If you want to avoid a trip to the repair garage you’re better off with a Kia Picanto than a Land Rover Discovery 3, according to new research into the reliability of new cars.
A study by Which Car? has named the £7,000 supermini as the most dependable new car and the Land Rover Discovery 3 as the car most likely to breakdown or develop a fault.
In a surprise result, the Picanto five-door hatchback was awarded a near-perfect score of 98.1 per cent. The supermini also comes with an impressive seven-year warranty.
Over 26,000 customers rated the cars in the UK’s largest reliability survey on the number of faults and repairs needed, with breakdowns given the highest priority in the scoring system.
Customers rated the Land Rover Discovery 3 as the least dependable car with a score of just 67.8 per cent – the only car to finish below 70 per cent. The 4x4 vehicle finished bottom out of 147 cars surveyed.
Land Rover’s woes continued with the Range Rover Sport also appearing in the top ten least reliable cars with a lowly score of 75.8 per cent while Land Rover vehicles made up three of the four bottom places in the 4x4 segment.
The survey results will be a blow to the British-based manufacturer, which prides itself on its rugged, hard-wearing image.
Which? said: 'All three of Land Rover's supposedly rugged 4x4s show they are not as tough as they make out, claiming three of the four lowest places in our table."
Several other larger cars were included in the least reliable list, including the BMW 3 Series convertible (73.9 per cent), Citroen C4 Grand Picasso (77.4 per cent) and Ford S-Max (77.6 per cent).
It was a good day all round for Japanese manufacturers however, after seven of the top ten places were taken up by their models.
This included the second-placed Mazda3 with 97.6 per cent, followed by the Daihatsu Sirion, Honda Insight and Honda Jazz all making up the top five.
Despite recent recall woes, two Toyota models featured in the top ten; the Toyota Prius with 95.4 per cent and the IQ with 96.1 per cent.
The top ten was completed by the Volkswagen Golf Plus, the Mercedes-Benz SLK and the Mazda2.
Top five most reliable cars
Kia Picanto 98.1%
Mazda3 97.6%
Daihatsu Sirion 97.0%
Honda Insight 97.0%
Honda Jazz 96.2%
Top five least reliable cars
Land Rover Discovery 3 67.8%
BMW 3 Series convertible 73.9%
Hyundai Santa Fe 75.0%
Renault Mégane CC 75.7%
Land Rover Range Rover Sport 75.8%