What Car? Reliability Survey - Mazda to Mitsubishi

Mazda
• League position: 2nd
• Claims per 100 vehicles: 10.7
• Average age (years): 5.25
• Average mileage: 43,357
• Average repair cost: £226
• Average time for repair (hours): 1.7

After four years at the top, Mazda has been nudged out of pole position and into second place this year by Honda.

Despite this, it has improved on last year’s performance with nearly seven fewer claims per 100 vehicles and a slightly lower average repair cost of £226, compared with 2004’s £244.

When things do go wrong they are fixed very quickly too, in fact Mazda has the second-fastest average repair time in this survey of just over one and a half hours.

As is the case for the majority of makes listed here, axle and suspension problems are the biggest bugbear, with 42.5% of claims relating to these areas.

Verdict: ***** Disappointing for Mazda after four years at the top, but a good performance nevertheless.

Mercedes
• League position: 10th
• Claims per 100 vehicles: 25.6
• Average age (years): 4.55
• Average mileage: 48,788
• Average repair cost: £411
• Average time for repair (hours): 2.6

Once again, Mercedes will be pleased that it has finished above its main rivals – BMW, Jaguar and Audi. It won’t be pleased, however, to see that it has dropped a place on the reliability table compared with last year’s ninth position.

Its claim rate of more than 25 per 100 cars is disappointing, especially because it represents an increase on last year’s rate.

Mercedes owners are also likely to have to pay more for repairs than a year ago. The average repair cost is now £411, £60 more than in 2004, while the time taken to put problems right has reduced slightly.

Mercedes’ best performer is the CLK (built between 1997 and 2002), which sits in the top 10 of individual models. Worst is the A-Class (1998-2005) which languishes in 79th position overall.

Verdict: *** Mercedes is just clinging on in the top 10, but needs to work harder if it is to retain its position.

MG
• League position: 22nd
• Claims per 100 vehicles: 37.7
• Average age (years): 3.03
• Average mileage: 25,095
• Average repair cost: £433
• Average time for repair (hours): 3.8

Despite having the youngest cars in the survey – possibly due to owners needing to replace the manufacturer’s own warranty following the demise of MG Rover – MG is just eight places from the bottom of the heap.

The marque’s claims rate is high at 37.7 per 100 cars and it costs more on average to repair an MGF than it does to fix a Mercedes, a BMW or an Audi.

When problems occur they are likely to be with the engine (31%) or the axle and suspension system (25%), which might explain the slow repair times of nearly four hours.

On the individual table, the MGF (built between 1995-2002) sits in 68th position.

Verdict: ** Reliability woes don’t ease the doom and gloom for MG owners.

Mitsubishi
• League position: 7th
• Claims per 100 vehicles: 17
• Average age (years): 6.02
• Average mileage: 51,126
• Average repair cost: £603
• Average time for repair (hours): 3.2

Unfortunately for Mitsubishi, the company has slid from fourth place last year to seventh in this year’s survey.

The fact that the Mitsubishi models on Warranty Direct’s books are the oldest of all the cars featured here may go some way towards explaining this, although the claims per 100 vehicles has actually dropped from 19.6 to 17.

It’s just as well too, as when something does go wrong, Mitsubishi owners have to fork out an average of £603 for repairs – one of the most expensive here.

They also have among the longest waits for repairs as mechanics spend an above-average 3.2 hours fixing the problems.

Verdict: ***** A respectable position but Mitsubishi will be disappointed to have fallen by three places – the cars are also very expensive to fix.

Click here to see how the manufacturers compare.

Click here for top 10 most reliable models.

Click here for top 10 least reliable models.