Don't buy a Land Rover ... or a W220?!

[BTB 500]

In the paper this morning.

The Discovery 3 is the worst car in the UK for reliability, in the 3-10 year age bracket. Disco 2 is on the list at no. 6, and Range Rover at no. 9.

Also three Renaults in the top 10 (say no more), Saab 9-3 and Vauxhall Signum.

Two M-Bs are there - the old V Class is (rightfully, from what I've heard) at no. 3, and surprisingly the W220 S Class is no. 10?!

The R230 also gets a mention as the most costly car to fix.

Couldn't find an online link to the full survey, this is just a summary:

Land Rover Discovery found to be ‘most unreliable car’ in the country | Metro.co.uk

 

[A210AMG]

What model is a R230?

I keep telling my dad the reliability of RR's don't seem very good but he does like them

 

[Oli]

I had a couple of teething issues with my RR(alternator and a new rad) but wasn't been any worse than my E class (charge cooler pump,secondary air injection,aux battery and alternator relay) I think a great deal of second hand cars unfortunately get sold with a few issues.

 

[BTB 500]

What model is a R230?

That's the SL from 2001 onwards.

 

[moonloops]

Top 10 most reliable:

[FONT=&quot]1 [/FONT]Peugeot 207 (06-)
2 Fiat Panda (04-)
3 Peugeot 206 CC (00-07)
4 Volkswagen Polo (05-)
5 Renault Clio (05-)
6 Volkswagen Beetle (99-)
7 Smart Forfour (04-07)
8 Volvo S40 (04-)
9 Peugeot 107 (05-)
10 Mercedes-Benz[FONT=&quot] SLK (96-04)[/FONT]​

 

[moonloops]

Not sure if this is current data from warranty direct but here is their top 10 worst for reliability:

PositionMake/ModelReliability Rating
1Mercedes-Benz SL 349.00
2Mercedes-Benz CL327.00
3Land Rover Range Rover295.00
4Mercedes-Benz S-Class287.00
5Nissan Pathfinder269.00
6Renault Espace264.00
7Jeep Grand Cherokee256.00
8Mercedes-Benz V-Class248.00
9Renault Vel Satis247.00
10Citroen C8238.00

 

[clk208]

Survey seemed a little unfair to me.

The W220 and V-class are extensively used for exec hire/taxi work and often have intergalactic mileages at the ages quoted - I can't see your average Peugout 207 driver running into x00,000 over a few years.

I guess a car with a huge mileage and possibly having skimped on servicing is going to be much more likely to breakdown.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Rather odd for the 638 Vito to be included, it's at least 8 year old.
Besides the rust, the electrics playing up and the probability of black death on the injectors, I think they've been a bit harsh...

 

[Mr E]

Not sure if this is current data from warranty direct but here is their top 10 worst for reliability:

PositionMake/ModelReliability Rating
1Mercedes-Benz SL 349.00
2Mercedes-Benz CL327.00
3Land Rover Range Rover295.00
4Mercedes-Benz S-Class287.00
5Nissan Pathfinder269.00
6Renault Espace264.00
7Jeep Grand Cherokee256.00
8Mercedes-Benz V-Class248.00
9Renault Vel Satis247.00
10Citroen C8238.00

Their reliability index includes not just the frequency but also the cost of repairs. So hardly surprising that cars that are more costly to repair due to their complex nature appear high in the list.

 

[Shude]

So are we looking at the least reliable cars or the most expensive to fix cars? Comes as little surprise that cars approaching and in some cases exceeding £100k are a bit pricey to fix.

 

[NW_Merc]

My dad's got a Disco 3, which has never missed a beat, we've had it for the last 6 years no problems.

 

[wemorgan]

I think the data set should be somehow normalised, otherwise meaningful comparisons are too difficult to make sense of. Maybe that's what the rating/index is all about. Does anyone know?

 

[Mr E]

I don't know what the data set is, but it being based on number of incidents and repair costs I would hazard a guess that it's related to the costs of the warranty and how eager they are to do the business.

You first have to define reliability, and for me cost doesn't come into it. A single, expensive failure does not signal an unreliable car, but a number of small failures would. I want to know that the car will start, stop and get me to my destination safely - that's what I would call reliable.

IIRC from my 6 Sigma days, reliability is the assurance that components, equipment and systems function without failure for desired periods during their whole design life. Pushing cost to repair into the equation is wrong, and distorts the underlying facts.

 

[rizzer]

Well I dont agree about the 638 Vito, we had three of them. My vito was ten years old when I got the new 639. We found them to be great vans and very reliable. Thats why we replaced them with the 639.