Which? Car Survey Which? Car Survey 2012

The 2012 Which? Car Survey results are in! We've updated all the reliability and satisfaction scores for the hundreds of car models you've told us about, and we're already planning on making the next survey even bigger and better than this year's.

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The results of the 2012 Which? Car Survey are now online

Which? Car Survey 2012

The Which? Car Survey is the UK's biggest car survey, giving owners the chance to tell us how reliable and satisfying their cars have been over the past 12 months.

This year, more than 39,292 people told us about 47,716 cars they owned (some reported on more than one car).

We've use the results of our survey to make judgements about the reliability and satisfaction of hundreds of car models. Wherever we have enough of your feedback, it is fed directly into every car review on the site.

We also feed all the information we receive back to car manufacturers - so if you think there is a problem with the model you own, we can tell carmakers about it and influence them to make changes.

Total mileage for each car reported is enough to travel around the world 18,188 times

2012 Which? Car Survey findings

The findings we gain from car owner feedback helps us get a good picture of what a car is like to live with.

As well as revealing how reliable and satisfying a car is, the survey data also gives us lots of other interesting information, such as how many miles the average car covers per year, how many days specific models spend off the road getting fixed and which brand offers the best service for sales and repair work.

And carmakers take note of what you're saying: we let manufacturers know the outcome of the survey so they can rectify any problems you've highlighted.

Here are some examples of the top level findings from the 2012 Which? Car Survey.

10,672 is the average number of miles driven by cars in our survey during the past 12 months.
Total annual mileage for each car reported on in the survey was more than 450 million - or the equivalent of 18,188 times around the world.
56% of owners have a petrol car, 41% diesel and 2% hybrid.
71% own manual transmission, with 29% having an automatic.
36% have owned their cars for more than 4 years, 12% have owned their car for 3-4 years, 17% for 2-3 years, and 19% for 1-2 years.
47% own new cars, 19% nearly new and 34% used.

Your verdicts are hugely important to us

Your verdicts on your cars are important to us

As well taking onboard all the numeric data we're supplied, we also take into account owner comments.

These help us identify themes about certain cars, discover what people dislike most about their motors, and also influence what we tell you in each of our car reviews.

Here are just a few examples of the comments we received in the 2012 Which? Car Survey:

'For a small car it has very good space internally and the special seat arrangement at the rear means I can easily store shopping bags in the well keeping it in place in well of car, boot size is very good.'
'When the front window washer is activated the water jet hits the wiper arm even though the aim is correct. Adjusting the aim to miss the arm results in the jet going over the roof.'
'It does exactly what it says on the tin. It's efficient, comfortable, reasonable handling, good looks, plenty of space, quiet. What more could you ask and its a hybrid. Win, win and win.'
'The positioning of the audio controls (near gear stick) in relation to audio display panel (on dash) is frustrating. It is good for the passenger to use but not for the driver (because you need to look down)'
'It does everything I want of it, conveniently, efficiently,economically and pleasurably. A good long journey car.'

Which? members can find out which cars were the winners and losers in our most recent car survey for both owner satisfaction and reliability.

If you're not a member, sign up for a trial to Which? for £1 to get access to all our survey results.