Used cars: bargain execs - Introduction

More than two million people splashed out on a new car in 2005, but that pales into insignificance when you consider that in 2004 there were nearly eight million used car transactions.

So, if you're thinking about buying a used car you're in very good company. One of the biggest worries, however, in buying a used car is reliability - will your used car turn out to be a bargain or a bummer? To help, each month we'll pick out the best used cars sector by sector.

Our figures come from leading independent warranty provider Warranty Direct, who examine data from all their customers' claims and are therefore able to indicate the parts most likely to go wrong with a particular model.

This month, we're taking a look at executive cars and with the amount of money changing hands in this class, you'd expect rock-solid reliability all-round. The reality, however, is different.

Plenty of so-called quality marques show disappointing results in the reliability tables, according to the latest data from Warranty Direct.

Read on to discover who's hot and who's not in the latest reliability survey.