What Car? Reliability Survey - Chrysler to Daewoo

Chrysler
• League position: 21st
• Claims per 100 vehicles: 37.2
• Average age (years): 4.75
• Average mileage: 53,776
• Average repair cost: £447
• Average time for repair (hours): 2.5

This is the first time Chrysler has appeared in the reliability survey and its 21st placing isn’t a particularly impressive debut.

Repair costs are relatively high at £447 on average and the time taken to repair faults is just average at two-and-a-half hours.

According to the Warranty Direct data, owners are dogged by problems throughout the car, with axle and suspension trouble being the main complaint. Electrical faults, engine trouble and transmission gremlins also figure on the list of claims, which account for 37.2 cars in every hundred.

Verdict: ** Not a great start for Chrysler and repair costs are high, too.

Citroen
• League position: 24th
• Claims per 100 vehicles: 38.0
• Average age (years): 4.36
• Average mileage: 45,374
• Average repair cost: £203
• Average time for repair (hours): 2.5

Citroen has made little progress since last year, in fact, there is now one more claim for every hundred cars than there was in 2004.

However, Citroen only sits behind Skoda and Hyundai with the third-cheapest repair costs in this year’s survey.

Mechanics charge on average £203, £27 less than last year, and take around two-and-a-half hours to fix problems.

Nearly half of all the claims handled by Warranty Direct on behalf of Citroen owners were related to axle and suspension troubles. The cars’ electrics were the next most problematic, accounting for almost 18% of claims.

While Citroen sits towards the bottom of the overall league table, the Xsara (built between 1997 and 2005) comes a respectable 18th amongst the individual models.

Verdict: ** Reliability hasn’t improved greatly, but costs have come down

Daewoo
• League position: 8th
• Claims per 100 vehicles: 21.9
• Average age (years): 4.52
• Average mileage: 38,634
• Average repair cost: £278
• Average time for repair (hours): 2.1

Daewoo continues to improve its reliability by moving up two places from last year’s 10th position.

The number of claims per 100 vehicles fell by 7.6% and the average repair cost dropped by £17. Not a huge difference but they are still moving in the right direction.

The Matiz supermini was the company’s most reliable model, in front of the Leganza and the Nubira. Nearly 40% of all problems were caused by axle and suspension issues, while 17% of faults were the result of engine problems.

We will have to wait and see whether the name change to Chevrolet affects the brand’s reliability.

Verdict: **** Daewoo is still climbing, but how will Chevrolet fare?

Click here to see how the manufacturers compare.

Click here for top 10 most reliable models.

Click here for top 10 least reliable models.