If you’ve ever watched Top Gear, you’ll most probably have heard them bemoaning Peugeot drivers and Peugeot themselves. One particular skit comes to mind entitled the “Modern Peugeot Drivers Adventure” in which James May and Jeremy Clarkson drive rather irresponsibly, poking fun at the stereotype that Peugeot’s are badly built and badly driven.
However, in a new study by JD Power, they reveal that the most reliable car brand in the UK in 2018 was indeed Peugout themselves. Long gone are the days of unreliable smaller cars, now mass production car brands are appearing higher and higher in surveys on reliability.
The results
The JD Power dependability survey, now in its fifth year, measures the number of problems experienced per 100 vehicles (PP100), with a lower score indicating better performance. The study measures 177 problem symptoms in eight categories: vehicle exterior; driving experience; features/controls/displays (FCD); audio/communication/entertainment/navigation (ACEN); seats; heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC); vehicle interior; and engine and transmission.
One of the main takeaways was that since last year all problems, aside from seats, have improved in their PP100, with ACEN issues actually decreasing year on year. Unsurprisingly premium vehicles reported more issues with ACEN, due to the higher number of vehicles that have more sophisticated systems.
Customers who bought vehicles that suffered engine faults were less likely to buy that brand again, more than any other issue. Engine failures had the greatest negative effect on repurchasing habits and on brand reputation.
Another major point was that even though electric and hybrid vehicles had more issues than any other car type, owners of those vehicles were more likely to repurchase the same car or brand again than any other engine type owner.
How did different brands compare?
Peugeot ranked top, with 77PP100, joining nine other ‘volume brands’ with Skoda in second and Hyundai in third.
In the more premium brands, Volvo came out top, but still only 10th overall with a PP100 of 106. Mercedes followed in second with 136 PP100.
Brands that used advanced technology as a major selling point for their vehicles also had higher noted dissatisfaction or issues from customers.
“When we look at the PP100 scores of relatively new safety technologies, it’s clear that manufacturers still have work to do to perfect those systems—particularly premium brands that use them as a major selling point,” said Josh Halliburton, Head of European Operations at J.D. Power. “It’s also going to be vital for vehicle makers to win customer trust in this technology if they are to convince potential buyers that fully automated vehicles in the future will be reliable. For example, such buyers are quite likely to question the safety of self-driving cars if brands still struggle with the accuracy of their navigation systems.”
The graph below shows the 20 most popular brands, ranked by PP100 score. It is worth noting that Jeep, Mitsubishi and smart were included in the survey but were omitted from the overall results due to small sample size. Source: J.D. Power 2019 UK Vehicle Dependability StudySM (VDS)
Best individual cars
The survey not only ranked brands but individual cars. They looked at the top three models in each segment; City Car, Midsize Car, Compact Car, MPV, Compact SUV, Small Car, Large and Luxury Car, Small SUV.
The VW Up! Came out top in the City Car and their Tiguan also won the best Compact SUV. Vauxhall also took away two top vehicles with both the Insignia and the Mokka/Mokka X hitting top in the Midsize Car and the Small SUV respectively.
The Skoda Octavia was the best Compact Car and the Ford C-Max/Grand C-Max was the best MPV. The best-rated brand Peugeot had the best Small Car with the Peugeot 208 and finally, Mercedes had the best large and luxury car with the E-Class.
Was this the result you expected? Would you consider purchasing one of the above? How dependable is your vehicle? Let us know below.
Peugout? Vaxhuall??
My 308, bought new in 2014, has just passed its 5th birthday, only issue a squeaky steering column in cold weather, fixed under warranty. otherwise fault-free. By the way, the spelling is Peugeot.
And my Merc is 15 years old and doesn’t squeak even in cold weather. Wouldn’t trust a French car and that’s from experience
My Renault sport is 18 years old and runs like brand new and still gives me 0-60mph in 3.9 seconds
🤣🤣🤣3.9 seconds
Decimal i n wrong place?🤔
Is that off a cliff !!!
