Bentley ranked least reliable car maker in Britain

Bentley has been rated the least reliable manufacturer in Britain, while Honda has topped the dependability list for the ninth year in a row.

Japanese and South Korean brands led the field again, occupying four of the top five positions. Luxury car makers meanwhile languished at the bottom, with Bentley narrowly pipping Porsche to the last spot on the list.

The annual survey ranks cars manufacturers in order of their reliability, considering each vehicle's age, mileage, failure rate and cost of repair. This year, the study took into account data from 50,000 live insurance policies of three- to eight-year-old cars.

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According to the survey, luxury cars are the most likely to break down, with 93 per cent of Bentleys on Warranty Direct's books suffering a problem each year, making it Britain's least dependable car maker.

At the other end of the spectrum were models like the Honda Jazz and Mitsubishi Lancer, which were found to break down much less frequently and are both significantly cheaper to repair than luxury cars.

Jim Holder, the editor of What Car? magazine said: "Honda's success in the reliability index is chiefly down to low failure rates. However, when things do go wrong, the cars are also relatively cheap to fix.

"Reliability is always one of the key attributes buyers look for when considering a used car purchase, so manufacturers that consistently demonstrate durability will always do well with the consumer."

In response to the survey, Bentley defended its reliability record saying: "The Warranty Direct survey is not an accurate reflection of the Bentley ownership experience, as it covers less than four per cent of the Bentley vehicles of comparable age on the road in the UK."

The company added that it has "such confidence in the reliability and build quality" of its cars that it offers customers a three-year warranty on any pre-owned car up to 11 years old, which covers all mechanical and electrical components and has no mileage or claim limit.

The full results were as follows:

1 Honda2 Suzuki3 Toyota4= Chevrolet4= Mazda6 Ford7 Lexus8 Skoda9= Hyundai9= Nissan9= Subaru12= Daewoo12= Peugeot14 Fiat15 Citroën16 Smart17 Mitsubishi18 Kia19 Vauxhall20 SEAT21 Renault22 Mini23 Volkswagen24 Rover25 Volvo26 Saab27 Land Rover28= BMW28= MG30 Jaguar31 SsangYong32 Mercedes-Benz33 Chrysler34 Audi35 Jeep36 Porsche37 Bentley