Dacia enters the top five most reliable cars, wheras Land Rover and Alfa Romeo sit at the bottom.

The 2016 Which? Car Survey, the largest of its type in the UK, reveals premium brand Land Rover ranking among the least dependable cars on the market and budget brand Dacia breaking into the top five.

The annual Which? Car Survey, measuring reliability and customer satisfaction, is based on feedback from 59,387 UK car owners. As well as breakdowns, it considers repair costs, the number of days off the road faults resulted in, and the most common fault types for each model.

The 2016 Which? Car Survey has revealed some surprising results with Romanian budget car manufacturer Dacia featuring in the top five most reliable brands. Its Sandero model garnered a solid four-star reliability rating, and is the UK's cheapest new car at just £5995.

Lexus topped the chart with its five-star rating leading a table that is dominated, as in previous years, by Japanese brands. Toyota, Honda and Suzuki all ranked in the top 5, receiving four-star ratings.  At the other end of the table, premium brand Land Rover achieved only a two-star reliability score for the second year running.

The survey also provides cars with an owner satisfaction score based on how happy drivers are with their vehicle and how likely they would be to recommend to a friend. Dacia also rated highly on satisfaction, with the manufacturer achieving an overall score of 90%, comparable with premium brands such as Tesla, Porsche and Jaguar.

Richard Headland, Editor of Which? magazine, said: 

“Our survey, the biggest of its kind in the UK, reveals that spending more on a car is no guarantee of reliability, and sometimes quite the opposite.

“The ultra-cheap Dacia Sandero shows that a reliable runaround need not break the bank, while some pricey Land Rover models could put you on first-name terms with your local mechanic.”

Motorists can check the reliability of more than 300 new and used cars for free using the interactive Which? Car Reliability Check.

1.    Top 5 reliable car brands

Lexus	5-star
Toyota	4-star
Honda	4-star
Dacia	4-star
Suzuki	4-star

2.    Bottom 5 reliable car brands

Alfa Romeo	2-star
Land Rover	2-star
Smart	2-star
Chevrolet*	2-star
Saab*	2-star

*Cars from this brand are no longer available to buy in the UK

3.    With the August 2016 issue of Which? magazine, subscribers receive a copy of the annual Which? Car Guide. This 44-page guide includes detailed reliability and test ratings for 351 different new and used cars, including 105 Best Buy models.  

4.    Which? collected data on 67,432 individual cars from 59,387 UK car owners. Unlike other car surveys, Which? identifies instances of one person reporting on more than one car, rather than taking the total cars figure as total respondents. It is the UK’s largest car survey by a margin of 18,000.