So you have been driving a Merc for 15 years…. What experience of driving Peugeot do you have then?
Thx Linda,and your experience could just be subjective. I worked next to a guy for many years, he bought his wife a Golf, (you know, rock solid, bomb proof, blah blah) it was in the garage for niggly faults so often they considered getting a season ticket for it. I used to have reservations re French cars (add Fiats and a few more to the ‘barely screwed together’ list!) but I had an old-style Cit Xsara from about 30K miles to well over 200K miles before it started to come apart. And latterly I’ve had a Skoda Fabia, (essentially an Audi with a cheaper overcoat) fantastic build quality (2nd on this reliability list).
Nit picking t–t!
Peugeot has been using ford engines for years. Probably why they’re quite reliable these days.
Think you’ll find it’s the other way round, psa engine is in loads of cars including Ford, Volvo, Mini etc.
The PSA engine was developed by MINI (BMW) and manufactured by PSA (well it was the case a couple of years ago). Only they designed it to be put in the ‘wrong’ way round in some of them, so the exhaust went out the ‘front’ end and underneath.
Not a big Pug’ fan but they do make good diesels and have been since before ‘MINI’ existed.
There is a lot of cross fertilisation with engines but Peugeot have been a big supplier to Ford and other manufacturers for many a year.
Have you never made a mistake, it is ignorant to ridicule others
If you are happy buying a brand like Peugeot, I don’t think you really care what you drive, or care about providing satisfaction survey information. Unless the data came from qualified, verified dealership service records, in which case I believe it even less!!!
Are these for new (sold in 2018) or used vehicles? Or both?
ah statistics. It looks like this year JD Power employed the same statisticions that come up with stats for our wonderful MPs. So they join Lies and Damn lies in that 3 example phrase. It’s funny how cars from the same group or parts bin are wildly different on here. Also there seems to be a few brands missing. So does that mean they don’t have data for them?
” It is worth noting that Jeep, Mitsubishi and smart were included in the survey but were omitted from the overall results due to small sample size.”
Perhaps some others were excluded for the same reason?
Alan, JD power is b%&$ox because it’s just a company payed by car manufacturers to make their car look best. It’s a scam advertising company, they no nothing about cars. They have silly test like initial feel of quality. Why do you think that they removed cars saying to small a sample. More like they wouldn’t pay up!
Unfortunatly lots of kudos is attached to a good JD Power score but as you suggest it is not really fit for purpose.
A car can be marked down for, say, a squeeky glove box. The next car can lose the same points for, I dunno, loose exterior trim, potentially dangerous ?
Then it could be dealer service. You expect good service but it should not effect the quality score of a manufacturer.
…” electric and hybrid vehicles had more issues than any other car type”… that’s not according to every other report I’ve seen. These have emphasised how reliable these cars are due to their relative simplicity and fewer moving parts.
A conclusion probably reached by (as usual) lumping EVs together with hybrids, which is absurd – mechanically the simplest cars lumped with the most complex!
Until the batteries and motors need replacing after a few years. Bring on the throwaway car society, all in the name of “helping the environment”…
Bring back the trolleybus! No rails, super-quiet, no digging up roads to install/repair the tracks and no emissions.
Steady on there Ron! You are advocating public transport on this site …. are you new on here?! LOL
Seriously though. No emissions?! Where does the electricity to run the system come from? Also, the copper or aluminium for the overheads has to be excavated, smelted, rolled and transported to this country … not without emissions. The extensive trolleybus systems that existed in many UK towns and cities have been removed so it would be a major task to rebuild them.
The problem with those traditional trolleybus systems was that, although they were not on rails, they were fixed routes. If there were any roadworks or blockages on the route then the service stopped and diesel replacements were required. However, many European cities, where trolleybuses are still common by the way, have hybrid buses that can run off the overheads or independently on routes without overheads or around diversions … so don’t give up all hope! 🙂
At least you had a route, maybe the council would not cancel it.
…….But the councils did cancel the routes for buses, trams, trolleybuses…….. Asides from that, trolleybuses won’t help out here in the sticks/outside large urban areas. Not that we ever had any bus routes, trains, etc., out here in the first place to be cancelled by the councils!!.
