Car of the Year Awards 2026: Reliability Award

Reliability rating 96.6%

Honda has taken the top spot for reliability for the first time in seven years. Its cars rarely suffer any problems, and when they do, they’re put right swiftly and at no cost to owners. 

The vast majority of the issues reported by Honda owners were minor; four out of five cars that had issues remained driveable, and around half of the problems reported took no longer than a single day to resolve. 

Although many of the Honda models that owners told us about in the annual What Car? Reliability Survey would have been outside their new car warranty period, the car maker covered the cost of all parts and labour to fix faults with even these cars. That means that no Honda owners were landed with any unexpected bills. 

All five Honda models in our survey gained ratings of more than 90% for reliability, with four of them topping 95%. That indicates that issues were few and far between. 

Honda’s best performer was the latest HR-V small SUV, with a rating of 97.5%. Only 13% of HR-Vs had any glitches, and 55% of these were sorted out in less than 24 hours. The Civic family hatchback proved almost as robust; it scored 97.3% with, again, 13% going wrong and most being fixed in less than a week. Meanwhile, the Jazz is the brand’s smallest, cheapest car, but it, too, proved dependable, with a score of 96.9% and a fault rate of 16%. 

2nd Mini

Reliability rating 96.4% 

Last year's Reliability Award winner, Mini, has just been edged out of pole position, but it still put in an exceptionally strong performance this time. 

Our survey participants told us only 11% of their Minis went wrong, with the car maker paying for all necessary repairs. Only the speed of repairs let the side down a little; 44% of the affected cars were in the workshop for more than a week. 

In spite of its advancing years, the 2014-2024 Mini hatchback was Mini’s star model, with an overall reliability rating of 99.1%. Only 7% of the examples reported on suffered any glitches. 

3rd Suzuki

Reliability rating 95.7%

Suzuki is a consistently high scorer in the What Car? Reliability Survey, taking a spot in the top five for five consecutive years. That shows the long-term durability of its models and the level of care offered by its dealerships. 

Our 2025 survey says that 17% of Suzukis went wrong, with 42% of issues fixed within a day. 

The car maker covered the cost of only 88% repairs, but most bills totalled less than £200 where owners had to pay. 

The 2017-2024 Swift small hatchback was Suzuki’s top scorer, gaining a reliability rating of 95.9%. 

How the survey was conducted

The 2025 What Car? Reliability Survey gathered information on 32,493 cars, consisting of 227 models from 30 brands. 

We asked people how dependable their cars had been over the previous two years. To gain an in-depth understanding of any issues, we asked owners to allocate each problem to one of 16 fault categories: 12-volt battery, air-con/cooling system, bodywork, brakes, engine/electric motor, engine or motor electrics, EV battery (electric vehicles and hybrids), exhaust, fuel/charging system, gearbox/clutch, interior trim, non-engine or motor electrics, sat-nav/infotainment, steering, suspension and other. 

In addition, we asked how long each fault took to repair and how much doing so cost. These two factors determine the effect on owners’ daily lives and finances, so they were used to create a reliability rating for each brand, and for cars up to five years old. 

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