Dacia enters the top five most reliable cars, wheras Land Rover and Alfa Romeo sit at the bottom.

The 2016 Which? Car Survey, the largest of its type in the UK, reveals premium brand Land Rover ranking among the least dependable cars on the market and budget brand Dacia breaking into the top five.

The annual Which? Car Survey, measuring reliability and customer satisfaction, is based on feedback from 59,387 UK car owners. As well as breakdowns, it considers repair costs, the number of days off the road faults resulted in, and the most common fault types for each model.

The 2016 Which? Car Survey has revealed some surprising results with Romanian budget car manufacturer Dacia featuring in the top five most reliable brands. Its Sandero model garnered a solid four-star reliability rating, and is the UK's cheapest new car at just £5995.

Lexus topped the chart with its five-star rating leading a table that is dominated, as in previous years, by Japanese brands. Toyota, Honda and Suzuki all ranked in the top 5, receiving four-star ratings.  At the other end of the table, premium brand Land Rover achieved only a two-star reliability score for the second year running.

The survey also provides cars with an owner satisfaction score based on how happy drivers are with their vehicle and how likely they would be to recommend to a friend. Dacia also rated highly on satisfaction, with the manufacturer achieving an overall score of 90%, comparable with premium brands such as Tesla, Porsche and Jaguar.

Richard Headland, Editor of Which? magazine, said: 

“Our survey, the biggest of its kind in the UK, reveals that spending more on a car is no guarantee of reliability, and sometimes quite the opposite.

“The ultra-cheap Dacia Sandero shows that a reliable runaround need not break the bank, while some pricey Land Rover models could put you on first-name terms with your local mechanic.”

Motorists can check the reliability of more than 300 new and used cars for free using the interactive Which? Car Reliability Check.

1.    Top 5 reliable car brands

Lexus	5-star
Toyota	4-star
Honda	4-star
Dacia	4-star
Suzuki	4-star

2.    Bottom 5 reliable car brands

Alfa Romeo	2-star
Land Rover	2-star
Smart	2-star
Chevrolet*	2-star
Saab*	2-star

*Cars from this brand are no longer available to buy in the UK

3.    With the August 2016 issue of Which? magazine, subscribers receive a copy of the annual Which? Car Guide. This 44-page guide includes detailed reliability and test ratings for 351 different new and used cars, including 105 Best Buy models.  

4.    Which? collected data on 67,432 individual cars from 59,387 UK car owners. Unlike other car surveys, Which? identifies instances of one person reporting on more than one car, rather than taking the total cars figure as total respondents. It is the UK’s largest car survey by a margin of 18,000. 

Smart, Saab and Chrysler owners most concerned about being cool. Top 10 cool cars include Alfa, Porsche, Jaguar & SsangYong

• Smart, Saab and Chrysler owners most concerned about being cool. 
• Top ten cool cars include Alfa Romeo, Porsche, Jaguar…and SsangYong

A new study published today by Kwik Fit, the UK’s leading automotive service and repair company, reveals which makes of car are likely to be the coolest this summer. 

However, it’s not the looks of the cars which are determining their coolness, it’s how ready they are to cope with rising temperatures as summer arrives.

The company has studied the proportion of each car marque which have had their air conditioning recharged, serviced, or cleaned over the last five years to discover which types of car are going to be able to best cope with any summer heatwave. With more centres offering air conditioning servicing in the UK than any other company, Kwik Fit’s research provides a good guide to the nation’s ‘coolest’ cars.

In first place is Smart, whose drivers clearly have the greatest desire to be able to keep their cool.  Smart cars have had 85 air conditioning recharges per 1000 cars, more than twice the proportion of Saab, which is in second place with 40 recharges per 1000 vehicles.  

American marques Chrysler and Cadillac are in third and fourth place with 32 and 25 air conditioning services respectively, while the cool Swedes from Volvo complete the top five with 21 recharges per 1000 cars.

While the stereotypical view may see the Italians as hot-blooded and emotional, Alfa Romeo turns this on its head - the make appears at number six of the coolest cars with 20 recharges per 1000 cars. 

Porsche, Jaguar and Dodge are in eighth, ninth and tenth place, though the biggest celebration may be from drivers of the marque in seventh place - it could be argued that SsangYong doesn’t appear too frequently on lists of the coolest cars.

Roger Griggs, communications director at Kwik Fit, says: “We all want to drive a cool car, but we should remember that it’s often what’s inside that counts more than outside appearance. 

