Shiny red R32
How reliable is your car? (From What Car?)
If you want a supermini that won’t give you big worries, the Renault Clio is your best bet. According to Warranty Direct’s figures, the chances are less than one in 10 that owners will have made a warranty claim, making it the best supermini and one of the top 10 cars overall.
The only downside is that it has the second-highest average repair costs and, on average, the lengthiest repair times. However, given the car’s reliability, that’s perhaps not too much of a risk.
Following the Clio in second and third places are the last-generation Nissan Micra and Fiat Punto, with 15 and 19 claims per 100 vehicles respectively. The Micra’s performance is all the more impressive because it’s one of oldest cars here. With an average age of well over five years, it’s more than twice as old as the two cars either side of it.
As for the Punto, it’s proof that Fiat is raising its game, this latest version scoring considerably better than the model it replaced. However, Fiat still has work to do as two of its other cars, the Seicento and Cinquecento, are in the bottom four. The Seicento’s showing is particularly disappointing as it’s the second-youngest of the cars on Warranty Direct’s fleet. To make matters worse, there’s no consolation in cheap repair costs or quick repair times. In fact, it’s one of the more expensive cars to fix, with the electrics the source of problems in more than half of the cases.
In many instances, newer cars prove to be the more reliable, but there’s no direct correlation. Take the Ford Fiesta, for example. The 1989-96 model is the oldest car here, yet it’s more reliable than half a dozen much younger cars.
Overall, the best Ford in the survey was the company’s smallest, the Ka. Its 22 claims per 100 cars was impressive enough, although better still was its average repair cost – at a touch over £100, it’s more than £50 less than the next cheapest, and four times cheaper than the most expensive.
That particular unhappy distinction falls to the Rover 100, which suffers most from electrical woes – the fault in almost 40% of cases. Its average repair cost was an astonishing £410, and 45% of owners have had to make a claim.
Perhaps the only crumb of comfort for Rover 100 owners is that their car wasn’t the least reliable, finishing third from the bottom of the table. The Fiat Seicento was next to bottom, but propping up the rest was the Citroen AX, with more than half of owners having to make a claim. However, like Fiat, Citroen is clearly pulling up its socks. The Saxo that replaced the AX has a reliability record almost twice as good, and finished in the top half of the table.
Both cars followed the general trend, though, with just two or three areas giving the most frequent problems. In every case, the axles or suspension were one of the two most major sources of claims; and, with just a couple of exceptions, either the engine or electrical system was the other.
The Volkswagen Lupo and Nissan Micra suffered high numbers of problems with brakes, but troubles with the transmission, fuel and ventilation systems were rare.
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