Trolley bus drivers fart too!!! So everything has emissions, animal Methane is one of the worst!!! My old Merc (1984 280SL) has NEVER let me down, even after garaged (battery disconnected) for 6 months starts first turn of the starter, and it’s done this for the last 30 years. Reliability is key! Electric cars are more damaging to the planet as the lithium or whatever type batteries have to be disposed of, plus electrical generation produces polution. Bit like Gordon Brown’s diesal experiment? Pity he didn’t push for hydrogen, but then what do you expect from a politition? John
May be no emissions on the road just moved to the powerstation.
Go and look at the figures for battery life before commenting
Why are Lexus not on there? They must be up at the top as I have had several over the last 20 years and none of them has ever let me down?
They tend to lump them in with Toyota, but they’re near the bottom???
All the Toyotas this family have owned have been nothing but reliable
I have had various Toyota for 20 years. Never let me down yet and after sales, brill. Cannot fault them
We bought a Toyota Yaris Verso new in March 2002. It has had hardly any faults during my 17 year ownership – has covered 148,000 miles and just sailed through it’s 17th Birthday MOT with no problems or even advisories. We are keeping it !!!
Absolutely spot on. We’re on our fifth Toyota RAV4. Our current model has sixty six thousand miles, never a missed beat. We’ve never kept a car this long before, but now retired, the sheer reliability of Toyota does us nicely.
Agreed my wife and I have owned Toyotas for many years and are completely reliable and I can’t understand why they rate so low in these tables
I agree
Having worked in the automotive industry for nigh-on 25 years (much of which in a company allied to Toyota), let me give you the inside line on Toyota’s philosophy regarding quality: enough, just enough. What you get is just enough to not fall apart at the first turn of the wheels and just enough to not feel too cheap. Toyota will not overengineer anything because that means extra cost. For a long time, the difference between Japanese and European/American car manufacturers was that the Japanese learned how to make things well and simple whilst their competitors indulged in expensive fripperies to hide poor underpinnings. The cost of quality on the one hand matched the cost of fripperies on the other. The hybrid scam upset the applecart because the Japanese moved onto a higher development cost plane (similar to Europeans) and then had to look at cutting corners elsewhere. The result was things like: Mazda getting into bed with Ford; Nissan being rescued from bankruptcy by Renault; Suzuki getting into alliances with GM and Fiat; and the upshot of all this was the ‘just enough’ credo. Everyone knows that Nissan was dragged into hell by Renault (too many corners cut, reputation destroyed), but at least Mazda has improved Ford.
Surely they can’t just compare the number of issues, but it should be a combination of that, the cost of repair (i.e. how severe it is), the time off the road in the workshop for repair and if said repair/fix was successful. A car could easily be deemed ‘reliable’ if it had just one problem, the engine broke and needed replacement and was at the dealership for a month.
Another could have 10 very minor issues that were fixed in a day or less, including with software updates, but get a far worse score. It also doesn’t take into account the expectations from the owners, which surely should reflect the demographic of those owning said cars. Not enough context for me.
The ICE/gizmos problems are a real bugbear for me, as manufacturers seem to release cars onto the market with very little testing done of the ICE etc and electronics in general, where a growing number of problems relate. We should not be unofficial beta testers for in car electronics, and, dare I say, some of the newer mechanical systems to: IMHO a good example of which is the VAG 1.5TSi EVO engine with its ‘kangerooing’ problem – AFAIK, apparently known to VAG when it was released onto the market in its cars, and, if I recall a mototing journo saying, the media test car was ‘modified’ so it didn’t do it on press test day, but this ‘fix’ couldn’t be applied to the actual cars sold. I’m not sure if they’ve come up with a workable fix yet, some people have said they tried a software update and it didn’t always work.
Sounds like you might be more interested in the J.D.Power UK Vehicle Ownership Satisfaction Survey (VOSS) available on their site linked in the article.
