In association with MotorEasy
25 most unreliable SUVs: the bottom five
While some cars motor along for years without missing a beat, others are afflicted by fault after fault, so here's our countdown of the most problematic SUVs...
5. Jaguar E-Pace (2017-present)
Reliability rating: 80.6%
While the E-Pace’s failure rate of 45% may seem a major worry, most faults were primarily with less critical areas such as the bodywork, interior trim and the sat-nav. The service provided was a cause for concern, too: more than half (52%) of owners waited more than a week for remedial work, and 3% were billed between £301 and £500.
Reliability rating: 77.1%
With many cars now outside their warranty period and with a fault rate of 40%, the picture looks bleak for owners of older Evoques. Just over 80% of work was done for free, but some owners shelled out between £301 and £750 per repair. Furthermore, 59% of the faulty cars took more than a week to be fixed.
Read our used Range Rover Evoque review >>
3. Audi Q5 diesel (2008-2017)
Reliability rating: 76.7%
Diesel versions of the previous-generation Audi Q5 have proven far less reliable than petrol ones, going wrong 44% of the time – 17% more often than petrol versions. Suspension issues were frighteningly common, but air-con and electrical issues – both related to the engine and otherwise – were abundant. Even though most cars would have been out of warranty, 75% of repairs were covered by Audi, but some owners spent as much as £1500 for remedial work.
Reliability rating: 72.1%
The diesel-powered Discovery’s fault rate of 38% is consistent with other Land Rover products, but with 36% of cars breaking down and 42% taking more than a week to put right, it’s the least reliable luxury SUV. While 73% of work was covered under warranty, 6% of owners paid between £1000 and £1500 for repairs.
Read our full Land Rover Discovery review >>
1. Nissan X-Trail (2014-2021)
Reliability rating: 59.7%
Not only does the X-Trail gain a lowly two-star rating from our road testers, but it also has the lowest reliability score of all the cars aged up to five years old in our survey. Thirty-nine percent of X-Trail owners surveyed ran into issues, which afflicted every area of the car except the sat-nav, and were most commonly with the electrical systems (engine-related and otherwise), brakes and interior trim.
The 65% of cars that didn’t break down were fixed within a week, but the 24% that did break down took more than a week to be returned to owners. So far, this might not seem as horrifying as the rating suggests, but it’s the costs that let the X-Trail down: just 53% of cars were repaired for free, leaving a staggering 24% of owners with bills exceeding £1500, and the rest paying between £101 and £500.
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