprise that the top of the list is mostly jap stuff?

In all fairness skoda is vw/audi and thats in the top 10

 

I cant see how chevys are 4th lol.

 

yeh i dont understand how skoda have done well when there the same as vws.

the list is probably shite. I used to work on Toyota and i didnt think they were that good where as when i worked on Suzuki they were spot on but tthey looked cheaply made.

 

How can an average repair cost determine reliability? Does cheap parts ,cheaper dealer prices or easier to fix cars make them more reliable. Don't think so.

This the usual kind of bollocks you see in sales brochures, or magazines with ties to certain manufacturers, they tend to print a headline and show stats that are massaged to promote whatever they want.

 

they cost more so the parts cost more.


they are good cars.

 

If rust and welding were included fords wouldn't be 6th

 

This list looks similar to the one the warranty direct produce.

But as you say read what you like into that?

 

Friend of mine has been a mechanic for 20 years, he says if it wasn't for vag stuff he would have gone bust years ago!

 

They build great cars. You really comparing what Ford make to Mercedes or Audi. I have both & the Germans cars are superior in almost all respects.

 

Your right there lol. I don't think the newer fords are as bad.

 

I do like vws and Audis. My mate is always fixing them at his work.

 

A fords a ford. With Audi and Merc you expect quality.

 

I do think Audi is reliable, nothing has gone wrong with mine unlike every Ford I've owned (also the shite MG)

Repair costs have nothing to do with reliability, Just because something costs £500 from one dealer and £50 from another doesn't make it more reliable. Ive always found you get for what you pay.

Plus i don't see many Bentley on the side of the road. Yet I've seen quite a few Hondas lol (lost count how many Fords on the way to and from Fordfair lol)

 

How many of them fords are over 20 years old though.

Ive seen loads of vws at the side of motorways broken down.

 

Most of them

To be fair i don't see many 10 year cars on the road anymore. A lot of new car about and yet i still see some of them on the side lol.

 

I can honestly say my experience with German cars (except one) over the years has been bad. I use to work for bmw and saw more warranty work then paying customers

But I did own a bmw e28 5 series which was a great car. But personally I think German manufactures today are trading on past times.

You know where you stand with a ford... You know it's not pretending to be a quality product

 

If you want to get a proper list of reliable cars its simple , talk to taxi drivers. They have to buy a car that will clock up more miles in a year than the average driver does in 3 or 4 years! It is their living and they cannot afford to have an unreliable car. Next time you are near a railway station etc check out what makes of cars are being used. My Wifes friends husband who does airport runs clocked up over 250,000 miles in his Skoda Octavia diesel estate with no major problems at all.

 

yep theres a taxi owner near me,three of them one runs three passats and a octavia,the other runs 2 passats and a toyota and the other runs 2audis 2passats.

 

Funny how Skoda rank so well and have a low repair cost where as the Audi/VW rank so low

Given the cars have the same basic parts and architecture its a bit odd

However, ive got a mk2 and mk3 octavia vrs, my buddy has just got rid of a 2012 A4 with the same chassis/engine as my mk3, he had no end of trouble and had to sell up, mines like a wood burning stove, both of them.

The a4 (petrol 2.0 tfsi) was burning 1l oil every 400 miles or so and they couldnt fathom it after repeated trips to the dealer and a new inlet manifold at £700 and it seems a common issue looking round the forums

 

150,000 miles in my daily, tdci zs fiesta, and only major fault so far was an egr valve at around 80,000. Had my R35 for 18 months and didn't put a foot wrong. Purchased a new 123d convertible for the other half and done more miles going to and from BMW than she done for fun so swapped it for a JCW roadster mini and low and behold its sitting at BM now for warranty work.

 

You should start going to vw shows lol.

 

I am also a firm believer that some cars just seem to have bad luck compared to others. I have had people say to me " this car has got a jink on it " No logic to it but it happens.

 

Bmw e36 318 and 318 and 318tds most reliable cars I've ever owned

 

i think that too.