Kidding! My mates Pug has been back to the dealership no less than 18 problems in the first year , car brand new – 208.
Just a few faults I know of…..
Dicky electric windows – goes up, don’t go down, stops halfway up…nightmare.
Dead battery – changed twice.
Spluttering & stalling engine.
Door locks not locking.
Rattles inside the interior.
Front bumper loose.
Exhaust banging on chassis.
Sounds like he got off lightly.
Number of problems? Is that breakdowns, returns to the dealer, minor imperfections, delivery delays, accident fatalities, what? It is difficult to believe Toyota is less reliable than average for any metric.
I’m not surprised at all. When considering the VAG group, Skoda tends to use tried and trusted technology but is also affected by the likes of the 1.6 TDI (CAYC engine) EGR valve failure but generally tends not to come laden with superfluous toys.
Any car can be reliable if looked after correctly and used in a way which plays to its strengths. Newer cars will always be a bit of a mixed bag as it is the R&D which adds so much cost to the package so it is inevitable there will be issues.
As a sidenote, since FCA group started implementing a security gateway into certain cars, when subsequent owners realise local garages cannot diagnose and repair these cars, they will become valueless and the demise of certain brands will be swift unless a workaround can be found. Frankly, this appears to contravene block exemption so the VAG emissions scandal may not be the biggest auto court case we’ll see.
Interesting the Peugeot are top, but Citroen are way down the league. Mechanically both these have very similar models. Often the only difference sitcom, with Peugeot being seen as the more upmarket brand. I wonder how much of this stuff is on perception, rather than pure statistics
If the statistics are as accurate as some of the spelling of the brand names, I wouldn’t put much store on it. And amongst other missing brands, what about Toyota?
It’s there, 7 from the bottom! Strange . .
VW Tiguan best compact SUV? My son has one that is five years old and it has cost him about £5,500 over the last year, including a complete engine rebuild due to faulty pistons – a known problem. One week back on the road and another £500 apparently for new ignition coils. This is after many problems previously. Meanwhile my five year old Kia Sportage has performed faultlessly.
Subaru?
Nissan most dependable, but yearly repairs from a dealer are unacceptable and make you think are they dependable or well serviced
Sorry but I’ll stick with my Subaru any day of the week
seems strange to me that Lexus get best dealership ONCE AGAIN BUT do NOT appear in best car list???????????????????????????????
Had a Ford for 8 years, had a Toyota for a similar length of time. Out of the two Its the Toyota I would recommend.
Bought a new Peugeot 208 in 2008. Never failed a MOT and the the only issue was alternator, after 5 years, and exhaust brackets corroding after 10 years. Bought two more used 208s of similar vintage for my kids and they have been fine.
How did you manage that, they wasn’t out then?
HaHa! exactly 2012….on
it doesn’t surprise me Peugeot have improved no end over the last 10 years I have a 308 now and the finish is in a differant class to 10 years ago I have owned 107 108 and 208 and they have all improved .And the engines are some of the most economical out there.Well done.Peugeot.
You say: “the most reliable car brand in the UK in 2018 was indeed Peugout” . Can’t spell it? OR is it really A PEG- OUT?
very happy with my 1996 Corsa,previous car was also a corsa
You know that JD Power is a marketing company? Or as Wikipedia puts it:
“J.D. Power is an American-based global marketing information services company founded in 1968 by James David Power III.”
So you’re using a MARKETING company to ‘inform’ us about how reliable various brands are? And Peugeot, which has a hard-earned reputation for poor trim and unreliable vehicles came top this year? Funny that given how many of their ad’s I’ve seen recently…
I bought my mazda 2 second hand 2 years ago and its very reliable. always starts even when its been stood for a while without being driven. insurance recently wrote it off as someone ran into me as he left his handbrake off and insurance said it would cost more to repair than was worth. Took advice from car shop across road and he said to buy it back as had low mileage and was solid reliable car. i did and have never regretted it
Agree I love my Mazda 2, brought 4 years ago and now it’s 9 years old and never given me any issues
My 35 year old Mercedes is perfect. My E-Class may have all the bells and whistles but after 5 & 8 years the driver & passenger seats have both split. Mercedes Customer Service (!!!) claim this to be “fair wear & tear”. In my 50+ years of driving I have owned many cars & not a single split seat amongst them. I won’t be buying this supposed prestige brand again & don’t even mention the cost of servicing!!
