British-made cars fare badly in reliability table

British-made cars are among the most unreliable on UK roads, a report claims today.

Jaguar, the struggling Ford-owned firm, fares worst, coming 26th out of 27 manufacturers in a league table based on the frequency and cost of breakdowns - beating only Jeep.

The result is a new blow after US bosses said this month they were ending Jaguar production and cutting 1,150 jobs at the Brown's Lane factory. British-made Rover, MG and Land Rover also perform badly - ranked 16th, 20th and 24th respectively - while most of the top 10 reliable marques come from Japan or Korea.

Mazdas are named the UK's most dependable cars - the fourth year the firm has taken the top slot in the annual Warranty Direct Reliability Index.

Duncan McClure Fisher, Warranty Direct's managing-director, said: "British car manufacturers seem to focus on looks and style, whereas Japanese and Asian firms concentrate more on quality and reliability."

The index is based on the breakdown bills of 30,000 cars no longer covered by a manufacturer's warranty, with an average age of 4.6 years and 46,500 miles on the clock.

The top 10 most dependable are: Mazda, Honda, Hyundai, Ford, Seat, Toyota, BMW, Peugeot, Daewoo and Volkswagen.