 

Wife has always had bmw company cars,118d when they 1st came out,was back loads,120d coupe,did 75000 miles in a few years and had no real issue except wearing the edges of tyres and her current 12 plate 520,54000 miles has needed nothing.
Personally I had a bad experience with a 530 bmw estate and would never buy a bmw again,sold it for 13500 2 months after buying it and bought a 1996 toyota hilux surf,it's cost me £13 in 2 years on repairs and to buy cost £2800.
I'll still have it in another 19 years if I look after it.

 

There are good and bad cars of all brands. I hear on the Mondeo forums of people having no end of trouble with their cars, yet mine has covered nearly 103k now and hasn't had a single problem. I've spent a bit on preventative maintenance but that's what you should do with any vehicle.

 

The only ford ive had trouble with was the cossie. That had badly been looked after by someone who didnt have a clue.i changed some simple things on it and its been spot on for over 9 years.

 

I was getting a new rear exhaust fitted on my Wives Ka 2 weeks ago and there was a guy waiting to get new tyres on a black 2009 1 series BMW ( not sure exactly what model it was ) who I was chatting to. He said it was his Wives car and he bought it for her thinking BMW was a good quality make. He said there has been lots of problems with it and also said genuine BMW spares are very expensive.He said he would not recommend BMW to anyone and wished he hadnt bought it. I was quite suprised as I have always thought BMWs are a good make.

 

Glenn, did the new rear wheel bearings solve the problem?
Cheers Richard.

 

I'm surprised to see a cosworth isn't on that list

 

Yehhhhh lol. I checked them 3 weeks ago that was the last time i used the car.

 

With the lovely weather we have just been having suprised its been 3 weeks since you drove it Glenn.

 

I've owned a Mondeo tdci and it was one of the best cars I've had , 240,000mls and I moved it on to someone round the corner from me , I now have a seat leon that so far is a great car so we'll see how it goes over the years .

 

I so want to drive the car matey but these past few weeks ive been busy at work then doing the wifes car on a weekend.

 

The list is flawed as a "most reliable" list, because it's an "average repair cost" list. For example, Lexus are every bit as reliable as Toyota's - seeing as they're the same company - but are further down the list because the parts, or repair cost, is higher than their Toyota counterparts. Bentley is at the bottom because anything from Bentley costs a fortune. However, on that list, Bentley's may well have had less repairs done than Fords - but Ford's rate higher because their parts are cheaper. You also have to factor in the labour charges dealers charge - the labour charge at Bentley will be higher than Ford, and BMW will mostly be higher than Honda.

Great list for seeing average repair cost, bad list for rating "most reliable"...

 

If the list is based on the average repair cost as you suggest, why do the repair cost fluctuate up and down on the list?

If that was the case shouldn't Suzuki be ranked the best and Porsche the worst?

Going by my own experience as a mechanic for the past 16 odd years I would say I deal with a hell of a lot more BMW's, mercs, Audi's, VW's etc than I do any other manufacturers hence the reason I do not own one.

I've just done a deal on a Honda Civic so should be getting that in the next couple of weeks to replace my focus purely because I can't remember the last time I had to recover one for a mechanical failure so IMO Honda are one of the most reliable manufacturers out there.

It made me laugh he other day when chatting to customer whilst recovering his VW Golf to his garage, he asked me what I drove, to which I said a Focus and he just said 'I'd have thought you'd have something decent!' to which I replied 'well mine hasn't been on the back of one of these since I've had it so that's decent enough for me!' Lol! He saw funny side and said I had a point!

 

Repair costs as said means nothing

EGR valve from ford for mondeo ST £300 odd
EGR vavle from Jag (exact same part) £120

WTF

 

The list isn't based on the repair cost.....its based on the frequency of repairs needed in the first x years of the vehicles life


The ave repair cost is just information so that you can evaluate


eg, if a car is unreliable but the ave repair cost is tiny, it may be more appealing than a mid reliability car who's average repair cost is astronomical