British cars are unreliable, say drivers

British cars swept the board in a major new reliability survey today - as the worst in the country.

Vehicles built in the UK by MG Rover and Vauxhall perform consistently badly, according to the people who own and drive them.

Japanese cars top the reliability chart, claiming 18 of the top 20 places in the "Driver Power 2002" survey by motoring magazine Auto Express.

The most reliable car is Toyota's fashionable RAV4, just ahead of the Mazda 626 and another Toyota, the popular Yaris supermini which was European Car of the Year in 2001.

Honda also scored strongly with three models - the Civic, CR-V and Prelude - in the reliability top 10.

The three worst cars for reliability were made in the UK, including Land Rover's 4x4, the Freelander.

On build quality, British-built cars fared badly, too. Half the 20 cars at the bottom of that table were UK-built - including the Vauxhall Vectra, Rover MGF and Land Rover Discovery.

David Johns, editor of Auto Express, said: "The findings show that if you want a car that will go on and on, mile-after-mile, year-afteryear without ever letting you down, you are going to have to buy Japanese. Sadly, it's not just reliability where owners find British cars falling short of the standards set by the Japanese and Germans.

"Build quality too is well below average, with nearly half the bottom cars in our survey coming from the UK - including far too many Rovers and Land Rovers for comfort. The Big Four - Ford, Vauxhall, Renault and Peugeot/Citroen - should be concerned by the results of our latest research.

"Unlike German and Japanese cars, which set the pace in key areas of importance for motorists, these manufacturers were found languishing at the bottom of our charts with depressing regularity."

German car makers took first place for build quality with the BMW 5-Series while Audi had four cars in the top 10.

The survey was compiled from the road-going experiences of 15,000 motorists who responded to the magazine's survey. Respondents were asked to rate their vehicles on ride, handling, practicality, reliability, comfort and build quality.

Despite poor showings in many categories, there was good news for the British-built Rover 75 which topped the rankings for best ride quality and overall comfort.

All 20 of the worst cars in the reliability chart are either British, French or Italian models, with the discontinued and ageing Rover 800 posting the lowest score.

In the performance stakes, the Subaru Impreza took pole position, ahead of the Porsche Boxster, Toyota MR2 and Skoda's sporty Octavia.

The worst performing were the Peugeot 106, Land Rover Freelander and Ford Escort.

Porsche's Boxster was named the best-handling car followed by the Impreza, Mazda MX5 and the new Rover Mini. Worst at handling were the Vauxhall Corsa, Saab 900/9-3 and Vauxhall Vectra.