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. 

MG continues to please the owners as they vote both models in the top five of their respective segments.

MG Motor UK has once again proven its place on the road after motorists ranked both the MG3 and MG6 within the top five in their respective vehicle segments in this year’s Auto Express Driver Power customer satisfaction survey.

Drivers’ voting placed the super-fun MG3 fifth in the supermini segment, demonstrating that this fantastic car is deservedly up there with others in its class. 

The MG6 swept up a bronze award in the family car segment for a second year in a row. Retaining its reputation for road handling, the medium-sized fastback also moved up two places from last year to finish second amongst all models in the road handling judging category.

In both 2014 and 2015, the MG3, MG6 and MG as a whole scooped awards for best handling, third best manufacturer, tenth best car to own and this year has confirmed that British motorists are still just as impressed with the models.

Matthew Cheyne, Head of Sales and Marketing for MG, said: “We are thrilled to see that once again our customers have praised MG in the Driver Power survey.

“The backing from our customers is greatly appreciated and when they place us so highly in a prestigious survey like this, it shows that the brand is continuing to go from strength to strength. In June we will be launching MG’s first SUV, so we are very much hoping to break into other categories with this new model.”

The Driver Power survey, from the UK’s biggest selling weekly automotive magazine Auto Express, asks the public a number of questions about their car. This year, nearly 50,000 people responded, providing feedback on reliability through to practicality.

JATO Dynamics releases Europe's best brands and models for the month of July, Still, no surprise here.

• European new-car sales grew by 9.1% in July, 8.6% year-to-date
• Volkswagen continues to lead the market, as the Passat joins the Golf and Polo in the top five
• Ireland, Spain and Czech Republic post strongest growth in July

JATO Dynamics, the world’s leading provider of automotive intelligence, reports that the European new-car market grew by 9.1% in July compared to a year earlier, just above the 8.6% growth so far in 2015.

JATO’s headline market analysis:

• The total new-car market in Europe has now recorded 23 consecutive months of growth
• Ireland car registrations were up by 47.6% compared to July 2014, while growth in Spain and Czech Republic exceeded 20%
• All of the top ten models and top ten brands recorded higher year-to-date sales than the year before

The European new-car market entered the second half of 2015 in good health, with total volume across the continent 9.1% higher in July than a year ago, marking 23 consecutive months of growth. Year-to-date, the market has grown by 8.6% compared to the same period a year earlier.

Ireland, Spain and the Czech Republic performed well in July, with Ireland recording a 47.6% increase in July registrations due to a strong economic recovery (registrations are up by 30.3% year-to-date) and the mid-year registration-plate change introduced in 2013 becoming more established, rivalling the longer-running January spike in purchases. 

Most European markets are performing well, with 25 of the 29 included in JATO’s registration data reporting sales growth compared to 2014. Of the remaining four markets, Luxembourg is the only country to see sales fall by more than 2%.

Brian Walters, Vice President of Data at JATO Dynamics, commented “The markets that suffered most at the height of the economic downturn a few years ago, such as Ireland, Spain and Portugal, are now among the fastest growing markets in Europe as consumer confidence has returned.”

European Monthly Sales Volumes Year-on-Year Comparison

  

The Volkswagen brand maintained its lead of the European car market, with a 7.7% increase in volume, during July, almost matching the overall market growth, and its 8.9% year-to-date growth beating the market average. 

Ford took second position in overall sales, ahead of Opel/Vauxhall, Renault and Peugeot. All of the top ten brands have increased sales year-to-date.

Top Ten Brands

Make	Jul_15	Jul_14	% change Jul	Jul YtD_15	Jul YtD_14	% change YtD
VOLKSWAGEN	152,160	141,297	+7.7%	1,052,218	965,865	+8.9%
FORD	84,450	78,919	+7.0%	633,845	594,148	+6.7%
OPEL/VAUXHALL	74,736	72,320	+3.3%	573,558	545,542	+5.1%
RENAULT	70,831	67,525	+4.9%	586,859	535,532	+9.6%
PEUGEOT	70,223	63,498	+10.6%	519,931	484,084	+7.4%
AUDI	69,567	63,976	+8.7%	469,595	447,457	+4.9%
MERCEDES	62,920	56,171	+12.0%	433,799	389,760	+11.3%
BMW	57,539	53,680	+7.2%	429,442	399,007	+7.6%
FIAT	56,535	50,508	+11.9%	410,433	374,775	+9.5%
SKODA	54,799	52,045	+5.3%	374,498	351,346	+6.6%

Outside the top ten, Toyota and Nissan saw their July sales increase by over 5,000 units. Toyota’s new-look Yaris, latest Aygo and RAV4 models each recorded strong sales, while Nissan’s new Pulsar continued to increase sales in the mainstream C-segment. 

Tesla’s July sales were more than triple compared to those registered a year ago, led by sales of its all-electric Model S in Scandinavian markets, Germany and the Netherlands.

Volkswagen continued its dominance within the top ten models, with the best-selling Volkswagen Golf being joined by the brand’s recently revised Polo in second place and new Passat in fifth. 

The Passat recorded sales 49.9% higher than in July 2014 to move from tenth place to fifth in one month. The Ford Fiesta and Renault Clio took third and fourth places respectively.

Top Ten Models

Make & Model	Jul_15	Jul_14	% change Jul	Jul YtD_15	Jul YtD_14	% change YtD
VOLKSWAGEN GOLF	46,567	41,623	+11.9%	322,517	311,682	+3.5%
VOLKSWAGEN POLO	25,960	22,650	+14.6%	184,963	163,171	+13.4%
FORD FIESTA	22,855	23,802	-4.0%	197,344	191,692	+2.9%
RENAULT CLIO	22,851	23,593	-3.1%	188,945	186,221	+1.5%
VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT	21,972	14,653	+49.9%	133,208	94,542	+40.9%
SKODA OCTAVIA	19,928	18,136	+9.9%	131,632	124,207	+6.0%
FORD FOCUS	19,902	17,731	+12.2%	148,111	139,223	+6.4%
NISSAN QASHQAI	19,797	18,505	+7.0%	144,898	128,880	+12.4%
OPEL/VAUXHALL CORSA	17,769	19,932	-10.9%	169,004	153,685	+10.0%
PEUGEOT 208	17,644	16,676	+5.8%	138,877	135,874	+2.2%

Beyond the top ten, new and updated models such as the Skoda Fabia and Mercedes-Benz C-Class recorded significantly increased sales in July, along with more established models such as the Opel/Vauxhall Mokka (up 44.5%), Hyundai i10 (up 16.0%) and Volvo XC60 (up 34.9%).

Brian Walters concluded “Aided by high consumer confidence across much of the continent, the European new-car market continues to grow at a healthy pace, with both new and well established models performing well.”