Air con systems can make driving a lot more comfortable and it’s vital to keep them well maintained. Air con doesn’t get automatically covered by a car’s annual service, so it can be easy to forget, but regular use and servicing will help keep the system running efficiently.

“At Kwik Fit, we offer a guarantee on air con recharge – if we don’t make a system colder, the customer gets their money back.”

The top ten ‘coolest’ car marques are shown in the table below:

Make	Number of cars registered in the UK	Air conditioning recharges and services per 1,000 cars*
Smart	9,906	85
Saab	153,352	40
Chrysler	67,999	32
Cadillac	2,135	25
Volvo	524,626	21
Alfa	96,699	20
SsangYong	12,245	19
Porsche	120,083	19
Jaguar	313,551	18
Dodge	11,655	18

To make sure motorists keep their own car in the top ten coolest vehicles, Kwik Fit has provided drivers with top tips for efficient air conditioning:

• Use it regularly – turn on the air con for at least ten minutes every week of the year. This will help keep the system lubricated and stop seals from drying out
• Give it a hand – if possible, on very hot days leave the windows open a little when parked - reducing the heat build up in the car in the first place will lower the burden on the air con system
• Don’t neglect it in winter – using the air con will clear fogged windscreens more quickly – using the system all year round will help maintain its effectiveness
• Recharge the system regularly – unlike in a building’s air conditioning system, around 10-15% of the gas inside a car’s air con system leaks out every year due to its inherent movement. So even if a system doesn’t have a leak, drivers should have it serviced and recharged, most manufacturers recommend doing this every two years

UK's potholes cause significant damage, but the supposedly premium bullet proof German brands are the worst.

• Mercedes Benz R-Class most susceptible to suspension damage
• Average repair bill for pothole damage is £350
• Vulnerable vehicles more than 15 times worse than the most robust cars  

With weather conditions like the Easter weekend’s Storm Katie creating the perfect conditions for the annual pothole epidemic, a new study of 3-8 year old cars from Warranty Direct reveals the Mercedes Benz R-Class (06-15)* and Saab 9-3 (04-12) are the cars most likely to suffer suspension damage.

Hyundai’s Santa Fe (06-12) and the Land Rover Discovery 3 (04-10) have the next most susceptible suspension, with 13.9 and 13.3 percent respectively of Warranty Direct customers claiming for axle & suspension damage annually.

Potholes are typically at their most prevalent on Britain’s underinvested road network between January and April, as heavy rainfall undermines the lower structural layers of roads, creating cracks then more potholes,** increasing the likelihood of suspension damage.

The recent Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey revealed that local authorities spent a total of £118.4m*** filling 2,190,026*** potholes across England and Wales in the last year, but also paid out an additional £13.5m*** in compensation claims.  

With the average repair bill for pothole damage now £350,**** Warranty Direct’s database of 50,000 live policies shows that the most vulnerable cars are more than 15 times worse than the most robust models.  

At the opposite end of the scale, the Ford S-Max (06-15) and Nissan Qashqai (07-14) share top billing as the cars least likely to be affected***** by the UK’s pothole-ridden roads; both boast an impressive clean sheet when it comes to model claims relating to axle & suspension damage.

Top 10 cars with the highest % chance of an annual axle & suspension related claim

Number	Make	Model Group	Year	% chance of an axle & suspension related claim annually
1	MERCEDES-BENZ	R-Class	(06-15)	15.82%
2	SAAB	9-3	(04-12)	15.05%
3	HYUNDAI	SANTA FE	(06-12)	13.98%
4	LAND ROVER	DISCOVERY 3	(04-10)	13.37%
5	MERCEDES-BENZ	GL-Class	(06-15)	12.61%
6	VAUXHALL	ASTRA	(04-12)	11.56%
7	LANDROVER	RANGE ROVER	(02-13)	11.28%
8	BMW	X5	(07-13)	11.27%
9	MERCEDES-BENZ	E-Class	(06-09)	11.17%
10	MERCEDES-BENZ	CLS-Class	(05-10)	11.15%

Warranty Direct managing director, David Gerrans, said: “The variation you see in suspension damage from one model to another is remarkable.

“Potholes are a major factor in causing axle & suspension failure and any vehicle regularly driven over impaired road surfaces or used for commuting over pothole-strewn routes will ultimately incur damage eventually.

“Components such as bushes, track rod ends, drop links, springs and dampers are all susceptible. Visit our Potholes.co.uk site for detailed advice on how best to make a compensation claim^ for any vehicle damaged by potholes.”