I changed from Mercedes to a Vauxhall because of Mercedes rediculous servicing costs. I’ve now had six vauxhalls over the years all of them excellent!
Sorry, i just cant take the results of this survey seriously. Peugeot? Really? I am self employed in the car service/repair business, and have been for 22 years. You get to see and experience quality cars and also the dross. Peugeot? Really? I personally drive a Toyota Rav4 and i advise anyone who asks my opinion, to buy the same brand. If they dont like Toyota, i advise Subaru, (again from experience), If they dont like Subaru, i advise Suzuki. I would not, cannot and never will recommend anything French.
It’s true that certain brands will have a better reputation than others due to track record, but individual motors can often throw the stats out. Having been repairing vehicles for forty years & being very fortunate in being able to have owned many vehicles, several at a time, I’ve seen many buck the trend; sometimes it’s the card you’re dealt with. Surprisingly, the most reliable car I have run was a mark 1 Laguna, which clocked up around 175k miles on a petrol engine & drove really well & comfortably when I sold it. It also cost the least in repairs in my 13-year period of ownership. The other end of the scale is an A4 B7 that cost me a fortune over the same mileage but shorter period of ownership. None of it matters by the end of life especially if you stick it around a banger race track like I have my 325i 😉
You recomend Suzuki any credability you had just flew out of the window they are awfull cars, As for Peugeot they have really come on leaps and bounds over the last few years.
I have had various Suzukis over the past 18 years without a single problem.
Jesus Christ how much crack have they been smoking?! That ranking is utter nonsense! No wonder there are so many people who don’t know much about cars being misled into making terrible buying decisions, like the bloke I work with who opted for a Kia over a VW thanks to some ridiculous survey like this and then wondered why it suddenly cost him £1,400 to fix after 3 years. Or the mate who ignored my advice to get a BMW and instead opted for an Alfa Romeo, based on owner’s reviews on carbuyers.co.uk, then ended up spending almost £3k on repairs within 18 months before he finally gave up and sold it.
Depends on the particular car. Of my, family and friends cars, 2010 Skoda Octavia, 2010 Honda Accord, 2003 Audi, 2005 Vectra, 2005 Alfa 156 and 2003 Honda Jazz are all good.
Compare with 2014 Nissan, 2012 Peugeot, and 2012 Skoda Octavia have all had major failures costing over £1000. These cars are all diesel whereas only Skoda and Audi on the good list are diesel. Is that relevant?
Good servicing and use is the significant factor.
My 20, 37 and 47 year old Citroens are utterly reliable. Why should I waste money on new cars where reliability seems to be a lottery?
I still wouldn’t buy any of the top 7; interesting to know the demo graphics of the responses. It’s like some extremely popular tv shows, where most viewed can’t be called the best tv shows. Also there’s a a type of person that bothers complete these reports, and a type who never take the trouble.
Peugout? Never in a million years everyone knows Peugout,Citroen,Fiat,Range Rovers & Renault are the most unreliable vehicles sold in Europe in every survey for the past 20 years.
My 30 year old Peugeot 205 has now done 44,000 miles and is all original other than tyres that perished with age!
Having worked in vehicle R&D in the UK in an independant capacity it is interesting to see that even though most manufacturers share the same suppliers and R&D (certainly in France to keep the cost down)of running gear ie., engines,suspensions etc,some car manufacturer’s vehicle types are more prone to quality defects than others!Can it be due to the workforce of the countrys where the assembly plants are located? I’d be interested in reader’s thoughts.
I m on my forth Peugeot ! Need anymore be said. Plus we walked away from an RTA
In many other cars we would not have been so lucky
Presumably this survey was published in the Guarniad.
