What Car? Reliability Survey - Jaguar to Lexus

Jaguar
• League position: 23rd
• Claims per 100 vehicles: 37.9
• Average age (years): 4.39
• Average mileage: 45,828
• Average repair cost: £451
• Average time for repair (hours): 2.4

This is an improvement on Jaguar’s 25th place and 41.7 claims for every 100 cars in last year’s survey, but it is still not an impressive showing.

Only seven other makes experienced more claims and, with average repair costs of £451, only four others were more expensive to put right.

More than half of the claims made by Jaguar owners were related to suspension and axle failings, but problems occurred on all components from electrical and heating and ventilation systems to engines and transmissions.

Individual models appear low-down on the overall table, with the S-type sitting in 65th place and the XJ8 in 66th. The XK8 sits ninth from the bottom at 92nd.

Verdict: ** A very poor performance from a quality brand – there’s a lot of work to do.

Land Rover
• League position: 30th
• Claims per 100 vehicles: 45.4
• Average age (years): 4.65
• Average mileage: 51,920
• Average repair cost: £468
• Average time for repair (hours): 3.1

Land Rover is depressingly consistent – this is the fourth year in a row that we find it right at the bottom of the table. That there is one fewer claim per 100 vehicles this year is no consolation either.

Land Rover owners still pay among the highest repair costs and are kept waiting for a higher than average amount of time as work is carried out.

Problems with the cars are not too specific either, claims handled by Warranty Direct recently deal with everything from engine and suspension woes to transmission problems and electrical glitches – it seems the thing least likely to cause headaches for Land Rover owners is the air-conditioning system.

As far as individual models go, the Discovery (built between 1989 and 1998) can hold its head up at a respectable 16th, but that’s where the good news ends. Other models are languishing lower down the table, with the Freelander (manufactured from 1997 to 2000) in 96th place.

Verdict: * Land Rover needs to take a serious look at reliability if it wants to move up the table in the future.

Lexus
• League position: 5th
• Claims per 100 vehicles: 15.1
• Average age (years): 4.75
• Average mileage: 61,694
• Average repair cost: £251
• Average time for repair (hours): 3.8

This is the first time Lexus has been included in the reliability survey and its performance is impressive.

At fifth place it joins four other Japanese marques right at the top of the reliability table. Lexus has the highest average mileages of all the cars in this year’s survey, which makes its top-five showing all the more impressive.

Owners make around 15 claims for every hundred cars, and axle and suspension problems tend to be the most common. While electrical gremlins are the next most frequently occurring problems, Lexus owners generally don’t experience engine and heating and ventilation system troubles.

Verdict: ***** A good first showing from Lexus, particularly so because the cars included in this survey are high-milers.

Click here to see how the manufacturers compare.

Click here for top 10 most reliable models.

Click here for top 10 least reliable models.