http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/7903141/Skoda-named-as-best-manufacturer-in-consumer-poll.html

I'm suprised Skoda are a little down the Reliability Survey, but still impressive.

Mazda's position is odd, we have had three Mazda 6 cars at work and all have been problems of some sort. Currently one of the sales guys (Ex Octavia owner who fancied a change) and his new Mazda 6 have only managed one weeks work out of 6 on the road since new. The rest spent in the garage being fixed or awaiting modified parts.

Its a shame Saab have gone down so much in recent years

Edited 22 July, 201015 yr by Rhoobarb

Its a shame Saab have gone down so much in recent years

It is a shame, but my experience with Saab backs up the poor result - my last car was a Saab 9-3 estate, and to say it was new when I bought it (well, pre-registered, but with no miles on the clock) it was the most badly built, unreliable car I have ever owned. It was constantly in having things fixed, the dealers were a joke as they never had any parts in stock - everything required 2 visits (one to diagnose the problem and one to fix it - very inconvenient when the nearest dealer is 15 miles away). I ended up selling it after 11 months (usually keep my cars for 3 years+). Had my Octy for 6 months now and couldn't be happier - nothing gone wrong and no dealer visits needed at all

I'm suprised Skoda are a little down the Reliability Survey, but still impressive.

Mazda's position is odd, we have had three Mazda 6 cars at work and all have been problems of some sort. Currently one of the sales guys (Ex Octavia owner who fancied a change) and his new Mazda 6 have only managed one weeks work out of 6 on the road since new. The rest spent in the garage being fixed or awaiting modified parts.

They would be at the top if the got rid of the DMF fitted a better turbo and got rid of the exhaust re-gen thingy, oh and increased the warranty to 5 years unlimited, like most foreign manufacturers are doing

Edited 22 July, 201015 yr by skippy41

It is a shame, but my experience with Saab backs up the poor result - my last car was a Saab 9-3 estate, and to say it was new when I bought it (well, pre-registered, but with no miles on the clock) it was the most badly built, unreliable car I have ever owned. It was constantly in having things fixed, the dealers were a joke as they never had any parts in stock - everything required 2 visits (one to diagnose the problem and one to fix it - very inconvenient when the nearest dealer is 15 miles away). I ended up selling it after 11 months (usually keep my cars for 3 years+). Had my Octy for 6 months now and couldn't be happier - nothing gone wrong and no dealer visits needed at all

I agree, I noticed its swedish counterpart Volvo is quite low down too, both marques used to stand for build quality and strength (not necessarily prestige or desirability). Part and parcel of being bought by bigger 'low rent' manufacturers Ford and GM perhaps?

I used to have a volvo 850 and found it to be the most reliable car I've ever had for its age plus felt solid like a tank. When I moved on, looked into an Volvo 850 turbo, Saab 900 turbo or 9000 turbo because of the quality, safety and value of them, plus the fact they were very understated cars (especially the 850R and 9000 Carlsson, even the Aero). Doesnt seem the case nowadays though, as they have gone down Skoda have risen like a phoenix

Edited 22 July, 201015 yr by Rhoobarb

the Mazda 3 was most reliable medium sized car

I agree, I noticed its swedish counterpart Volvo is quite low down too, both marques used to stand for build quality and strength (not necessarily prestige or desirability). Part and parcel of being bought by bigger 'low rent' manufacturers Ford and GM perhaps?

I used to have a volvo 850 and found it to be the most reliable car I've ever had for its age plus felt solid like a tank. When I moved on, looked into an Volvo 850 turbo, Saab 900 turbo or 9000 turbo because of the quality, safety and value of them, plus the fact they were very understated cars (especially the 850R and 9000 Carlsson, even the Aero). Doesnt seem the case nowadays though, as they have gone down Skoda have risen like a phoenix

In 1998 I bought a Volvo 940 petrol turbo estate. 2 years old with 50k on the clock when I bought it. Sold it 9 years later with 260,000 on the clock after using it to tow caravans and all sorts and the biggest problem I ever had was a snapped fan belt. It's still on the road now. I'm afraid they just don't build 'em like they used to. Traded it in for a Mondeo Tdci for better economy. Boy was that a bad decision - what a heap of ****

Bob.