And to think – we chose our Honda Civic because it got the top score for reliability in Which?
Have had 2 CRV’s one of them for 13 years. They are Brilliant.
I have had Mercedes for the last 15 years. I have had new and used and there has been no difference. My last one was C Class estate I had from new. The last MOT it was 14 years old and it sailed through. Have upgraded to an E Class estate now, what a lovely car. For quality and luxury I wouldn’t have any other brand.
Seems strange the last similar report I read ( on here I think couple of weeks ago) put Peugeot as one of the least reliable ……..Totally confused now…seems you cant believe anything.
Strange how Lexus and Porsche are off the list and they regularly blow everyone else out the water on reliability.
I’m stunned by this list which flies in the face of every survey I’ve seen in the past 5 years, where the most reliable ownernship experience (including dealer service) is dominated by the Japanese – Honda, Lexus, Suzuki, Toyota, Subaru.
And the same is true for older cars – have a look at Warranty direct’s Reliability Index for out-of-warranty cars which also recognises the cost of repair. Its all very well having a fantastically reliable vehicle for a year, but what happens when its older?
My recent personal experience of Peugeot – A turbo replacement after less than 1,000 miles on the 2 litre HDI engine (fitted to my motorhome). But it took 3 separate failures before Peugeot would authorise a full replacement of the turbo. No thanks.
Peter
You always hear about problems personally had many of the brands including Peugeot x 3 all good
The Land Rover I have now for 10 year is still the best drive in spite of the cost of a new transfer box
My 2002 ford focus estate 65000 miles on it has never had a spanner on apart from me servicing it every couple of years, It has the original clutch, brakes, and exhaust and battery until last year, I would like a newer model but as this one keeps passing the M.O.T and I would not get anything for it I will run it into the ground then buy another ford focus.
Citroen ds4
Citroen da4 plate2013
I’ve had my Honda HR-v for 21 years. it pulled a caravan for most of it’s life and it’s never ever let me down. It’s only failed an MOT on a minor point once in all that time… Now, that’s reliability…
I own a 2013 skoda yeti 2.0 4×4 it is the best car I have ever owned and had audi. ford. Vauxhall. jaguar. Hillman. nsu. and mazda cars
What a load of old tosh
Cue all the brand loyalists and pet prejudices, especially against statistics. Despite their best intentions, surveys like this are based upon the experiences of those whose cars (or repairers) have let them down. Satisfied customers tend to put up with occasional “idiosyncrasies” because, overall, the products fulfil their needs and are affordable: they meet the Ronseal standard!
Goes to show it’s probably best to not believe what you hear on mainstream media! Shows like Top Gear are really for entertainment. Proof of anything is gained by experience and observing results of tests. I have a 2007 Peugeot and out of the many vehicles I have owned and driven over the years, has been the most reliable (and comfortable on long journeys), not to mention economical where fuel is concerned. Even better since I have been using Cybersizzle fuel additive. 🙂
I guess it’s largely luck when looking at reliability. The, now very, older cars were usually less reliable so parts and rust problems have improved over the decades. I currently have a VW Match tdi which (not wishing to tempt fate) is 11 years old and has never missed a beat. In fact I’d say it’s about as good as new. It’s had nothing other than a yearly service (tyres and pads excepted) in it’s 80,000 miles. I’d buy another, but see no reason to change.
The JD Power survey is based on about 10.000 replies from owners and therefore limited in its quality (see https://europe.jdpower.com/press-releases/2019-uk-vehicle-dependability-study).
For more reliable answers check stats from Germany’s ADAC with about 4 million callouts for car breakdowns – https://www.adac.de/rund-ums-fahrzeug/unfall/adac-pannenstatistik/ – sorry in German but you can see the top and bottom performers.
Main breakdown cause is battery.
I’ve been a Vauxhall fan since the end of 1990’s. Great to see them near the top of the list. Always had good engines to tow my caravan and the Insignia I’ve got now is the best of the lot.
Had Citroens for 30 years. Present car is a C5 Exclusive. Totally satisfactory,and a cracking towcar
Tesla!