It is a shame, but my experience with Saab backs up the poor result - my last car was a Saab 9-3 estate, and to say it was new when I bought it (well, pre-registered, but with no miles on the clock) it was the most badly built, unreliable car I have ever owned. It was constantly in having things fixed, the dealers were a joke as they never had any parts in stock - everything required 2 visits (one to diagnose the problem and one to fix it - very inconvenient when the nearest dealer is 15 miles away). I ended up selling it after 11 months (usually keep my cars for 3 years+). Had my Octy for 6 months now and couldn't be happier - nothing gone wrong and no dealer visits needed at all

Generally agree with you about Saabs being poorly built. I had a 55 plate which was still fairly solid at 58000 miles and an 07 plate which went back with 64000 miles on it (both company cars), but the 07 plate had been creaking and groaning and various bits falling off from about 16000 miles. At least the earlier one was still in one piece when I handed it back to the fleet manager...

My main issue with my vRS (it's 6 months and 14500 miles old now) is a whistling door seal, which is temporarily fixed with masking tape until I get a chance to get it to the dealer for a proper fix and the Dunlops that came on the car were quite possibly the worst tyres I've had in 10 years...

I just don't think they make cars like they used to... Even my 406 lasted til 50000 miles before starting to fall apart....

Edited 22 July, 201015 yr by Raglits

Ahh.. the days of predicting how cars will be based on their area of origin seem to be a distant memory, benefitting some, causing others to slip a bit. A few years it generally used to be IMO;

German; Well built but expensive

British; Good luxury cars, bad lower end cars.

French; Not bad, but very dated looks and bodywork thinner than tinfoil.

Italian; Good mechanicals, bad paint and major rust problems.

Swedish; Strong and safe, built like a tank, boring as hell.

Japanese; Some very good and well built, some very bad and boring. No prestige.

Korean; Cheap, nasty rust buckets. Again, no prestige.

American; Big and thirsty, many iconic cars but not particularly well built or good value. Some diamonds in the rough.

East Eropean; Incredibly cheap and boring, the most basic of cars, some bad mechanical examples. Brunt of many jokes.

Australian; Whats a Holden?

Nowadays its more mudied.

They would be at the top if the got rid of the DMF fitted a better turbo and got rid of the exhaust re-gen thingy, oh and increased the warranty to 5 years unlimited, like most foreign manufacturers are doing

Am I missing something here.

I thought that there were only two manufacturers' that provided a 5 years warrenty

as standard - ie. Kia and Toyota

It would be interesting to hear from members of any additional warranties that exceed

the current norm. of three years.

Good placement for Skoda, shame about the reliability though, only 12th! I thought they would be higher then that, still not too bad though. Leaves VW & Audi trailing

Am I missing something here.

I thought that there were only two manufacturers' that provided a 5 years warrenty

as standard - ie. Kia and Toyota

It would be interesting to hear from members of any additional warranties that exceed

the current norm. of three years.

Doesnt Kia provide a 7 year warranty?

Doesnt Kia provide a 7 year warranty?

Kia is 7 years or 100000 miles, I think the older models in the range are still 3 years

Toyota are now 5 years or 100000 miles

Hyundai is 5 years unlimited mileage

Honda is 3 years or 90000 miles

There may be other manufacturers with warranty's longer than 3 years or 60000 miles but the one listed above are the only ones I know of.

At the end of the day my vRS effectively has a 2 year warranty as the third year is up to 60000 miles which on my current mileage rate will be about 2 years after I drove the car out of the dealer...

I agree, I noticed its swedish counterpart Volvo is quite low down too, both marques used to stand for build quality and strength (not necessarily prestige or desirability). Part and parcel of being bought by bigger 'low rent' manufacturers Ford and GM perhaps?

I used to have a volvo 850 and found it to be the most reliable car I've ever had for its age plus felt solid like a tank. When I moved on, looked into an Volvo 850 turbo, Saab 900 turbo or 9000 turbo because of the quality, safety and value of them, plus the fact they were very understated cars (especially the 850R and 9000 Carlsson, even the Aero). Doesnt seem the case nowadays though, as they have gone down Skoda have risen like a phoenix

My experience with a Volvo V50 is that trim wise its very nice but the oily bits go wrong more often and sooner than I can accept. Having to replace both front wheel bearings at 65K miles seemed poor to me and the reapairs cost over £600. (Just one example out of many by the way)

My experience with a Volvo V50 is that trim wise its very nice but the oily bits go wrong more often and sooner than I can accept. Having to replace both front wheel bearings at 65K miles seemed poor to me and the reapairs cost over £600. (Just one example out of many by the way)

That illustrates the point about things seemed to change when they were bought by Ford, To me it just seemed they relied on Volvos reputation without the upkeep of quality control, etc. A real shame as volvos were great cars, albeit a bit dull, but they were starting to change that image with the 850. I remember one quate at the time being 'the fastest way to move a fridge'